413 books
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430 voters
“A person who tries to treat life as if it were an extension of school often becomes what the Danish novelist Matias Dalsgaard calls an “insecure overachiever”: “Such a person must have no stable or solid foundation to build upon, and yet nonetheless tries to build his way out of his problem. It’s an impossible situation. You can’t compensate for having a foundation made of quicksand by building a new story on top. But this person takes no notice and hopes that the problem down in the foundation won’t be found out if only the construction work on the top keeps going.”
― The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life
― The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life
“While it pretends not to, it subliminally sends the message that those who are smarter and more accomplished are actually worth more than those who are not.”
― The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life
― The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life
“The meritocracy defines “community” as a mass of talented individuals competing with one another.”
― The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life
― The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life
“living life in a pragmatic, utilitarian manner turns you into a utilitarian pragmatist. The “How do I succeed?” questions quickly eclipse the “Why am I doing this?” questions.”
― The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life
― The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life
“If one group of young people approach adulthood as an aesthetic experience, another group tries to treat adulthood as much as possible like a continuation of school. These students usually went to competitive colleges and tend to come from the upper strata of society. They were good at getting admitted into places, so they apply to companies that have competitive hiring procedures. As students, they enjoyed the borrowed prestige of high-status colleges, so as adults they enjoy the borrowed prestige of high-status companies and service organizations. As students, they were good at winning gold stars, and so they follow a gold-star-winning kind of life when they enter the workforce, and their parents get to brag that they work at Google or Williams & Connolly, or that they go to Harvard Business School.”
― The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life
― The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life
RV Traveling
— 2 members
— last activity Apr 13, 2008 09:23AM
Anyone who travels in their motorhome frequently. We can discuss our travels and good books to read about traveling or full-timing in an RV.
Bejinha’s 2025 Year in Books
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