The best we can do, to paraphrase Pollan, is to eat whole foods, mostly plants, and not too much.

I found there were things about religion that I really loved; things like the sense of gratefulness that it brings.

A loud noise will get your fight-or-flight response going. This, over the years, can cause real cardiovascular damage.

I've never before been so aware of the thousands of little good things, the thousands of things that go right every day.

I’d recommend learning to accept rejection. Become friends with rejection. Be nice to rejection, because it’s a huge part of being a writer, no matter where you are in your career.

A few weeks later, I’m in a fluorescent-lit classroom in Chelsea awaiting the start of the official Mensa test. I’m sitting next to a guy who’s doing a series of elaborate neck stretches, like we’re about to engage in a vigorous rugby match. He’s neatly laid out four types of gum on his Formica desk: Juicy Fruit, Wrigley Spearmint, Big Red, and Eclipse. I hate this guy. I hope to God he’s not a genius.

It comes back to the old question: How can the Bible be so wise in some places and so barbaric in others? And why should we put any faith in a book that includes such brutality?