Dear Reader

When I write my essays, I start with an idea or a question or sometimes even a memory, but always something that challenges me in some way. I try to go beneath the surface, into the guts of the subject, and I try very hard to get it right, although, as you well know, "right" is in the eye of the beholder.

I suggest you read this book as if it were a good friend sitting with you at a bar, beer in hand and ready for a lively conversation. If you get as many "aha" moments reading as I did writing, it'll be fun and, I hope, a rewarding experience for you.

- Alex Alexander