Barry Welsh
https://www.youtube.com/c/SeoulBookClubhostedbyBarryWelsh
https://www.goodreads.com/barrywelsh
As we come into the third decade of the 21st century, the human sciences are in a peculiar state. Good quantitative knowledge about human nature— good enough for the kind of robust speculation that energizes scientific discovery, sometimes
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“Though the 20th century saw horrific genocides inspired by Nazi pseudoscience about genetics and race, it also saw horrific genocides inspired by Marxist pseudoscience about the malleability of human nature. The real threat to humanity comes from totalizing ideologies and the denial of human rights, rather than a curiosity about nature and nurture.”
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“My face becomes a strip of skin before your face in moonlight my words of praise for you are left unsaid but like a sigh they tickle open a sliding paper door and creep into your hair smelling like camellia fields and transplant seedlings of my sorrow”
― Yi Sang: Selected Works
― Yi Sang: Selected Works
“The plantation owners farmed on a large scale, exporting sugar and pineapple. They had made Hawaiʻi an American territory to avoid high export tariffs. They initially used indigenous people as workers, but the numbers were far from sufficient. So they had hired Europeans, but they couldn’t stand the hot weather and hard work. Then the owners had looked toward Asia. The first to be brought in were Chinese, but the majority of them left the farms at the end of their contract and went to work on the mainland. The next to come were Japanese. They also went to the mainland after the end of their contract, and frequently held strikes, demanding increased wages and improved treatment. The first workers from Korea arrived in 1903.”
― The Picture Bride
― The Picture Bride
“Rather than working and becoming a socially responsible person, rather than listening to my wife's lectures, I wanted to be as idle as the idlest animal on earth. I wanted to cast off as much as possible the meaningless mask of humanity.
I was shy of human society. I was shy of life. Everything was strange and unfamiliar to me.”
― The Wings
I was shy of human society. I was shy of life. Everything was strange and unfamiliar to me.”
― The Wings
“A red ink is spilled from an imitation heart. In my dream I am late. I am sentenced to death. I am not the ruler of my dream. It is a great crime to seal up two humans who cannot even shake hands.”
― Yi Sang: Selected Works
― Yi Sang: Selected Works
Seoul Book Club Hosted by Barry Welsh
— 363 members
— last activity Mar 14, 2026 02:17PM
This is a book club for discussing Korea-related books. Everyone is welcome.
Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge
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An annual reading challenge to to help you stretch your reading limits and explore new voices, worlds, and genres! The challenge begins in January, bu ...more
Read Scotland 2018
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— last activity Jan 01, 2019 07:52PM
Books written by Scots, set in Scotland or about Scotland. Set a goal for your Scotland Reading Challenge and/or join the discussion as we read Scotti ...more
The book you like most
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— last activity 24 minutes ago
This group (ranked in the TOP 100 most popular groups on Goodreads) is dedicated to the "Vision and Story" project. Additionally, the group THE BOOK ...more
Barry’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Barry’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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Adult Fiction, Biography, Book Club, Classics, Comics, Contemporary, Crime, Ebooks, Fantasy, Fiction, Graphic novels, Historical fiction, History, Horror, Humor and Comedy, Literary Fiction, Manga, Memoir, Music, Mystery, Non-fiction, Psychology, Science, Science fiction, Suspense, Thriller, Travel, and Young-adult
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