Michael Mulligan
is currently reading
Reading for the 3rd time
progress:
(5%)
"Radar operators at nuclear facilities are not artists. They are not stoners. They are not conspiracy theorists. They are precision-trained specialists trusted to handle world-ending information with zero room for error.
When they say: “I saw something on radar move at 9,000 mph, stop mid-air, then vanish,” the only honest reply is: “What agency told you not to talk about it?”" — Jul 07, 2025 10:15PM
"Radar operators at nuclear facilities are not artists. They are not stoners. They are not conspiracy theorists. They are precision-trained specialists trusted to handle world-ending information with zero room for error.
When they say: “I saw something on radar move at 9,000 mph, stop mid-air, then vanish,” the only honest reply is: “What agency told you not to talk about it?”" — Jul 07, 2025 10:15PM
“There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep Sea, and music in its roar:
I love not Man the less, but Nature more,
From these our interviews, in which I steal
From all I may be, or have been before,
To mingle with the Universe, and feel
What I can ne’er express, yet cannot all conceal.”
― Childe Harold's Pilgrimage
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep Sea, and music in its roar:
I love not Man the less, but Nature more,
From these our interviews, in which I steal
From all I may be, or have been before,
To mingle with the Universe, and feel
What I can ne’er express, yet cannot all conceal.”
― Childe Harold's Pilgrimage
“Dirge Without Music
I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground.
So it is, and so it will be, for so it has been, time out of mind:
Into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely. Crowned
With lilies and with laurel they go; but I am not resigned.
Lovers and thinkers, into the earth with you.
Be one with the dull, the indiscriminate dust.
A fragment of what you felt, of what you knew,
A formula, a phrase remains,—but the best is lost.
The answers quick and keen, the honest look, the laughter, the love,—
They are gone. They are gone to feed the roses. Elegant and curled
Is the blossom. Fragrant is the blossom. I know. But I do not approve.
More precious was the light in your eyes than all the roses in the world.
Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave
Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind;
Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave.
I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.”
― Collected Poems
I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground.
So it is, and so it will be, for so it has been, time out of mind:
Into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely. Crowned
With lilies and with laurel they go; but I am not resigned.
Lovers and thinkers, into the earth with you.
Be one with the dull, the indiscriminate dust.
A fragment of what you felt, of what you knew,
A formula, a phrase remains,—but the best is lost.
The answers quick and keen, the honest look, the laughter, the love,—
They are gone. They are gone to feed the roses. Elegant and curled
Is the blossom. Fragrant is the blossom. I know. But I do not approve.
More precious was the light in your eyes than all the roses in the world.
Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave
Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind;
Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave.
I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.”
― Collected Poems
“And he refused to specialize in anything, preferring to keep an eye on the overall estate rather than any of its parts. . . . And Nikolay’s management produced the most brilliant results. —Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace”
― Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World
― Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World
“History is something that very few people have been doing while everyone else was ploughing fields and carrying water buckets.”
― Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
― Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
Michael’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Michael’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
More friends…
Favorite Genres
Polls voted on by Michael
Lists liked by Michael








































