There were some great submissions this week. For now I’ve just been crediting people with first names in an effort to keep the atmosphere largely informal, but for future reference if readers would like a more elaborate citation or a link attached to their name please let me know.
Cream for whipping must be sufficiently rich in fat to form a continuous skeleton of globules.
On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, Harold McGee
Submitted by v, via mouse on BookWyrm. Throwing “skeleton” into that sentence is a true power move; “a continuous skeleton of globules” starts to veer into early-aughts McSweeney’s territory in terms of preciousness but we’ll permit it.
Early on, the software had the regrettable habit of hitting police cruisers.
“Elon Musk’s Appetite For Destruction”, Christopher Cox in The New York Times
A terrific lede, undeniable.
The lessons of our history often end at dawn.
The Morning the Sun Went Down, Darryl Babe Wilson
Submitted by Charlie, who also provided this description of the book:
It’s a beautiful and heartbreaking recounting of Wilson’s childhood/teenage-hood in far NE California among his people, the Pit River (Achuma’wi / Atsuge’wi). A fun piece of trivia that I realized as I was reading is that the house Wilson’s family lived in (and talk a lot about in the book) is right next to the bridge where the famous “TRAIN!” scene from the movie Stand By Me was filmed.
Another part I love about this book is that he refers to California as “the state of California (our constant enemy).”
Despite or maybe due to being a white settler born and raised in California I deeply relate to the framing of California as a constant enemy. Additional perfect sentences from what definitely seems like a terrific read:
We were not created so fragile that our spirits can be broken with bullets.
Stars powdered the vastness of time, owl threw its forlorn hoot across the deep thickness of the Fall River Valley, wind moved the juniper and the pine to mingle in the most tender perfume, river crashed through the deep canyon, carrying a message to outer ocean and to the salmon, so they would know that they are welcome if the ever returned.
Here, Icarus dusts himself off and pivots to zeppelins.
Palo Alto, Malcolm Harris
Appropriate to have this sentence follow selections from a different book about California (our constant enemy). I have a lot to say about Palo Alto now that I’ve finished it, but I think it will take too long so here is another great sentence from it for now:
No matter what the feds say, there is only so long you can decline to recognize someone who is hitting you with a shovel.
We’ve all been there, I imagine.
To obtain this important feature the requirements of art have been frequently sacrificed.
One Thousand American Fungi, Charles McIlvaine
Submitted by Wesley, with the observation that this sentence really shines within its context:
The greatest care has been taken to secure illustrations correct in every botanic detail. With few exceptions the colored figures were painted by the writer. To obtain this important feature the requirements of art have been frequently sacrificed.
Even if I hadn’t told you the title I feel like this entire paragraph gives “insanely detailed mushroom book.” I mean, this would not be said in a book about flowers. Maybe a book about every kind of potato (Every Kind of Potato would be a great title for something, probably about potatoes).
Language is more than a bag of words.
“Pattern Wise, System Foolish”, Jeff Eaton on the Autogram blog
Robert Smithson’s drawing “A Heap of Language” begs to differ with this statement, of course, but it’s still a great sentence, and effective in the context of this post.