I Woke Up Thinking A Very Pleasant

Gandhi Was Such An Important Figure To The Pacifists Of The '30s, And He Was Such An Extraordinary Embodiment Of Nonviolence, That I Thought It Was Necessary To Have Him In There. When He Would Say Something About The War, It Was To Some Extent News - And He Was Sure To Have A Response That Was Different From That Of Other World Leaders.

Writing Has To Do With Truth-telling. When You're Writing, Let's Say, An Essay For A Magazine, You Try To Tell The Truth At Every Moment. You Do Your Best To Quote People Accurately And Get Everything Right. Writing A Novel Is A Break From That: Freedom. When You're Writing A Novel, You Are In Charge; You Can Beef Things Up.

What's Somewhat Puzzling Is That Churchill Himself Knew What The Reaction Would Be To Any Sort Of Aerial Attack On Cities, Because In 1938 He Said That In A Future War British Cities Would Be Attacked By Bombing, And That The Response Would Be That All Men Would Want To Join The Fight Because They Would Be So Incensed By This Cowardly Manner Of Attack. Which Is A Very Natural Response: When Something Drops On You From The Air And Blows Up A Bunch Of Buildings And Kills People In Their Sleep, The Reaction Is Going To Be Rage, Confusion, And A Search For Something To Destroy In Retaliation.

Each Decision - To Kill, To Sign A Petition, To Write A Letter, To Make A Speech, To Attack, To Lie, To Surrender - Was Made At Some Point In Somebody's Day.

Maybe The Kindle Was The Bowflex Of Bookishness: Something Expensive That, When You Commit To It, Forces You To Do More Of Whatever It Is You Think You Should Be Doing More Of.