Avoid Boring People by James Watson

I read James Watson's autobiography a few weeks ago and here's the review:
http://bioinfornetics.blogspot.com/2009/10/avoid-boring-people-avoid-james-watson.html

I read the book while at the library during 2 week's worth of lunch breaks so I don't have it with me to pick select quotes and put them here... nor can I be bothered to do that to be honest ;).

Prey by Michael Crichton, Day 6 08:12am

Nor were individual birds genetically programmed for flocking behaviour. Flocking was nto hard-wired. There was nothing in the bird brain that said, "When thus-and-such happens, start flocking." On the contrary, flocking simply emerged within the group as a result of much simpler, low-level rules. Rules like, "Stay close to the birds nearest you, but don't bump into them." From those rules, the entire group flocked in smooth coordination.
Because flocking arose from low-level rules, it was called emergent behaviour. [p125]

Prey by Michael Crichton, Day 6 07:12am

"Hell, animals die in nature all the time. I mean, remember the business about those slashed cows? It was supposed to be aliens from UFOs that were slashing the cows. Finally turned out the cows were dying of natural causes, and it was decomposing gas in the carcasses that split them open..." [p106]

"Aren't there pictures? I think the environmentalists took pictures."
"Well, who cares? What will the pictures show, a dead coyote? Nobody is going to get worked up about a dead coyote..." [p106]

Independent and rebellious, Rosie had been a Shakespearean scholar at Harvard before she decided, in her words, that "Shakespeare is f*cking dead. For f*cking centuries. There is nothing new to say. What's the point?" [p116 - here, here]

Prey by Michael Crichton, Day 5 07:10am

The people who are coldly clear-eyed about the world around them have nothing but fantasies about themselves. [p77]

"...They want a donkey to pin the tail on." [p86]

"...My thighs are as big as sides of beef"...
"They rub together when I walk. Squishy." [p88]

Prey by Michael Crichton, Day 2 09:02am

Scalp Vein [p42 - Google]

Blood squirted down Amanda's face, into her eye. The nurse wiped it away. [p43 - how macabre]

Prey by Michael Crichton, Day 1 10:04am

I never intended to become a househusband. Stay-at-home husband. Full-time dad, whatever you call it - there's no good term for it. [p7]

And her kicking foot made me notice she was wearing sling-back high heels. What she used to call f*ck-me shoes. [p18]

And then I realized everything about her was different - her manner, her appearance, her mood, everything - and in a flash of insight I knew why: my wife was having an affair. [p18]

I had read somewhere that this was a syndrome. The husband's out of work, his masculine appeal declines, his wife no longer respects him, and she wanders. [p18]

"There is no lens."
"How can you have a camera with no lens?"
"I'll explain that as we go," she said.
Watching, I said, "It must be a camera obscura."
"Right," she said, nodding. [p24 - I forgot about obscuras :) ]

Prey by Michael Crichton

I bought three books in one day, all written by the late Michael Crichton: Prey, Jurassic Park and Next. I've read Jurassic Park before and it was brilliant but I just want to have this in my collection and maybe I'll re-read it in the future.

I'm currently reading Prey. It's a good book - not his best work but there's little chance of going wrong with a Crichton book. It's not surprising that most of his books have been made into films.

As usual, I will be posting select quotes as I read through it.

K-PAX I, II, III and prot's report

Those who follow this blog for whatever reason may be wondering why I haven't posted in ages and I posted a couple only today.

Well, I was meant to be working on a project but I hit a speedbump along the way so I'm setting it aside temporarily. Anyway, while I was developing the project ideas and coding it I got bored often so I continued to read through the book and before long I had read the K-PAX trilogy with prot's report - 787 pages.

It really is a great series and I hope to be reading K-PAX IV soon. I highly recommend the trilogy. The second book is not as good as the first and the third is a little better than the second and at least gives you closure on prot and roberts' story. I'm glad I read it through.

I'll be posting quotes from the second, third and report books randomly throughout the next few days as I see fit. It's a break from the current style and pattern of posting but it's worth doing. (Can't be bothered, lol)

K-PAX by Gene Brewer, Chapter: Epilogue

Like most catatonics he probably hears every word we say, but refuses, or is unable, to respond. [p217 - A great metal band is Katatonia]

It had to be a world without sex, or even love, those very human needs which can destroy promising young lives and rewarding careers. More importantly: Without love there can be no loss; without sex, no sex crimes. [p220]

...I tell him about all the new patients who have arrived over the past few years, including a brand-new Jesus Christ, whom Russell welcomed to Ward Two with, "I was you, once." [p222]

K-PAX by Gene Brewer, Chapter: Session 16

"...Give your wife a break and stop singing in the shower."
"Why?"
"Because you can't carry a tune in a basket." [p200]

"Russel has a malignancy in his colon."
"What? How do you know that?"
"I can smell it on his breath." [p200 - In real life dogs can be trained to smell out some cancers from tissue/fluid samples of humans quite accurately]

Chuck gave him (prot) a copy of Gulliver's Travels, which he had lifted from the bookshelves in the quiet room. I recalled prot's telling me that the (Earth) story he liked best was "The Emporer's New Clothes." His favorite movies, incedentally, were The Day the Earth Stood Still, 2001, ET, Starman, and, of course, Bambi. [p209]

His last four words were somewhat more encouraging, however. They were: Oho minny klup kelsur - "They are yet children." [p215]

K-PAX by Gene Brewer, Chapter: Session 14

Could the host personality be hypnotized while the secondary alter is already under hypnosis? [p180]

K-PAX by Gene Brewer, Chapter: Session 11

"We don't have games on K-PAX," he replied. "We don't need them. Nor what you call 'jokes,'" he added, scrutinizing a dried fig. "I've noticed that human beings laugh a lot, even at things that aren't funny. I was puzzled by this at first until I understood how sad your lives really are." [p140]

While he masticated I carefully proceeded. [p141]

He vacillates a lot. [p141 - swayes from side to side]

"Nothing you humans come up with surprises me anymore." [p142]

"Are you kidding? Schools are a total waste of time. They try to teach you a bunch of crap."
"Like what?"
"Like how great america is, better than any other country, how you have to have wars to protect 'freedoms,' all kinds of junk like that." [p143]

"Does he get good grades?"
"A's and b's. He should do better. He sleeps too much." [p146 - a bit like me]

"You humans consider yourselves the smartest of the EARTH beings. Am I right?"
"Yes."
"Then obviously the other beings speak much simpler languages that yours, right?"
"Well--"...
"So if you're so smart, and their languages are so simple, how come you can't communicate with them?" He waited for an answer. Unfortunately, I didn't have one. [p150]

"How are you feeling, Ernie?"
"Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful." I had never seen a smile quite like his. It was positively beatific.
"What happened for God's sake?"
"My good friend Howie just about strangled me to death." ... "That old son-of-a-bitch. I love him."
"Love him? He tried to kill you!"
"No he didn't. He made me think he tried to kill me. Oh, it was fantastic. I was asleep. You know, with my hands tied and everything? he wrapped somthing around my neck - a handkerchief or something - and tightened it up and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it."
...
"He taught me a lesson I'll never forget."
...
"That dying is nothing to fear. In fact it's quite pleasant."
"How so?"
"Well, you've heard that old adage - when you die your life passes before your eyes? Well, it does! ... It was just like living my whole childhood over again! ... All those memories - I never realized what a wonderful thign childhood is until I got the chance to relive it like that." [p152-3]

She was shocked by all the belching and farting... [p153]

K-PAX by Gene Brewer, Chapter: Session 10

There are two probes available forpenetrating the carpace of hysterical amnesia; each has its proponents, each ash its place. The first is sodium pentothal, also called "truth serum". A reasonably safe treatment, it has met with some success in difficult cases... Hypnosis, in experienced hands, offers the same possibilities, but without potential risk of side effects. With either method events long forgotten are often recalled with amazingly vivid clarity. [p124]

My purpose in using hypnosis in prot's case was to uncover the traumatic event which led to his hysterical amnesia and delusion. [p125]

Prot looked at me and smiled brightly. "When do we begin?" he said.
"It's already over."
"Ah. The old 'fastest gun in the west' routine." [p132]

He had his notebook out; he wanted me to tell him how hypnosis worked. I spent the rest of the hour trying to explain something I didn't fully understand myself. He seemed a little dissapointed. [p132]

...forcing him to relive that terrible moment prematurely could be devastating, and cause him to withdraw even further into his protective shell. [p134]

"Ve haff arrrr vays, mein Mádchen." [p135]

She ran back and kissed me on the mouth (almost) before dashing out. I felt about thriteen years old again. [p136]

"Why Sweden?" she wanted to know.
"Because it's the country most like K-PAX."
The subject then turned to those human beings who seemed most like K-PAXians to him. Here is what he said: Henry Thoreau, Mohandas Gandhi, Albert Schweitzer, John Lennon, and Jane Goodall.
"Can you imagine a world full of Schweitzers?" she hooted...
Then she said something I had been wondering myself: "You know what else? I think he can talk to animals!" [p137]

He had obviously not bathed in weeks or even months. A blizzard of dandruff snowed from his head and drifted onto his shoulders. His teeth seemed to be covered with lichen. [p139]

K-PAX by Gene Brewer, Chapter: Session 9

It was a beautiful Fourth of July: partly cloudy skies (I wonder why it's always in the plural - how many "skies" are there?), not too hot or humid, the air redolent of charcoal grills and freshly cut grass. [p113]

A holiday seems to generate a feeling of timelessness, bringing, as it does, blended memories of all those that came before. [p113]

I didn't press him because I was afraid he was going to tell us he was gay. It's something a father doesn't ordinarily want to hear - most fathers are heterosexual - and I'm sure his mother, who will not be satisfied with less than eight grandchildren, felt the same way. [p116]

I have known dentists who quake at the sight of a drill and surgeons who are terrified to go under the knife. Sometimes that's why people get into those fields - it's a form of whistling in the dark. But I had never encountered an airline pilot who was afraid to fly. [p116]

I said, "Is there something you wanted to talk to me about?"
"Yes, Daddy, there is." I knew it was something I didn't want to hear. She hadn't called me "Daddy" in years...
"She threw herself into my arms and sobbed, "Oh, Daddy, I'm a lesbian!" [p118-120]

At that she smiled the warm smile she inherited from her mother - the one that says: "How sweet." [p119]

La Belle Chatte [p122 - The Beautiful Cat]

K-PAX by Gene Brewer, Chapter: Session 8

"There is only one truth. Truth is absolute. You can't escape it no matter how far you run." [p104]

Her eyes were fluttering like the wings of some exotic butterfly. [p109]

Her piney aura, however, stayed with me for the rest of the day. [p112]

K-PAX by Gene Brewer, Chapter: Session 7

"If I told you you'd blow yourselves up. Or worse, someone else." [p89 - prot on the method of light travel]

"Spoken like a true homo sapiens." [p89]

"When could you give me a little demonstration?"
"How about right now?"
"That would be quite acceptable."
"Shalom," he said. "Aloha". But of course he just sat there grinning at me like a Cheshire cat.
"Well?"
"Well what?"
"When are you going?"
"I'm already back."
I'd been taken in by the old "fastest gun in the West" routine. [p92 - prot is asked to give a demonstration of light travel]

After he chased the astonished woman down the driveway shouting, "Mary Magdelene, I forgive you!" she reported the matter to the authorities [p95 - Russel the patient who thinks he is Jesus led an isolated existance until a determined census worker visited]

Most (suicide) victims don't actually want to die; they want to communicate. [p97]

A manic-depressive once assured me that he would never try to kill himself. I asked him how he could be so sure. "Because," he told me, "I still haven't read Moby Dick." [p97]

K-PAX by Gene Brewer, Chapter: Session 6

Prot smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand and muttered, "Mama mia." Then, "All right. Let me see if I can make it complicated enough for you to understand." [p75]

"Your chinese have the right idea with their acupuncture." [p77]

Bald as an eigthtball and somewhat cross-eyed, he might have made an almost comic figure... [p83]

It is this constant struggle for control among the various identities, often accompanied by anxiety, insomnia, and ceaseless headaches, that makes for the singular horror of the multiple personality sufferer. [p85]

Ta'un and Waba' - Conceptions of Plague and Pestilence in Early Islam by Lawrence I. Conrad (Paper)

Tāʿūn and Wabāʾ Conceptions of Plague and Pestilence in Early Islam
Lawrence I. Conrad
Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Vol. 25, No. 3 (1982), pp. 268-307
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3632188

A mortality rate of up to 70 and 100 percent made bubonic and pneumonic plague the deadliest of epidemic diseases. [p268]

In classical Arabic the term ta'un is usually assumed to mean "plague", while waba' is considered a more general term for "epidemic" or "pestilence". But no attempt has been made to determine how precisely such terms were employed by early medieval authors. [p271]

In his plague treatise, Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani (d. 852/I449) complains that earlier writers not only have failed to distinguish between different diseases, but have even included natural disasters such as floods, famines, and droughts in their lists of "plagues". [p272]

There is a famous tradition (hadith) in which the Prophet (Muhammed (SAW)) warns the Muslims that if the ta'un breaks out in a country when they are not there, they should not enter it; there are numerous versions of this hadith, and one isolated but suspicious variant substitutes waba' for the word ta'un. [p273 - hadith source not mentioned! Here it is: Sahih Muslim, Book 26, Number 5495: Usama reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: Plague is a calamity which was inflicted on those who were before you, or upon Bani Isra'il. So when it has broken out in a land, don't run out of it, and when it has spread in a land, then don't enter it.]

Waba' is more commonly defined as a "quickness, and commonness, of death among men", as "a corruption happening to the substance of the air", as "a change affected in the air", and as "an unwholesomeness in the air, in consequence of which disease becomes common among men". [p274]

Public health centered around the problem of "corrupted" air. People were advised to take into account the quality of the air before choosing a residence, and to avoid living too close to industries that corrupted the air, such as lime kilns, furnaces, and smelting works, or in cities with narrow streets and tall buildings, where evil vapors would not dissipate properly. In times of pestilence it was believed that the use of spices and incense would restore the quality of the air and thus afford security from infection. [p276]

At one point he goes so far as to state that the fine breezes, humors, and waters of Iraq are responsible for the virtuous character of its people [p277 - Ibn Khurradadhbih on the Iraqi people - makes me proud to be Iraqi, lol]

For al-Jahiz, such natural forces (environment - air, water, land) are so powerful that their influence can even be discerned in racial characteristics and in wildlife. He expounds on this in a famous passage on the origins of black skin, which he claims is the result of environment (al-balad). The proof of this is to be found in a stony region of black basalt in the northern Najd (in Saudi Arabia). The people who live there are black, and newcomers who settle there become black after no more than three generations; for this area "is so unusual that its gazelles and ostriches, its insects and flies, its foxes, sheep and asses, its horses and its birds are all black. Blackness and whiteness are in fact caused by the properties of the region, as well as by the God-given nature of water and soil and by the proximity or remoteness of the sun and the intensity or mildness of its heat" [p278 - al-Jahiz on Najd's environment affecting phenotype - blackening skin/fur/feather color]

The Prophet Muhammad is said to have warned the believers to cover their vessels and tie shut their water-skins, for one night each year there comes a waba' that will pass by no uncovered vessel or untied skin without some of that waba' dropping into it [p282 -I found it: Sahih Muslim - Book 23, Number 5000: Jabir b. 'Abdullah reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: Cover the vessels and tie the waterskin, for there is a night in a year when pestilence descends, and it does not pass an uncovered vessel or an untied waterskin but some of that pestilence descending into it.]

Al-Ya'qfbi castigates Syria for its pestilential (waba') air, and Egypt for its erratic weather and many pestilences, which he links to the proximity of the Nile, "a damp putrid river full of vile fumes that engender diseases and cause food to spoil". Al-Muqaddasi vows that he has seen pestilential countries (buldan wabiya) before, but none as awful as Sughar, a town in southern Syria. Its climate is deadly to strangers, its water is unpalatable, and the town itself is as hot as Hell. "If anyone feels that the Angel of Death has tarried in claiming him, let him come to Sughar", he advises, "for in all Islam I know of no place to equal it in this respect" [p283 - ouch! That must have hurt Egyptian/Syrian pride - I've been to Syria quite a lot and I must admit it is a disease infested place more so than normal, sorry but that's my experience - stay clear of street food however enticing the shawarma seems ;) . As for the Nile, I didn't see it as being that bad in modern Egypt but those damn mosquitos... grrrr...]

Hasba (measles), sull (consumption), birsam and mum (pleuracy?), and humaa (fever). Judham (leporacy). 'Adasa (smallpox) || waram (pl. awram, "swellings"), qurha (pl. qurha, "purulent pustules"), or khuraj (pl. khurajat, "eruptions") [p283-4 || p292]

In Mecca, we are told, the threat of waba' was such that in Muhammad's infancy his wet-nurse (Halima) expressed fears for his safety [p284 - Ibn Hisham, I, i, 105 - Often, Muslims are taught that the Prophet was put in the care of countryside bedouin wet nurses like Halima al-Saadiyyah to make sure he grew strong and healthy in the clean air and environment of the countryside rather that the smoggy and dirty towns. It was Arab tradition to send children to stay in the care of a wet nurse until they were about 5 or 6. It now seems they did it for fear of death of the infant by a form of plague or other illness - clever people]

Whatever the case may have been, the point of prime interest to us here is that the same literature that repeatedly mentions the waba' in Mecca and Medina maintains just as vigorously that the same two cities do not suffer from outbreaks of tii'n. Al- Jahiz tells us that no ta'un has ever broken out in Medina. [p285 - Kitab al-bulddn, p. 286. That the pestilences of Medina did not include plague is suggested by another report, attributed to this same era, in which a man from Medina tells the caliph al-Ma 'mun that although there is much pestilence in the city, it is not life-threatening.]

Two centuries later al-Tha'alabi assures us that this is still the case (that there has been no outbreak of plague in Madinah). [p286]

In hadith, the security of the Haramayn from the ta'un is interpreted as an indication of divine favor. There are a number of well-known prophetic traditions in which it is stated that the ta'un, Christ, and the Anti-Christ will never enter Medina. The immunity of the Holy Cities also appears to be the source of a tradition, included in none (*mistake - it's meant to say 'one'*) of the six authoritative collections, according to which Muhammad sends the ta'un away to Syria, the region most heavily affected by outbreaks of the disease in Umayyad times. [p286 - good riddance, may Allah curse the Umayyads. The hadiths from Sahih Muslim are: Book 7, Number 3186: Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: There are at the approaches of Medina angels so that plague and the Dajjal shall not penetrate into it. || Book 7, Number 3187: Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: Dajjal will come from the eastern side with the intention of attacking Medina until he will get down behind Uhud. Then the angels will turn his face towards Syria and there he will perish.]

Such immunity is problematic. Indeed, we should at first expect the opposite, for with multitudes of pilgrims annually converging on the Holy Cities, it is hard to believe that for hundreds of years no ta'un occurring elsewhere ever spread to Mecca or Medina [p286 - subhanallah!]

In this same epidemic, Medina remained secure from infection by the ta'un (here definitely bubonic plague), even though Mecca suffered considerably [p287 - Mekkah probably had one big outbreak during the Ummayyad time, may Allah curse bani Ummayyah. Other times the outbreaks were minor like the one in 1815. But it never spread to Madinah subhanallah!]

Al-Mada'ini claims that the ta'un dissipated with the establishment of the 'Abbasid caliphate. Al-Jahiz too speaks of the disappearance of the ta'in with the fall of the Umayyads. He maintains that as an indication of divine favor... [p288 - initially the Abbassids were rather good so the curse of plague was lifted from them when they removed the Ummayyads]

Commenting on al-Mada'ini's observations, he says that there were no further tawa'in until the reign of the caliph al-Muqtadir (r. 295-320/907-32) [p289 - It hit Baghdad first in 301]

"Tawa'in are inflamed swellings which appear in the groin and axillae and kill within four to five days. The worst kind of ta'un is the black. The red ta'un is less malevolent, although it sometimes does kill. But hardly anyone survives the black or green" [p294 - Alexandrian physician and priest Ahrun (fl. 6th or 7th c. A.D.) describes the bubonic plague - the ancients considered the black purulent pustles to be "black bile", although we know today no such thing exists]

The ta'fin consists of purulent pustules (quruh) that erupt on the body. These appear in the groin 104), or in the axillae, or on the hands, or on the fingers and elsewhere on the body, accompanied by swelling and intense pain. The eruption of these tumors is accompanied by a fiery inflammation; the surrounding area blackens, and darkens or reddens into a dingy purple; and with this there also occurs palpitation of the heartbeat and nausea. [p297 - Imam al-Nawawi describes bubonic plague in his commentary on Sahih Muslim]

One curious feature seems to stand out from the rest of the above description. Both Ibn Sina (Avicenna) and al-Nawawi mention the appearance of swellings or pustules not only in the areas of the body where inflamed lymph glands cause the characteristic buboes, but also in places, like the fingers and hands, where ta'un cannot possibly refer to actual plague buboes. [p298]

Our oldest and most important evidence on the identity of the ta'un involves an extremely old Arabic proverb which appears in several contexts comparing the ta'un to the ghudda, a deadly disease of camels characterized by swellings similar to those of bubonic plague. In one set of reports, ''Amir ibn al-Tufayl, a great poet and chieftain of the Bani Sa'sa', comes to the Prophet and asks what his reward will be if he embraces Islam. Upon finding that he can expect no special privileges, he threatens Muhammad and leaves with his men. The Prophet appeals for divine assistance, and as 'Amir is on his way home to his own territory, God causes him to be stricken "in the neck by the ta'un". With his tongue lolling out of his mouth from the agony, 'Amir staggers into the house of a woman from the Banu Salul, a clan scorned by the other bedouin tribes as vile and despicable. Seeing that he is not even to be granted a respectable place to die, he bitterly utters a phrase that was to become proverbial for two simultaneous disasters, one even worse than the other: "A ghudda like that of the camel, and death in the house of a Saluli woman". [p298-299 - the closest hadith I found in Sahih Bukhari is in volume 5, #417 (5.417):
Narrated Anas: That the Prophet sent his uncle, the brother of Um Sulaim at the head of seventy riders. The chief of the pagans, 'Amir bin at-Tufail proposed three suggestions (to the Prophet ) saying, "Choose one of three alternatives: (1) that the bedouins will be under your command and the townspeople will be under my command; (2) or that I will be your successor, (3) or otherwise I will attack you with two thousand from Bani Ghatafan." But 'Amir was infected with plague in the House of Um so-and-so. He said, "Shall I stay in the house of a lady from the family of so-and-so after having a (swelled) gland like that she-camel? Get me my horse." So he died on the back of his horse. Then Haram, the brother of Um Sulaim and a lame man along with another man from so-and-so (tribe) went towards the pagans (i.e. the tribe of 'Amir). Haram said (to his companions), "Stay near to me, for I will go to them. If they (i.e. infidels) should give me protection, you will be near to me, and if they should kill me, then you should go back to your companions. Then Haram went to them and said, "Will you give me protection so as to convey the message of Allah's Apostle ?" So, he started talking to them' but they signalled to a man (to kill him) and he went behind him and stabbed him (with a spear). He (i.e. Haram) said, "Allahu Akbar! I have succeeded, by the Lord of the Ka`ba!" The companion of Haram was pursued by the infidels, and then they (i.e. Haram's companions) were all killed except the lame man twho was at the top of a mountain. Then Allah revealed to us a verse that was among the cancelled ones later on. It was: 'We have met our Lord and He is pleased with us and has made us pleased.' (After this event) the Prophet invoked evil on the infidels every morning for 30 days. He invoked evil upon the (tribes of) Ril, Dhakwan, Bani Lihyan and Usaiya who disobeyed Allah and His Apostle.]

Conversions to Islam and the spread of Arabic not only diminished the ranks of the Christian communities, but also sapped the vitality of their literary traditions. [p303 - the author here is talking about lingual descriptions of the plague. The Arabs/Persians may not have had the same accuracy in describing the disease due to a decreased number of words. Either way, the descriptions did not help them]


Here's an interesting hadith I found concerning plague while I was researching the sources of this paper:

Sahih Muslim, Book 20, Number 4705:
It has been narrated on the authority of Abu Huraira that the, Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: While a man walks along a path, finds a thorny twig lying on the way and puts it aside, Allah would appreciate it and forgive him The Holy Prophet (may peace be upon him) said: The martyrs are of five kinds: one who dies of plague; one who dies of diarrhoea (or cholera) ; one who is drowned; one who is buried under debris and one who dies fighting in the way of Allah.

K-PAX by Gene Brewer, Chapter: Session 5

...I could discern his obsidian irises shinning across the desk like those of a nocturnal animal... [p61]

"Mathematics is not my strong suit" [p61]

"It has a nutty flavour much like your cashew."
"Gesundheit" [p63]

"No one 'owns' anything on K-PAX" [p65]

"It's 'beam me up, scotty' time" [p68]

I should wax philosophical here... [p69]

Find the bluebird of happiness. [p71]

K-PAX by Gene Brewer, Chapter: Session 4

There are five floors at the MPI, numbered essentially in order of increasing severity of patient illness. Ward one (ground floor) is for those who suffer only acute neuroses or mild paranoia... Ward two is occupied by those more severely afflicted: delusionals such as Russel and pro, manic and deep depressives, obdurate misanthropes, and others unable to function in society. Ward three is divided into 3A, which houses a variety of seriously psychotic individuals, and 3B, the autistic/catatonic section. Finally, Ward Four is reserved for psychopathic patients who might cause harm to the staff and their fellow inmates. This includes certain autists who regularly erupt into uncontrollable rages, as well as otherwise normal individuals who sometimes become violent without any warning. [p47]

A coprophagic whose only desire is to consume his own, and sometimes others', feces. [p48]

One of the latter, dubbed "Whacky" by a comedic student some time ago, is a man who diddles with himself almost constantly. Virtually anything sets him off: arms, legs, beds, bathrooms - you name it. [p48]

She was extremely coquettish, leading him on but never quite going "all the way". [p48-49]

Crazed with desire, Whacky remained as virginal as Russel for two agonizing years - he was saving himself for the woman he loved. [p49]

But on their wedding day she ran off with an old boyfriend, recently released from the state prison, leaving Whacky literally standing at the alter (and bursting at the seams). When he received the news that his fiancée had jilted him, he took down his pants and began to masturbate right there in the church, and he has been at it ever since. [p49]

When not caught up in his compulsion, Whacky is a very pleasant guy. [p49]

T A L K I N G with Whacky always reminds me of the awesome power that sex has over all of us, as Freud perceived in a moment of tremendous inspiration a century ago. Indeed most of us have sexual problems at some time in, if not throughout, our lives. [p50]

The candidate, whom I shall call Dr. Choate, exhibited a rather perculiar mannerism: He continually checked his fly, presumably to make sure it was closed... [p54]

It has been said that all psychiatrists are a little crazy. Dr. Choate did nothing to dispel that canard. [p54]

But nearly all have IQs well below average, usually in the fifty to seventy-five range. [Brewer on savants, p57]

Great wits are sure to madness near alli'd
And thin partitions do their bounds divide [Poet John Dryden, p58]

"Get thee behind me, Satan!" he exclaimed periodically, to no one in particular. [p60]

K-PAX by Gene Brewer, Chapter: Session 3

Otherwise there was no suggestion of any special alien talents. [p41]

K-PAX by Gene Brewer, Chapter: Session 2

We chatted for a few minutes about fruit. [p20]

It's like having your gonads caught in a vise, except you feel it all over [p22] (Prot on sex for K-PAXians)

"If the experience is so terrible, how do you reproduce?"
"Like your porcupines: as carefully as possible..." [p22]

"On EARTH, children are encouraged to play all the time. This is because you believe they should remain innocent of their approaching adulthood for as long as possible, apparently because the latter is so distasteful. On K-PAX, children and adults are all part of the same thing. On our PLANET life is fun and interesting. There is no need for mindless games, either for children or adults. No need to escape into soap operas, football, alcohol or other drugs." [p30]

The man seemed to be genuinely content with his imaginary lot. [p30]

1. P hates his parents - had he been abused?
2. P hates his job, the government, perhaps society as a whole - had there been a legal problem resulting in a perceived injustice?
3. Did something happen 4 - 5 years ago that underlay all these apparent hatreds?
4. On top of everything else, the patient has a severe sex hangup. [p31]

Extraordinary cases require extraordinary measures [p31]

K-PAX by Gene Brewer, Chapter: Session 1

Betty came in with two large apples. She glanced at me for approval, and when I nodded, offered them to the patient. he took them from the little tray. "Red Delicious!" he exclaimed. "My favorite!" After offering us a tastem which we declined, he took a large, noisy bite. I dismissed my assistant and watched as "prot" devoured the fruit. I had never seen anyone enjoy anything more. He ate every bit of both apples, including the seeds. When he finished he said , "Thanks and thanks"... [p5]

"Will you tell me your name, please?"
"Yes." Evidence for a sense of humor?

"How did you get to Earth?"...
"It's a matter of harnessing the energy of light. You may find this hard to believe, but it's done with mirrors." ...
"You travel at the speed of light?"
"Oh no. We can travel many times that speed, various multiples of c. Otherwise, I'd have to be at least seven thousand years old, wouldn't I?"
I forced myself to return his smile. "That's very interesting, " I said, "but according to Einstein nothing can travel faster than the speed of light, or one hundered and eighty-six thousand miles per second, if I remember correctly."
"You misunderstood einstein. What he said was that nothing can accelerate to the speed of light because its mass would become infinite. Einstein said nothing about entities already traveling at the speed of light, or faster."
"But your mass becomes infinite when you--".
His feet plopped onto my desk. In the first place doctor brewer - may I call you gene? - if that were true then photons themselves would have infinite mass, wouldn't they? And beyonf that at tachyon speeds--"
"Tachyon?"
"Entities traveling faster than the speed of light are called tachyons. Look it up"... "tachyons, you see, travel faster than light, and therefore backwards in time. Time passes for the traveler of course, and he becomes older than he was when he left" [p7-8]

"If I understand you correctly, you sort of 'hitched a ride' on a beam of light" [p8]

"All life is intelligent" [p10]

"Can you say something in Zairese? Any dialect will do."
"Certainly. Ma-ma kotta rampoon."
"What does that mean?"
"It means: Your mother is a gorilla."
"Thank you."
"No problem." [p12]

"First, how do you account for the fact that, as a visitor from space, you look so much like an Earth person?"
"Why is a soap bubble round?"
"I don't know - why?"
"For an educated person, you don't know much, do you gene? A soap bubble is round because it is the most energy-efficient configuration. Similarly, many beings around the UNIVERSE look pretty much like we do." [p14] ...

Can I just say that the above quote this is an insult to our intelligence - I know it's science-fiction but the author should have at least thought-up a more credible reason.

...Russell, our resident Christ, and thousands like them live in worlds of their own, realms just as real to them as your and mine are to us. [p16]

Are we all Drs. Jekyll and Messrs. Hyde? [p17]

Note the plural of 'Mr' in the quote above! And it's valid.

K-PAX by Gene Brewer

Synopsis

When a new patient is brought to a mental ward claiming to be an inhabitant of a planet called K-Pax, the hospital seems to be just the place for him. But what about his supernatural powers? Virtually everyone who meets him is changed for the better.

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Ahmad's Reading (Useful Literary Quotes) - Introduced

For lack of imagination, I originally decided to call this blog "Useful Literary Quotes". Then, after a while, I came up with an even less imaginative title: "Ahmad's Reading".

This blog is a memory bank of all the wonderful quotes I read in books that made me think, made me wonder and challenged me.

Books are wonderful things. I'm always reading a book when I have the time to but, as you might very well know, once you finish reading a book you gradually forget what makes that book so special. There's something about the way brilliant authors word things and express their ideas and the opinions of their characters that needs to be saved in memory for later recollection. This is the purpose of this blog.