I spent much of the holiday weekend reading Neal Stephenson’s science fiction epic Seveneves. There’s a lot to love about the book, not the least of which are little gems like this:
“He had had many conversations during his long life. Some were fascinating and stayed with him more than a century later. Others were less so. As a younger man he had tolerated those as part of the cost of doing business—a sort of tax that all people must pay in order to take part in civilized society. When he had turned one hundred, he had decided to stop paying that tax. Henceforth he would engage only in conversations that really interested him…”
So, I guess the question is, do I have to wait until I’m one hundred? Because I’ve pretty much already started.
by Derek