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9 books
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3 voters
Do I have an idea of a perfect mathematician? Well, I can start by thinking of a mathematician as one who never makes mistakes. But that is hardly adequate. A perfect mathematician would be imaginative and inventive as well. Now, with my
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“Most men fear getting laughed at or humiliated by a romantic prospect while most women fear rape and death.”
― The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence
― The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence
“Fear can’t hurt you,” she said. “When it washes over you, give it no power. It’s a snake with no venom. Remember that. That knowledge can save you.”
― The Name of the Star
― The Name of the Star
“The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.”
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“The human race is a monotonous affair. Most people spend the greatest part of their time working in order to live, and what little freedom remains so fills them with fear that they seek out any and every means to be rid of it.”
― The Sorrows of Young Werther
― The Sorrows of Young Werther
“The total amount of suffering per year in the natural world is beyond all decent contemplation. During the minute that it takes me to compose this sentence, thousands of animals are being eaten alive, many others are running for their lives, whimpering with fear, others are slowly being devoured from within by rasping parasites, thousands of all kinds are dying of starvation, thirst, and disease. It must be so. If there ever is a time of plenty, this very fact will automatically lead to an increase in the population until the natural state of starvation and misery is restored. In a universe of electrons and selfish genes, blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won't find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice. The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference.”
― River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life
― River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life
Adrian’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Adrian’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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126 friends
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