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The first five years, they hold your hand every time they cross the street and then there’s that day they just . . . drop it in the middle of the crosswalk and run ahead. And that’s when it starts. I call it the longest let-go.”
“And so their memories took on potential, which is of course how our greatest nostalgias are born.”
― Exit West
― Exit West
“Looking more closely at Earth’s atmospheric fingerprints, human biomarkers will also include sulfuric, carbonic, and nitric acids, and other components of smog from the burning of fossil fuels. If the curious aliens happen to be socially, culturally, and technologically more advanced than we are, then they will surely interpret these biomarkers as convincing evidence for the absence of intelligent life on Earth.”
― Astrophysics for People in a Hurry
― Astrophysics for People in a Hurry
“[...] however big our world is - in our hearts, our minds, and our outsized digital maps - the universe is even bigger. A depressing thought to some, but a liberating thought to me.”
― Astrophysics for People in a Hurry
― Astrophysics for People in a Hurry
“My mother is Ketterdam. She birthed me in the harbor. And my father is profit. I honor him daily.”
― Crooked Kingdom
― Crooked Kingdom
“Of all the sciences cultivated by mankind, Astronomy is acknowledged to be, and undoubtedly is, the most sublime, the most interesting, and the most useful. For, by knowledge derived from this science, not only the bulk of the Earth is discovered . . . ; but our very faculties are enlarged with the grandeur of the ideas it conveys, our minds exalted above [their] low contracted prejudices."
JAMES FERGUSON, 1757†
Long before anyone knew that the universe had a beginning, before we knew that the nearest large galaxy lies two million light-years from Earth, before we knew how stars work or whether atoms exist, James Ferguson’s enthusiastic introduction to his favorite science rang true. Yet his words, apart from their eighteenth-century flourish, could have been written yesterday.
But who gets to think that way? Who gets to celebrate this cosmic view of life? Not the migrant farmworker. Not the sweatshop worker. Certainly not the homeless person rummaging through the trash for food. You need the luxury of time not spent on mere survival. You need to live in a nation whose government values the search to understand humanity’s place in the universe. You need a society in which intellectual pursuit can take you to the frontiers of discovery, and in which news of your discoveries can be routinely disseminated.”
― Astrophysics for People in a Hurry
JAMES FERGUSON, 1757†
Long before anyone knew that the universe had a beginning, before we knew that the nearest large galaxy lies two million light-years from Earth, before we knew how stars work or whether atoms exist, James Ferguson’s enthusiastic introduction to his favorite science rang true. Yet his words, apart from their eighteenth-century flourish, could have been written yesterday.
But who gets to think that way? Who gets to celebrate this cosmic view of life? Not the migrant farmworker. Not the sweatshop worker. Certainly not the homeless person rummaging through the trash for food. You need the luxury of time not spent on mere survival. You need to live in a nation whose government values the search to understand humanity’s place in the universe. You need a society in which intellectual pursuit can take you to the frontiers of discovery, and in which news of your discoveries can be routinely disseminated.”
― Astrophysics for People in a Hurry
Our Shared Shelf
— 223040 members
— last activity Feb 04, 2026 04:05AM
OUR SHARED SHELF IS CURRENTLY DORMANT AND NOT MANAGED BY EMMA AND HER TEAM. Dear Readers, As part of my work with UN Women, I have started reading ...more
Adventures in YA
— 73 members
— last activity Mar 28, 2017 06:17AM
Goodreads group for the young adult podcast Adventures in YA.
Amanda’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Amanda’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
316 books
|
39 friends
2,026 books
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75 friends
957 books
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59 friends
528 books
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577 friends
1,067 books
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510 friends
550 books
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65 friends
2,913 books
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163 friends
1,135 books
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43 friends
More friends…
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