WHEN we don't get the results we want in our military endeavors, we don't blame the soldiers.

I have no idea how people function without near-constant internal chaos. I'd lose my mind.

She pulls away, pats me on the shoulder with three mini-pats, like those used to pet reptiles.

I still get my news from the newspaper in the morning. I just have an affection for paper, and that's no secret, I guess.

I don't mean to beat a made-in-America drum, but I would be lying if I said it doesn't feel somehow right to be printing books in the U.S.

Nonfiction narratives are really powerful and valid in themselves. But one thing that you don't get sometimes from the more clinical or academic books or nonfiction books is that you don't get to hear the person's voice; you don't get them as individuals. You get a few quotes and you hear them as sort of a case study: numbers, examples, anecdotes, maybe a paragraph here, and that's about it.

Live long enough and you'll disappoint everyone. People think you're able to help them and usually you can't. And so it becomes a process of choosing the one or two people you try hardest not to disappoint. The person in my life I am determined not to disappoint is you.