Ben Sutter

Add friend
Sign in to Goodreads to learn more about Ben.


Chess Story
Ben Sutter is currently reading
bookshelves: currently-reading
Rate this book
Clear rating

 
Stand on Zanzibar
Ben Sutter is currently reading
bookshelves: currently-reading
Rate this book
Clear rating

 
Consciousness Exp...
Rate this book
Clear rating

 
Loading...
Jack Kerouac
“For a while I closed my eyes in utter exhaustion and kept hearing Dean pound the wheel with his fists and say, "Damn," and "What kicks!" and "Oh, what a land!" and "Yes!" We arrived at Sabinas Hidalgo, across the desert, at about seven o'clock in the morning. We slowed down completely to see this. We woke up Stan in the back seat. We sat up straight to dig. The main street was muddy and full of holes. On each side were dirty broken-down adobe fronts. Burros walked in the street with packs. Barefoot women watched us from dark doorways. The street was completely crowded with people on foot beginning a new day in the Mexican countryside. Old men with handlebar mustaches stared at us. The sight of three bearded, bedraggled American youths instead of the usual well-dressed tourists was of unusual interest to them. We bounced along over Main Street at ten miles an hour, taking everything in. A group of girls walked directly in front of us. As we bounced by, one of them said, "Where you going, man?"

I turned to Dean, amazed. "Did you hear what she said?"

Dean was so astounded he kept on driving slowly and saying, "Yes, I heard what she said, I certainly damn well did, oh me, oh my, I don't know what to do I'm so excited and sweetened in this morning world. We've finally got to heaven. It-couldn't be cooler, it couldn't be grander, it couldn't be any-thing.”
Jack Kerouac, On the Road
tags: travel

Ursula K. Le Guin
“There's a point, around the age of twenty, when you have to choose whether to be like everybody else the rest of your life, or to make a virtue of your peculiarities.”
Ursula K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia

Baruch Spinoza
“What Paul says about Peter tells us more about Paul than about Peter”
Baruch Spinoza

James Gleick
“He had discovered a great truth of nature. He had proved it and been disputed. He had tried to show how science is grounded in concrete practice rather than grand theories. In chasing a shadow, he felt, he had sacrificed his tranquillity.”
James Gleick, Isaac Newton

Carl Sagan
“There are naive questions, tedious questions, ill-phrased questions, questions put after inadequate self-criticism. But every question is a cry to understand the world. There is no such thing as a dumb question.”
Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

970 Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die — 22161 members — last activity 1 hour, 9 min ago
For those attempting the crazy feat of reading all 1001 books! For discerning bibliophiles and readers who enjoy unforgettable classic literature, 10 ...more
83543 LessWrong — 585 members — last activity Dec 18, 2016 12:38AM
Users of Less Wrong, a community blog dedicated to refining the art of human rationality.
187714 Reading Classics, Chronologically Through the Ages — 466 members — last activity Aug 11, 2025 10:22AM
This group began with a book called The Well-Educated Mind (TWEM) by Susan Wise Bauer, which is a wonderful guide to “The Great Books.” TWEM presents ...more
146728 Reading Peace — 1470 members — last activity Aug 15, 2023 08:57AM
Reading Peace is a book club exploring topics in mindfulness and Buddhism in daily life in a way that is accessible and relevant to today. We meet o ...more
2779 Read a book from each country — 987 members — last activity Mar 02, 2026 11:42PM
I thought this would be a good place to collect recommendations for books from various countries. I don't have a formal goal to read a book from each ...more
More of Ben’s groups…
year in books
Kristen...
1,922 books | 28 friends

John Be...
458 books | 67 friends

Sherry
4,998 books | 586 friends

Jessica
846 books | 40 friends

Nicole
215 books | 4 friends

George P.
1,317 books | 63 friends

Maria B...
728 books | 64 friends

Fran
1,232 books | 10 friends

More friends…
The Martian by Andy Weir
Best Books of the Decade: 2010s
7,734 books — 14,278 voters
Siddhartha by Hermann HesseA Passage to India by E.M. Forster
Best Books of the Decade: 1920s
776 books — 1,131 voters

More…



Polls voted on by Ben

Lists liked by Ben