A Dentist Is Only Half The Doctor

Between The Time I First Started Working In Advertising In 1998 And Now, The Word Brand Has Replaced Identity. We Are No Longer Individuals So Much As We Are Brands. We're Individual Brands. Individuals Are Basically Left To Define Their Individuality By Staying Off The Internet, Which In And Of Itself Can Be A Brand, The Opting-out Brand.

We Suffered Failures Of Imagination Just Like Everyone Else, Our Daring Was Wanting, And Our Daily Contentment Too Nearly Adequate For Us To Give It Up.

We Were Fractious And Overpaid. Our Mornings Lacked Promise. At Least Those Of Us Who Smoked Had Something To Look Forward To At Ten-fifteen.

My First Job Is To Write A Book That I Believe Is Compelling And Deserves The Long Sustained Attention That Any Novel Requires, And To Worry About The Commerce Only Late In The Game.

A Child, Thought Carl, Is Not The Only Result Of Childbirth. A Mother, Too, Is Born. You See Them Every Day--nondescript Women With A Bulge Just Above The Groin, Slightly Double-chinned. Perpetually Forty. Someone's Mother, You Think. There Is A Child Somewhere Who Has Made This Woman Into A Mother, And For The Sake Of The Child She Has Altered Her Appearance To Better Play The Part.