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The Paper Menagerie

โŒ— Metadata

  • Author: Ken Liu
  • Tags: #scifi

๐Ÿ“– Short Summary (1 takeaway)โ€‹

๐Ÿง Why I am reading this book

  • Was in a science fiction reading binge

๐Ÿ™Š Great quotes

โ€œThus, while the Telosians do not forget, they also do not remember. They are said to never die, but it is arguable whether they ever liveโ€ (pg 194) #quotes โ€œFor a moment, as I listened to her, I felt as if I could step through the distance between us and hear an echo of the world through her ears, see the stars through her eyes: an austere clarity that my made heart leapโ€ (pg 198) #quotes โ€œBut being the mirrors for each otherโ€™s soul has a cost: by the time they part from each other, the individuals in the mating pair have become indistinguishable. Before their merger, they each yearned for the other; as they part, they part from the self. The very quality that attracted them to each other is also, inevitably, destroying in their unionโ€ (pg 196) #quotes โ€œThe fading sunlight holds infinite beauty, though it is so close to the dayโ€™s endโ€ #quotes

โœ… Actionable item

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๐Ÿ—‚ Detailed Summary

  • State Change
    • Amazing short story that tied a fresh concept with a life old wisdom of growing up and finding yourself
    • In order to find who you truly are, you have to take steps outside of your comfort zone and experience things that seem out of โ€œcharacterโ€
  • Mono no aware
    • The saying means โ€œthe pathos of thingsโ€
      • A Japanese term for the awareness of impermanence, or transience of things
      • Similar to the Latin phrase โ€œlacrimae rerunโ€ which means โ€œtears of thingsโ€
  • All the Flavours
    • In 1870, Chinese population was around 28% in Idaho
    • Apparently, in some Idaho mining towns they still celebrate Chinese New Year
      • Want to visit to see if its true