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Quote by Tom Vanderbilt

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Beginners: The Joy and Transformative Power of Lifelong Learning

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Tom Vanderbilt
Tom Vanderbilt

Tom Vanderbilt, born in 1968, is an accomplished journalist whose career spans a variety of fields, including culture, society, and technology. His work is known for its in-depth analysis and unique perspective, with his articles frequently appearing in prestigious publications such as The New Yorker and The New York Times. more

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“We also composed using what we called vowel movement - very important for songwriters. The sounds that work. Many times you don't know what the word is, but you know the word has got to contain this vowel, this sound. You can write something that'll look really good on paper, but it doesn't contain the right sound. You start to build the consonants around the vowels. There's a place to go ooh and there's a place to go daah. And if you get it wrong, it sounds like crap. It's not necessarily that it rhymes with anything at the moment, and you've got to look for the rhyming word too, but you know there's a particular vowel involved.”

SongwritingRhymeWriting ProcessVowels
Book:Life
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“It was the custom, rigidly adhered to," Luke said, turning the brandy in his glass, "for the public executioner, before a quartering, to outline his knife strokes in chalk upon the belly of his victim--for fear of a slip, you understand." I would like to hit her with a stick, Eleanor thought, looking down on Theodora's head beside her chair; I would like to batter her with rocks. "An exquisite refinement, exquisite. Because of course the chalk strokes would have been almost unbearable, excruciating, if the victim were ticklish." I hate her, Eleanor thought, she sickens me; she is all washed and clean and wearing my red sweater. "When the death was hanging by chains, however, the executioner..." "Nell?" Theodora looked up at her and smiled. "I really am sorry, you know," she said. I would like to watch her dying, Eleanor thought, and smiled back and said, "Don't be silly.”

DeathViolenceRocksHatredTelepathyTicklishExecutionerPosession
Book:The Haunting of Hill House
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“Every Saturday morning and Thursday afternoon, Miss Radcliffe would lead them on a brisk walk across country, sometimes for hours at a time, through muddy fields and flowing streams, over hills and into woods. Sometimes they bicycled farther afield, to Uffington to see the White Horse or Barbury to climb the Iron Age hill fort or even on occasion as far as the Avebury stone circle. They became quite expert at spotting the round hollows Miss Radcliffe referred to as "dew ponds": they were made by prehistoric people, she said, in order to ensure that they always had sufficient water to drink. According to Miss Radcliffe, there were signs of ancient communities everywhere, if one only knew where to look. Even the woods behind the school were filled with secrets from the past: Miss Radcliffe had shown them beyond the clearing to a small hill she called the "dragon mound." "There is every possibility that this was an Anglo-Saxon burial site," she'd said, going on to explain that it was so named because the Anglo-Saxons believed that dragons watched over their treasure. "Of course, the Celts would have disagreed. They would have called this a fairy mound and said beneath it lay the entrance to fairyland.”

PondsNatural HistoryNature WalkMyths And Facts
Book:The Clockmaker's Daughter
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“પ્રેમનો લિટમસ ટેસ્ટ શાંતિ છે. જેમની હાજરીમાં તમે શાંત અને સુરક્ષિત હોવાનો અનુભવ કરો છો, ત્યાં પ્રેમ મળવાની મહત્તમ શક્યતાઓ રહેલી છે. કારણકે કોઈ પણ સંબંધમાં એક્સાઈટમેન્ટ, ઉત્સાહ, અને સરપ્રાઈઝ બહુ જલદી ઓગળી જાય છે, પણ શાંતિ આજીવન ટકે છે. રોમાંચ અને રોમાન્સના ભરોસે દૂર સુધી નહીં જઈ શકાય, કારણકે એ અલ્પજીવી હોય છે. આજ નહીં તો કાલ, શૃંગાર રસ ગાયબ થવાનો જ છે. પણ શાંત રસ ક્યાંય નહીં જાય કારણકે આપણો મૂળ સ્વભાવ શાંત રસ છે. વર્ષો સુધી જે સાથીઓ એકબીજાને શાંત રસ પીરસી શકે, તેઓ પ્રેમમાં પરિપક્વતા અને પ્રગતિ પામી શકે. મોડી રાત સુધી ચાલતી વોટ્સ-એપ ચેટ, કલાકો સુધી ચાલતા ફોન કોલ્સ, અને પેટમાં ઉડતા પતંગિયા બહુ જ ટૂંકા સમયમાં ગાયબ થઈ જાય છે. વહાલના ઉભરા શમી જાય છે. મુગ્ધાવસ્થાની બધી જ લાગણીઓ બળી જાય, પછી જે શાંત અને સ્થિર રાખ વધે એનું નામ પ્રેમ છે. જ્યાં બે જણા વચ્ચેનું મૌન કમ્ફોર્ટેબલ હોય, ત્યાં પ્રેમનું બીજ અંકુરિત થઈ શકે છે. એક પણ શબ્દ બોલ્યા વગર કોઈની બાજુમાં બેસીને તમે એને સાંભળી શક્તા હો અને એ તમને સમજી શક્તા હોય, તો રોમેન્ટિક મેસેજીઝ કે લાલ ગુલાબનો મોહ ન રાખવો. કારણકે શાંત સંગાથ સાહચર્ય માટેના શ્રેષ્ઠ શુકન છે. જે વ્યક્તિ સાથે રહીને તમને ઘર જેવી ફીલિંગ આવે, એ પ્રેમનો મુકામ છે. જે ભાવાત્મક તોફાન સર્જે એ નહીં, જે માનસિક શાંતિ તરફ વાળે એને પ્રેમ ગણવો.”

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Author:Dr. Nimit Oza
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“She tossed him a small mirror so that he could see the results, and what he saw horrified him.  The boiling concoction left a deep trail of burnt skin that stretched from the crown of his head all the way to his chin – almost like an artificial sluice that burned his flesh to form a large rivulet that ran down the center of his face.”

FunFantasyUniqueScarySci FiImaginativeShort StoriesCollectionSlasherVaried
Book:The Odd and The Strange: A Collection of Very Short Fiction
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“She put all of her weight against the sill of the balcony, her lovesick heart ready and willing to join the man she loved.  She closed her eyes and pushed herself forward.  From three stories high, she plummeted to the earth.  Before hitting the ground, she swore she saw him, racing down from the heavens and lifting her up towards God’s domain where lovers never ceased to rule.”

FunDramaUniqueScaryRevengeIntrigueShort StoriesPerspectivesCollectionVaried
Book:The Odd and The Strange: A Collection of Very Short Fiction
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