Not writing the same kind of book over and over again is to me the real pleasure of what I do.

A cough so robust that I tapped into two new seams of phlegm.

As a rule of thumb, I would submit that if you need to call your floss provider, for any reason, you are probably not ready for this level of oral hygiene.

The people are immensely likable— cheerful, extrovert, quick-witted, and unfailingly obliging. Their cities are safe and clean and nearly always built on water. They have a society that is prosperous, well ordered, and instinctively egalitarian. The food is excellent. The beer is cold. The sun nearly always shines. There is coffee on every corner. Life doesn't get much better than this.

Language is more fashion than science, and matters of usage, spelling and pronunciation tend to wander around like hemlines.

A world without newspapers or a world where the newspapers are purely electronic and you read them on a screen is not a very appealing world.

I come Des Moines. Somebody had to.