So maybe you pick up the book because on day four of your summer squat it’s a toss-up between a ten-minute walk to the library and a forty-one hour drive to California to keep from losing what remains of your sanity. You’re between apartments, between semesters, between jobs. Your new lease doesn’t start for another week so you’re staying at your buddy’s place until move-in day. His lease is paid up but he’s not there, he’s home for the break and put a hold on his utilities. You can’t use the range, the microwave or the air conditioner. You wake up at eight every morning because past that it’s way too hot to sleep. There’s no TV, powered or otherwise, and your smartphone is no help because you don’t have one yet—it’ll be years before phones will be described in terms of their intelligence. You think long and hard about the drive to California, then decide the library is the cheaper and lazier option. So that’s where you go that morning. That’s where you get the book...

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