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The best description of motivated reasoning I’ve ever seen comes from psychologist Tom Gilovich. When we want something to be true, he said, we ask ourselves, “Can I believe this?,” searching for an excuse to accept it. When we don’t want
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“An Englishman, even if he is alone, forms an orderly queue of one.”
― How to Be an Alien: A Handbook for Beginners and Advanced Pupils
― How to Be an Alien: A Handbook for Beginners and Advanced Pupils
“Just because something isn't a lie does not mean that it isn't deceptive. A liar knows that he is a liar, but one who speaks mere portions of truth in order to deceive is a craftsman of destruction.”
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“Tedium is not a sickness brought on by the boredom of having nothing to do but the worse sickness of feeling that nothing is worth doing. And thus, the more one has to do the worse the tedium”
― The Book of Disquiet
― The Book of Disquiet
“Man shouldn’t be able to see his own face--there’s nothing more sinister. Nature gave him the gift of not being able to see it, and of not being able to stare into his own eyes.
Only in the water of rivers and ponds could he look at his face. And the very posture he had to assume was symbolic. He had to bend over, stoop down, to commit the ignominy of beholding himself.
The inventor of the mirror poisoned the human heart.”
― The Book of Disquiet
Only in the water of rivers and ponds could he look at his face. And the very posture he had to assume was symbolic. He had to bend over, stoop down, to commit the ignominy of beholding himself.
The inventor of the mirror poisoned the human heart.”
― The Book of Disquiet
“Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray's case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward—reversing cause and effect. I call these the "wet streets cause rain" stories. Paper's full of them.
In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story, and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about Palestine than the baloney you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know.”
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In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story, and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about Palestine than the baloney you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know.”
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Wikimedians
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— last activity Aug 20, 2025 02:40AM
I've seen quite a few Wikimedians/Wikipedians joining Goodreads recently, so thought it might be nice for us to have a group. Share what you're readin ...more
Peter’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Peter’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
931 books
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41 books
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19 friends
1,934 books
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312 friends
708 books
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353 friends
1,023 books
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19 friends
2,282 books
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115 friends
933 books
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35 friends
2,687 books
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258 friends
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Favorite Genres
Adult Fiction, Biography, Book Club, Business, Classics, Comics, Contemporary, Ebooks, Fantasy, Fiction, Graphic novels, Historical fiction, History, Literary Fiction, Memoir, Mystery, Non-fiction, Philosophy, Politics, Psychology, Science, Science fiction, Self help, Suspense, Thriller, Travel, and War
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