Like most people, I find watching the lazy and quiet underwater realm of a big aquarium exceptionally calming.

I find that the Amazon comments often are exceptionally shrewd and insightful, so I'm not going to diss them. But you don't really have any guarantees that what you're reading wasn't written out of friendship or spite.

I'm sometimes willing to put in vast, even inordinate amounts of time if I find a project that interests me.

Basically, I think that most people either make too much money or not enough money. The jobs that are essential and important pay too little, and those that are essentially managerial pay far too much.

Sometimes the very best of all summer books is a blank notebook. Get one big enough, and you can practice sketching the lemon slice in your drink or the hot lifeguard on the beach or the vista down the hill from your cabin.

Most scholarly books we read for the information or insight they contain. But some we return to simply for the pleasure of the author's company.