“if you don’t sleep the very first night after learning, you lose the chance to consolidate those memories, even if you get lots of “catch-up” sleep thereafter. In terms of memory, then, sleep is not like the bank. You cannot accumulate a debt and hope to pay it off at a later point in time. Sleep for memory consolidation is an all-or-nothing event.”
― Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams
― Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams
“But when the strong were too weak to hurt the weak, the weak had to be strong enough to leave.”
― The Unbearable Lightness of Being
― The Unbearable Lightness of Being
“People often call me an optimist, because I show them the enormous progress they didn't know about. That makes me angry. I'm not an optimist. That makes me sound naive. I'm a very serious “possibilist”. That’s something I made up. It means someone who neither hopes without reason, nor fears without reason, someone who constantly resists the overdramatic worldview. As a possibilist, I see all this progress, and it fills me with conviction and hope that further progress is possible. This is not optimistic. It is having a clear and reasonable idea about how things are. It is having a worldview that is constructive and useful.”
― Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think
― Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think
“Time is an illusion, a construct made out of human memory. There’s no such thing as the past, the present, or the future. It’s all happening now.”
― Recursion
― Recursion
“And therein lies the whole of man's plight. Human time does not turn in a circle; it runs ahead in a straight line. That is why man cannot be happy: happiness is the longing for repetition.”
― The Unbearable Lightness of Being
― The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Pei’s 2024 Year in Books
Take a look at Pei’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
Favorite Genres
Biography, Crime, Fantasy, Fiction, Mystery, Non-fiction, Philosophy, Psychology, Religion, Self help, Thriller, and Travel
Polls voted on by Pei
Lists liked by Pei


















