"Little in recent American literature is as fascinating as watching Glück become one of our most important poets. Her late work is astonishing for its formal freedom and philosophical breadth."

"Really meditative and challenging, like being sentenced to a philosophical nightmare. I used to pray for the ability to reanimate my childhood pet dog till I saw this film. Eerie stuff."

"Raises a major philosophical question: namely, could any film ever do justice to—i.e., match the cinematic richness of—the portion of the Miles Davis soundtrack listed, on the album, as “Generique”?"

"With all of its inevitable sins of omission and generalization, this great compilation of Western philosophical ideas and currents from pre-Socratic times until the middle of the 20th century is an invaluable and accessible guide to our shared social history."

"Few books have made me think more than this one over the last decade. A meandering philosophical treatise that explores how all types of systems—your body, nature, the economy, your company—get stronger or weaker with stress. Some don’t like Taleb’s writing style, but his ideas are compelling."

"Andrei Tarkovsky. Again, incredibly… I mean, all these films are extremely influential to my own moviemaking, and they were the kinds of movies that just spun me around. I couldn’t compare them with anything else I’d seen at the time. And Stalker was definitely one of those. There was a sense of pace that I’d never experienced in a film before, such a wonderful sustained atmosphere, and then just this incredible metaphysical story. I think it’s still one of the great science fiction movies, and it’s so philosophical and yet so visual. The philosophical ideas are conveyed in terms of pure cinema and visuals as opposed to people talking. Quite a skill, I have to say."

"The philosophical concept introduced in the title speaks volumes and poses so many questions. Kundera’s novel opened up a whole new chapter of my life and ushered in a new understanding of perspective. Life is filled with wins and losses, both big and small, but all are temporary, fleeting, perhaps affecting, but impermanent."