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Christopher
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progress:
(21%)
"The last few chapters are finally getting more interesting. I should probably read more on Daoism. I've increased my understanding of this novel after opening it once a week for six months more from reading a few chapters on Daoism this week than anything else I've done. Very heavy on Daoism and Buddhism. The language can be quite arcane, but now that there's zombies it's become a really quick read suddenly." — Dec 19, 2025 12:14AM
"The last few chapters are finally getting more interesting. I should probably read more on Daoism. I've increased my understanding of this novel after opening it once a week for six months more from reading a few chapters on Daoism this week than anything else I've done. Very heavy on Daoism and Buddhism. The language can be quite arcane, but now that there's zombies it's become a really quick read suddenly." — Dec 19, 2025 12:14AM
“If you don't know history, then you don't know anything. You are a leaf that doesn't know it is part of a tree. ”
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“I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.”
― War Is a Racket
― War Is a Racket
“A frog in a well cannot discuss the ocean, because he is limited by the size of his well. A summer insect cannot discuss ice, because it knows only its own season. A narrow-minded scholar cannot discuss the Tao, because he is constrained by his teachings. Now you have come out of your banks and seen the Great Ocean. You now know your own inferiority, so it is now possible to discuss great principles with you.
井蛙不可以語於海者,拘於虛也;夏蟲不可以語於冰者,篤於時也;曲士不可以語於道者,束於教也。今爾出於崖涘,觀於大海,乃知爾醜,爾將可與語大理矣。”
― The Way of Chuang Tzu
井蛙不可以語於海者,拘於虛也;夏蟲不可以語於冰者,篤於時也;曲士不可以語於道者,束於教也。今爾出於崖涘,觀於大海,乃知爾醜,爾將可與語大理矣。”
― The Way of Chuang Tzu
“There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life:
The Lord of the Rings
and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs."
[Kung Fu Monkey -- Ephemera, blog post, March 19, 2009]”
―
[Kung Fu Monkey -- Ephemera, blog post, March 19, 2009]”
―
“Beautiful ideals were painted for our boys who were sent out to die. This was the “war to end wars.” This was the “war to make the world safe for democracy.” No one told them that dollars and cents were the real reason. No one mentioned to them, as they marched away, that their going and their dying would mean huge war profits. No one told these American soldiers that they might be shot down by bullets made by their own brothers here. No one told them that the ships on which they were going to cross might be torpedoed by submarines built with United States patents. They were just told it was to be a “glorious adventure.”
― War Is a Racket: The Antiwar Classic by America's Most Decorated Soldier
― War Is a Racket: The Antiwar Classic by America's Most Decorated Soldier
Around the World in 80 Books
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Reading takes you places. Where in the world will your next book take you? If you love world literature, translated works, travel writing, or explorin ...more
Christopher’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Christopher’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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