"The expression 'Breakfast of Champions' is a registered trademark of General Mills, Inc., for use on a breakfast cereal product. The use of the identical expression as the title for this book is not intended to indicate an association with or sponsorship by General Mills, nor is it intended to disparage their fine products." (Preface, p. 1 - a nearly identical quote also appears in Chapter 18, p. 195)

"As for the suspicion I express in this book, that human beings are robots, are machines: It should be noted that people, mostly men, suffering from the last stages of syphilis, from locomoter ataxia, were common spectacles in downtown Indianapolis and in circus crowds when I was a boy.

"Those people were infected with carnivorous little corkscrews which could be seen only with a microscope. The victims' vertebrae were welded together after the corkscrews got through with the meat between. The syphilitics...