Thursday, February 23, 2006

What's supposed to happen in coffee shops

-How do you manage to concentrate so hard in a place like this?
-It would be easier if you weren't talking to me. Actually, its easier for me. I like the buzz. If I'm someplace completely quiet, my mind tends to wander. Here I have to concentrate to stay on track. Besides this is a good book.
-So is this one, amazing, it's teaching me all the physics I learned in school and takes me yet further.
-English has to be at least his second language. Why does he suddenly seem about 10 degrees hotter? A little paunch never hurt anyone... I think that is supposed to be the least read best seller of all time, or the ratio of the number of people who own the book to the number of people who've read the book is huge, or something like that.
-It is good for one's mind to read difficult things.
-I love the sound of English with an Indian accent, pretty and precise.
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What I love and hate about it is that you never know what the author actually thinks. In the first part you think he believes Newton, in the second Einstein, and now strings...
-He's way too young for me. Why is he talking to me? I think it was, maybe Aquinas, or Pascal, who said "I believe so that I may understand." It is rare that someone can set their own opinion aside for long enough to think critically, or let their reader decide for herself.
-I had not thought about it that way before. Have you read it?
-He's actually pretty gray, maybe he is old enough. Cover to cover. I can't say I understood the whole thing, but I am pretty proud--I wanted to be on the right side of the ratio.
...
-Have you had dinner? Maybe you would care to join me.