Via Tim Bray, via Burning Bird, via...

Instructions: Grab the nearest book, open it to page 23, find the 5th sentence, and post its text along with these instructions. I would add to the instructions: point back to where you got the idea so that we can follow the threads.

Mine: from American Dynasty by Kevin Phillips: "The title of a recent biography of Francis, Standing on a Volcano, referred to his task of hammering out a commercial treaty with Russia, as well as advising on U.S. bank loans to the Russian Government."