Assume that the Person

What shall i do with my newfound pen of light?

Coda WHAT SHALL I DO WITH MY NEWFOUND PEN OF LIGHT? In late 2016 I travelled to northern California to meet a friend and business associate. We spent an evening together thinking and talking. At one pointhe took a pen from his jacket and took a few notes.

Pet a Cat When You Encounter

RULE 12 PET A CAT WHEN YOU ENCOUNTER ONE ON THE STREET DOGS ARE OK TOO I am going to start this chapter by stating directly that I own a dog, an American Eskimo, one of the many variants of the basic spitz type.

Do Not Bother Children

RULE 11 DO NOT BOTHER CHILDREN WHEN THEY ARE SKATEBOARDING DANGER AND MASTERY There was a time when kids skateboarded on the west side of Sidney Smith Hall, at the University of Toronto, where I work. Sometimes I stood there and watched them. There are rough, wide, shallow concrete steps there, leading up from the street to the front entrance, accompanied by tubular iron handrails, about two and a half inches in diameter and twenty feet long. The crazy kids, almost always boys, would pull back about fifteen yards from the top of the steps.

Be precise in your speech

RULE 10 BE PRECISE IN YOUR SPEECH WHY IS MY LAPTOP OBSOLETE? What do you see, when you look at a computer—at your own laptop, more precisely? You see a flat, thin, grey-and-black box. Less evidently, you see something to type on and look at. Nonetheless, even with the second perceptions included,what are you seeing is hardly the computer at all. That grey and black box happens to be a computer right now, right here and now, and maybe even an expensive computer.

Assume that the Person

RULE 9 ASSUME THAT THE PERSON YOU ARE LISTENING TO MIGHT KNOW SOMETHING YOU DON’T NOT ADVICE Psychotherapy is not advice. Advice is what you get when the person you’re talking with about something horrible and complicated wishes you would just shut up and go away. Advice is what you get when the person you are talking to wants to revel in the superiority of his or her own intelligence.