Men made wagers with their judgment, their allegiances, their resources.

What man would dare believe that all he planned might come to pass?

Liu Fang is a truly gifted, world-famous player of the pipa and the guzheng, classical Chinese stringed instruments.

It was different, though, knowing something in your thoughts and then hearing it confirmed, made real, planted in the world like a tree

It can be hard to write a skillfully entertaining fiction, but a great book wants to be more, and wants more from us.

The military preferred - invariably - those who could be readily defined, assigned roles, understood, and controlled.

My youngest brother had a wonderful schtick from some time in high school, through to graduating medicine. He had a card in his wallet that read, ‘If I am found with amnesia, please give me the following books to read …’ And it listed half a dozen books where he longed to recapture that first glorious sense of needing to find out ‘what happens next’ … the feeling that keeps you up half the night. The feeling that comes before the plot’s been learned.