“Who was I, at my core? Was I primarily a schizophrenic? Did that illness define me? Or was it an “accident” of being—and only peripheral to me rather than the “essence” of me? It’s been my observation that mentally ill people struggle with these questions perhaps even more than those with serious physical illnesses, because mental illness involves your mind and your core self as well. A woman with cancer isn’t Cancer Woman; a man with heart disease isn’t Diseased Heart Guy; a teenager with a broken leg isn’t The Broken Leg Kid. But if, as our society seemed to suggest, good health was partly mind over matter, what hope did someone with a broken mind have?”
― The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness
― The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness
“We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further.”
― The God Delusion
― The God Delusion
“In the vastness of space and the immensity of time, it is my joy to share a planet and an epoch with Annie.
[Dedication to Sagan's wife, Ann Druyan, in Cosmos]”
― Cosmos
[Dedication to Sagan's wife, Ann Druyan, in Cosmos]”
― Cosmos
RJ’s 2025 Year in Books
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