When a good friend gives you his or her book, you don't want to read it, because you're afraid that it's not going be what you hope it can be.
John HodgmanPart of the transaction between writer and reader is the pleasure of building a community and encouraging people to play along.
John HodgmanHoudini, the magician who debunked magic, could not bear to see the great rationalist [Arthur Conan] Doyle enchanted by ghosts and frauds. And so he did what any friend would: He set out to prove spiritualism false and rob his friend Doyle of the only comforting fiction that was keeping him sane. It was the least he could do.
John Hodgman