Complex Numbers

The antidote

The antidote for the other day's "things to be happy about" entry:

http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Side-Thoughts-Futility-Ancient/dp/0806514817/ref=sr_1...

The philosophical antithesis of the 14,000 things book, this one has darkened my library for several years now. It's primarily a book of quotations, in loose chronological order, though sections are introduced by the author.

A few examples:

"To be ignorant is life's greatest joy!" -Ajax, c.441 BCE

"In the whole animal kingdom I recollect no family but man, steadily and systematically employed in the destruction of itself." -Jefferson, 1797

"One's real life is so often the life that one does not lead." -Wilde

This book is so mind-numbingly depressing that even I have to stop reading after less than an hour. It's beautiful in its nihilism, poetic in its embrace of oblivion.

And I guarantee you there's nothing cute in there.