James Wesley > Recent Status Updates

Taking it slow. A lot of information to digest.

My second attempt at reading this masterpiece.

Carl Sagan is a foundational part of my childhood, and I have read many of us other books, but The Demon Haunted World was always the one that has eluded me.

His outlook on the cosmos and how we fit into it has been an enduring philosophy of mine. The world needs more people like Carl Sagan.

“Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious.”

There are times in your life when you realize you are doing/witnessing something special. I feel that while reading Crime and Punishment. What an experience so far.

The material is so demanding in the best way. It will surely take a while to finish, but honestly, I want to savour every word.

I mean, what are we even talking about here? Probably the top 5 books of all time.

Something so unbelievably striking to me in my reread of Tolkien, now that I’m more well-read, is his ability to articulate setting. His prose is vivid, and it makes the world come alive.

Fuck I love The Lord of the Rings!

Clear asserts that specific goals are unimportant to achieving results. Instead, he posits that systems are the decider.

One’s goals, particularly their level of vividness and precision, determine what systems are used and how they manifest.

For example, if I want to lose 20 pounds the systems I employ are much different from the ones I would employ if I wanted to lose 100—caloric deficit and activity levels.

I knew Dostoevsky was going to take me a long time. Having read Notes from Underground and The Idiot, Crime and Punishment, so far, does not seem as involved.

But I am only 20 pages in and all I can say is what a freaking masterpiece.

My thoughts on the book specifically are that the main character is currently being developed. I am along for the ride!

Really interesting book so far. I mean, it is one of those everyone knows and talks about, so I thought I might as well give it a read. A lot of the information so far is quite intuitive but every so often there is a sentence that strikes you to your core.

I am looking forward to the rest of the book!