Friday, February 17, 2023

THIS VERY WISE MAN ONCE SAID...


"What an astonishing thing a book is.  It's a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles.  But one glance at it and you're inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years.  Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you.  Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs.  Books break the shackles of time.  A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic."

~Carl Sagan~

Cosmos, Part II: The Persistence of Memory (1980)

It is raining hard today and when I get my chores done, I am going to sit on the sofa, wrap myself up in a blanket, sip on a hot drink and read a good book. Which one are you reading?  I am going back and forth; "Through A Window" by Jane Goodall, and "A World of Curiosity" by Louise Penny.  I usually only read one book at a time, and am not sure why I picked two, both very different and both excellent reads.




(graphics from pixabay.com)


37 comments:

  1. I would have never thought that this quote was from Carl Sagan! You always find the best quotes! For many years I read a book a day!! Now i am on the comuter too much.

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    1. Glad you enjoy them Ginny. I am enjoying learning more about Carl Sagan and since I published this post I now have his biography. I know what you mean about being on the computer :) I can totally relate.

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  2. I sometimes start off with a few books and then finish them randomly lol

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    1. You and my husband have a lot in common :) He is a great reader!

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  3. Love that quote. I started a book quite some time ago but haven't picked it up in a long time. I couldn't even tell you the title or the author.

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    1. So glad you enjoyed Ann :) I go through phases where I might put a book down for a while, depending on what's going on and how busy I am.

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  4. Hello,
    I really enjoy Louise Penny's book, I have read them all. Great quote.
    Take care, have a wonderful weekend.

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    1. I have read several of them too and like the Inspector Gamache series very much. Thank you Eileen, wishing you the same :)

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  5. This quotes from Carl Sagan is written just to me just like the quote says. Reading is my most favorite thing in the whole wide world. I started reading when I was five and I still read every single day of my life it's a rare rare day that I don't pick up a book. I start a book and I only read the ones that I can't stand to put down. If I can put it down I don't read it. And I always read from front to back as fast as I can and then go on to the next I have never understood how people can read a chapter in this book and a chapter in that book and on and on I am a one book at a time person too. I don't know who Carl Sagan is but I'm about to find out. I love your post today thank you

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    1. Reading is such a great source of enjoyment for me. My parents always bought my favorite book annuals which were given at Christmas. The rest I used to toddle off up to the library on the bicycle, fill my basket up with books and read several before the week was out, and repeat the next week :) Very happy you enjoyed my post Sandra, thank you!

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  6. Reading is a great joy and more so on the type of overcast and gloomy day we are having today. Patrick is reading A World of Curiosities now and I am reading Nine Perfect Strangers.

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    1. Well, that's a fun coincidence, Pat and I reading the same book. I don't know Nine Perfect Strangers, but I'm going to look that up now. Thanks Dorothy :)

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    2. Just found out this is also a series on Hulu. I don't have it but just in case you do and didn't know. Some familiar faces, Nicole Kidman, Melissa McCarthy and Michael Shannon to name a few.

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  7. Love to read...while sitting with my sister at doctor's offices I'll open a "real" book.
    hugs
    Donna

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    1. That's a good place to read a book Donna :) hugs from me too.

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  8. I enjoy Louise Penny's writing. Time will tell if we read her latest or get the audio to enjoy on one of our road trips. Happy weekend to you!

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    1. An audio book is great on a road trip :) Thank you Ellen and a happy weekend to you too.

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  9. I always admired Sagan and his expertise. Wise words shared today.

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  10. I was delighted to find your comment on my blog, and knew immediately that I wanted to come and meet you. I love reading, but lately with the time given being my dearest care giver, I have only been reading and studying my Bible Study on the Sermon on the Mount with my Tuesday Morning Women's Bible Group. But reading can take you anywhere and see and find out things you would never have seen or done.
    Thanks again for your visit, and I will put you on my "Favorite Blog List".
    A new friend, Wanda

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    1. Hello Wanda, I enjoyed your blog very much. Thank you for your lovely comment, telling me what you enjoy doing and reading. So very true and much appreciate you adding me to your list, your new blogging friend, Denise :)

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  11. Miłego czytania. Dziś u nas pada deszcz i wieje wiatr też siedzę owinieta kocem z filiżanka herbaty i za chwilę zacznę czytać powieść. Miłego weekendu🙂

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    1. To jest cudowne! Twój komentarz bardzo mi się spodobał. Tak pocieszająca lektura, gdy jest przytulnie i ciepło w chłodny dzień. Miłego weekendu dla Ciebie i dziękuję :)

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  12. I love Carl Sagan and remember watching his TV specials on space back in the 1970s. Such a brilliant mind - he expanded my universe for me.

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    1. He is amazing isn't he Carol? :) I used to watch those too and I felt the same as you :)

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  13. What wonderful an image you used for this post as well as the quote. The brilliant Carl Sagan had such a poetic, nuanced way of expressing the wonders of existence. His words now speak through time and space for him. I read the Jane Goodall book many years ago and loved it.

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    1. Hello Penelope, as soon as I saw it, I wanted to share this artwork to go with Carl Sagan's marvelous quote. Just seemed to fit somehow :) I have also been a fan of Jane Goodall for many years, especially as I have a great love of wildlife. I learned a lot about the chimpanzee thanks to her. I also used to have her last name before marriage but no relation. Chimps are amazing animals, humanlike and not surprising considering we share 98.8 percent of their DNA. Thank you and enjoy your weekend :)

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  14. Great idea (pretty much what I did yesterday!) I'm reading a book written in the 60s, the title I can't remember, about a Sargeant Cluff (British mystery). I just finished Martin Walker's "Bruno Chief of Police."

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    1. Thank you Jeanie :) they sound like interesting reads.

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  15. Do like the quote.
    Hope you are enjoying your read.
    Love to read but I don't because I don't hear or do anything, I get so engrossed in the book.

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    1. I can see that Margaret, sometimes a good book is hard to put down :) I am enjoying, thank you :)

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