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That is from the novel "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World" by Haruki Murakami[0].

[0]: https://everything2.com/title/Encyclopedia+on+a+toothpick

Martin Gardner illustrated this principle in "Paradoxes to Puzzle and Delight" back in 1982, and I'm sure he wasn't the first to think of the concept.

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