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Quote by Diane Ackerman

“I was moving in a narrow range between busy distractedness and a pervasive sadness whose granules seemed to enter each cell, weighing it down... I ghosted between islands of anxiety... a fatigue that dulled my zest, decanted it. Sorrow felt like a marble coat I couldn’t shed.”

Quote by Diane Ackerman

Work

One Hundred Names for Love: A Memoir

This memoir delves into the personal journey of a couple facing the challenges of early-onset Alzheimer's disease. The narrative captures the emotional impact on the relationship, highlighting the resilience and love that endure amidst the complexities of the illness. more

Author

Diane Ackerman
Diane Ackerman

Diane Ackerman is an American author known for her rich imagination and unique writing style. Her works cover a wide range of subjects including nature, literature, and art, with her books 'A Year in the Garden' and 'A Natural History of the Senses' particularly beloved by readers. more

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“It was them and not them, maybe the ones they’d never been. I could almost see those others standing in the garden where the pea plants were, feet planted between the rows. They stood without moving, their faces glowing with some shine a long time gone. A time before I lived. Their arms hung at their sides. They’d always been there, I thought blearily, and they’d always wanted to be more than they were. They should always be thought of as invalids, I saw. Each person, fully grown, was sick or sad, with problems attached to them like broken limbs. Each one had special needs. If you could remember that, it made you less angry. They’d been carried along on their hopes, held up by the chance of a windfall. But instead of a windfall there was only time passing. And all they ever were was themselves. Still they had wanted to be different. I would assume that from now on, I told myself, wandering back into the barn. What people wanted to be, but never could, traveled along beside them. Company.”

“Without further ado I left the place, finding my route by the marks I had made on the way in. As I walked in the dark through the tunnels and tunnels of books, I could not help being overcome by a sense of sadness. I couldn't help thinking that if I, by pure chance, had found a whole universe in a single unknown book, buried in that endless necropolis, tens of thousands more would remain unexplored, forgotten forever. I felt myself surrounded by millions of abandoned pages, by worlds and souls without an owner sinking in an ocean of darkness, while the world that throbbed outside the library seemed to be losing its memory, day after day, unknowingly, feeling all the wiser the more it forgot.”

“I didn't learn strategy in an ivory tower; I forged it in the market's hellfire. The chaos of 2008 wasn't my end—it was my beginning. My work is for the trader tired of guessing, for the investor sick of helplessly watching their portfolio bleed. It's not about predicting the storm; it's about building an ark that's already proven it can float.”