A 2002 Oxford study showed counting sheep actually delays the onset of sleep. It's just too dull to stop us from worrying about jobs and spouses.

Sometimes miracles occur only when you jump in.

Probably 90 percent of our life decisions are powered by the twin engines of inertia and laziness.

I thought religion would eventually wither away and we'd all be worshiping at the altar of science.

When I went to Israel, it was a little disorienting, because there are so many people who look crazy and were dressed like me. There, I was just one of the apocalyptic crowd.

I grew up in a very secular home with no religion at all, so I was starting from zero.

I tried the paleo diet, which is the caveman diet - lots of meat. I tried the raw food vegan diet. And I tried the calorie restriction diet, which is the idea is that if you eat very, very little - if you're on the verge of starvation, you will live a very long time. Whether or not you want to, of course, is the idea.