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Gary Greenberg
https://www.goodreads.com/ggreenberg
“In the end, people don't view their life as merely the average of all its moments—which, after all, is mostly nothing much plus some sleep. For human beings, life is meaningful because it is a story. A story has a sense of a whole, and its arc is determined by the significant moments, the ones where something happens. Measurements of people's minute-by-minute levels of pleasure and pain miss this fundamental aspect of human existence. A seemingly happy life maybe empty. A seemingly difficult life may be devoted to a great cause. We have purposes larger than ourselves.”
― Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
― Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
“Ideas that require people to reorganize their picture of the world provoke hostility.”
― Chaos: Making a New Science
― Chaos: Making a New Science
“Thinking about language, while thinking _in_ language, leads to puzzles and paradoxes.”
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“Memes can replicate with impressive virulence while leaving swaths of collateral damage—patent medicines and psychic surgery, astrology and satanism, racist myths, superstitions, and (a special case) computer viruses. In a way, these are the most interesting—the memes that thrive to their hosts’ detriment, such as the idea that suicide bombers will find their reward in heaven.”
― The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood
― The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood
“A family meeting is a procedure, and it requires no less skill than performing an operation.” One basic mistake is conceptual. To most doctors, the primary purpose of a discussion about terminal illness is to determine what people want—whether they want chemo or not, whether they want to be resuscitated or not, whether they want hospice or not. We focus on laying out the facts and the options. But that’s a mistake, Block said. “A large part of the task is helping people negotiate the overwhelming anxiety—anxiety about death, anxiety about suffering, anxiety about loved ones, anxiety about finances,” she explained. “There are many worries and real terrors.” No”
― Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
― Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
Gary’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Gary’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
733 books
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171 friends
107 books
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57 friends
244 books
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66 friends
318 books
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6 friends
15 books
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3 friends
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