All of the common core standards stuff about critical reading and critical thinking and so on can only be positive.

Many Americans have never owned a book, and I'm not talking about because of the recent digital revolution. I'm talking about before there even was a digital revolution.

Textbooks are written in an oracular monotone, so that they claim to be true and important.

There is no excuse for these 1,152 page textbooks.

Conclusions are not always pleasant.

The world, of course, doesn't come divided into disciplines. The world just is.

It is always useful to think badly about people one has exploited or plans to exploit... No one likes to think of him or herself as a bad person. To treat badly another person whom we consider a reasonable human being creates a tension between act and attitude that demands resolution. We cannot erase what we have done, and to alter our future behavior may not be in our interest. To change our attitude is easier.