47 books
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8 voters


“Human beings act in a great variety of irrational ways, but all of them seem to be capable, if given a fair chance, of making a reasonable choice in the light of available evidence. Democratic institutions can be made to work only if all concerned do their best to impart knowledge and to encourage rationality. But today, in the world's most powerful democracy, the politicians and the propagandists prefer to make nonsense of democratic procedures by appealing almost exclusively to the ignorance and irrationality of the electors.”
― Brave New World Revisited
― Brave New World Revisited

“Thus each of us had to be content to live only for the day, alone under the vast indifference of the sky.”
― The Plague
― The Plague

“stupidity has a knack of getting its way; as we should see if we were not always so much wrapped up in ourselves”
― The Plague
― The Plague

“The franchise and the virus work on the same principle, what thrives in one place will thrive in another. You just have to find a sufficiently virulent business plan, condense it into a three-ring binder ― its DNA ― Xerox it, and embed it in the fertile line of a well-traveled highway, preferably one with a left turn lane. Then the growth will expand until it runs up against its property lines.”
― Snow Crash
― Snow Crash

“But liberty, as we all know, cannot flourish in a country that is permanently on a war footing, or even a near-war footing. Permanent crisis justifies permanent control of everybody and everything by the agencies of the central government.”
― Brave New World and Brave New World Revisited
― Brave New World and Brave New World Revisited
Matt’s 2024 Year in Books
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