Reading has made me better informed and more articulate. But it also has a way of making you look like an egghead. I’ll often state something with confidence and support what I say with facts and people look at you funny. Sometimes I have even said aloud, “What?! They have books about this stuff and library cards are free!”

I honestly get tired of people looking at you funny when you say, “Trofimov wrote about it in the Seige of Mecca” or whatever and they look at you like you have horns.

The funny thing is I’m no intellectual. I went to a mediocre university. I just read a lot.