ABRAMS Press

The glory of show business is that it gives the people what they want. The glory of art is that it gives us what we never knew we wanted.

Condensed milk.’ Paul went into a reverie. ‘I used to think, if I ever get rich, I’ll buy a tin of condensed milk and have it all the time.’

You will find that things that seem normal to you don’t seem normal to others, and might even be utterly reprehensible. Perhaps we are all evil. Or, perhaps none of us are.

WE LOVE KILLING. Which is great, because we need to kill to survive. Hungry? Kill something to eat. Sick? Kill the bacteria before they kill you. Threatened by something? Kill in self-defence. Not sure what it is? Kill it, just in case.

The initial doctor–patient relationship must provide that, and instil a feeling of confidence that the doctor will be able to help and do the right thing, and take away the pain of injury.

Anthropologists and psychologists know that the weirdest thing you can imag

as been considered perfectly normal in at least one culture sometime in world history.”

om and Dad mostly sided with me against the other kids and teachers, but that was only because they mostly thought I was right. When they thought I was being unfair, closed-minded, or hypocritical, they’d tell me that too. It was the criticism that convinced me they were really listening, that made me feel like I

silence was suffering, confession was connection, and criticism was love.

hese kids didn’t figure out the truth about Santa for a few more years, a lifetime of holding my tongue. In the wake of the reveal, I witnessed no dramatic scenes, no displays of shame or anger at this betrayal. When I confessed that I’d always known the truth, the other kids lied and claimed they’d always known too. It was as if they cared less about the truth than about the communal experience they’d had with their friends and families. “It’s ridiculous,” I mumbled to myself, pacing the playground. “It’s ridiculous.”