I have been amazed at how much I have been asked to "dumb down" my material. The first agent I worked with almost put me off the project altogether. I wanted to produce something in the spirit of Bertrand Russell or William James, household names who weren’t afraid to tackle sophisticated ideas. She was thinking more How Heidegger Can Make You Thin (Realize your Authentic Being in just 8 weeks!), or Why Socrates Would Have Been a Climate-Change Skeptic. We parted company acrimoniously.

¶ 11:01 AM