I was born in December 1954 or January 1955 (‘when the first snow fell’) as the third child of a Kurdish family living in a remote village of Eastern Turkey. My father died of tuberculosis at the age of 31 when I was six years old. My mother was 34, never married again, dedicated her life to her children. From the moment I learned how to read and write I became a passionate reader of the books; books of literature, books of history, books of travel, books of philosophy, books of memoirs, books of biographies, books of politics… This book contains some of the excerpts that I noted while reading. Excerpts of wisdom and reflection from Barack Obama to Haji Ali (Nurmadhar of Korphe Village in Karakoram) from Edward Gibbon to Abdul Sattar Edhi (Pakistani Philanthropist). Excerpts on life, on love, on humanity, on civilization, on courage, on art, on ideas, on faith, on democracy, on freedom, on nations, on education, on war, on peace... Just a few short examples: For only in death are we alone-Rabindranath Tagore *** Sir, that all who are happy, are equally happy, is not true. A peasant and a philosopher may be equally satisfied, but not equally happy. Happiness consists in the multiplicity of agreeable consciousness-Samuel Jonson *** Serious literature is no less of a life preserver, even if the society is all but oblivious of it-Philip Roth *** It bothers me a little that at 99 you’re going to die any minute, because I have a lot of other things I want to do-Delmer Berg Sezai Arli Doha, November 2020