You know, Freud accepted his lot very stoically and very well and with a sense of humor. He aged and died gracefully, and there's a lot to be said for that.
A myth is a lie that conceals or reveals a truth. But if it reveals even a strand of history or truth, that's what gets my adrenaline going.
Numerous politicians have seized absolute power and muzzled the press. Never in history has the press seized absolute power and muzzled the politicians.
A key goal for an author of history is to persuade his or her readers to forget what they know and to relive the world as it unfolded for characters of the time - with outcomes uncertain.
I've always been interested in intellectual history and in psychology, and anxiety is obviously something that's been a big part of my life.
You think in a different way when you don't have any money. The joy of poverty is that you use your imagination to come up with stuff.
The responses that environmentalists evoke - fear, anxiety, numbness, despair - are not helpful, even if they are understandable. It should be fascinating, even enthralling, to be in the milieu of environmental change.
Maybe climate change is a threat, and maybe climate change has been tarted up by climatologists trolling for research grant cash. It doesn't matter.
Close elections tend to break toward the challenger because undecided voters - having held out so long against the incumbent - are by nature looking for change.
It's hardly surprising that the corporate aliens lie when it comes to the relationship between doing something about climate change and the economy.
Our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time; what we really want is for things to remain the same but get better.
I'm a sucker for lost worlds. I was nostalgic even as a child. I was happiest in my hometown library in Adams, Mass., where nothing seemed to change.
There may be something to the suggestion about the pace of technological change intimidating writers, though - it's been awfully hard to keep ahead of real developments.
Hominid and human evolution took place over millions and not billions of years, but with the emergence of language there was a further acceleration of time and the rate of change.
I think transportation and corrections are not the first two areas that I would go looking for massive change.
Personal computers were created by some teenagers in garages because the, the wisdom of the computer industry was that people didn't want these little toys on their desk.
My dad died when I was 23. His death was sudden and shocking - the result of a car crash - and I never got to say goodbye.
The average American expends more time becoming informed about choosing a car than choosing a candidate. But, then, the consequences of the former choice are immediate and discernible.
I value humor, kindness, and the ability to tell a good story far more than money, status, or the kind of car someone drives.
My dad, Donald, was a vet and had a practice in Yorkshire. Cats and dogs were his bread and butter, but his greatest love was large animals.
The great help of being in the Army is to understand why are the armies clever in what they describe as emotional intelligence, making soldiers come to terms with the death of comrades by certain rituals.
