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My mom really liked this book, she recommended it to me and so I went right in. I loved how emergent of a character it has. It is not a pre-planned treatise, but rather musings conceived in conversation, universal teachings enclosed inside the fabric and circumstances of a letter and a receiver. Rilke wrote as though he had figured it all out, as though he was the mature and realized poet he strived to be.

Mainländer frames his book as the culmination of the works of Kant and Schopenhauer, two of the greatest German philosophers. His work is tragically compelling, presenting a vision of a universe where God had already died and all growth stems from this point of destruction. It is also scientifically predictive, aligning with the Big Bang hypothesis which came half-a-century after the book's initial publication, and the demise of its author.

I enjoyed reading this book a lot as a kid. Even now, when I remember it exists and go through its pages again, the multiplicity and intricacy of its narrative structure never fail to intrigue me. The characters are all written with grace, showing not only the point of view of the protagonist but also of those who happen to cross paths with him in some way. These prisms are beautiful in their own right, and illuminate the protagonist's journey in their own light.

I found this book quite predictive of modern day society, even though Dostoevsky was writing this from the perspective of the social outcasts of his time. He seems to have touched upon the archetypal themes of isolation; its causes and effects, and the mechanisms that prolong its condition. Natural dispositions, societal malaise and shallowness, and the continual honing of personal thoughts, positions and feelings that intensify so much that the only way they can be expressed is in outbursts of rage, inappropriate to the original situation and context.

There's an earlier book in the series known as Elements that I've never got my hands on. Nonetheless, Molecules was the perfect introduction to the larger world of chemistry; I had already memorized all of the elements, their groups and properties, and wanted to know how they'd combine. Each chapter opened up a whole new world of possibility.