“From all this we may learn that there are two races of men in this world, but only these two—the “race” of the decent man and the “race” of the indecent man. Both are found everywhere; they penetrate into all groups of society. No group consists entirely of decent or indecent people. In this sense, no group is of “pure race”—and therefore one occasionally found a decent fellow among the camp guards.”
― Man's Search for Meaning
― Man's Search for Meaning
“They were trying to escape. They asked us "Where's the railway?" We'd never seen a railway. They asked "Where's Moscow? Leningrad?" They were asking the wrong people: we'd never heard of those places. We're Ostyaks. People were running away starving. They were given a handful of flour. They mixed it with water and drank it and then they immediately got diarrhea. The things we saw! People were dying everywhere; they were killing each other.... On the island there was a guard named Kostia Venikov, a young fellow. He was courting a pretty girl who had been sent there. He protected her. One day he had to be away for a while, and he told one of his comrades, "Take care of her," but with all the people there the comrade couldn't do much.... People caught the girl, tied her to a poplar tree, cut off her breasts, her muscles, everything they could eat, everything, everything.... They were hungry, they had to eat. When Kostia came back, she was still alive. He tried to save her, but she had lost too much blood.”
― Cannibal Island: Death in a Siberian Gulag
― Cannibal Island: Death in a Siberian Gulag
“In such a view of society, however greatly you might wish to benefit from an endless supply of cheap labour, a wider range of cuisine or the salving of a generation’s conscience, you still would not have a right to wholly transform your society. Because that which you inherited that is good should also be passed on. Even were you to decide that some of the views or lifestyles of your ancestors could be improved upon, it does not follow that you should hand over to the next generation a society that is chaotic, fractured and unrecognisable.”
― The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam
― The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam
“Keav tells me the soldiers claim to love Cambodia and its people very much. I wonder then why they are this mean if they love us so much”
― First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers
― First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers
“Utopias of equality are biologically doomed, and the best that the amiable philosopher can hope for is an approximate equality of legal justice and educational opportunity. A”
― The Lessons of History
― The Lessons of History
Non Fiction Book Club
— 5126 members
— last activity 40 minutes ago
This group is for anyone who enjoys Non Fiction. Genres discussed here include Histories, Autobiographies, Biographies, Memoirs, Science and Technolog ...more
Youp’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Youp’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
More friends…
Favorite Genres
Polls voted on by Youp
Lists liked by Youp

































