In writing The Higher Power of Lucky, I was interested in creating authentic characters who would ring true for readers. I wanted readers to trust that I respect them and would not talk down to them.

I've published any number of great writers, from William Faulkner to John O'Hara, but there's only one genius on my authors list. His name is Ted Geisel.

The word is just so delicious. The sound of the word to Lucky is so evocative. It's one of those words that's so interesting because of the sound of the word.

For men who wear jeans without underwear, a button fly eliminates the possibility of catching one's scrotum or what-have-you in a zipper

This was not quite disastrous, but tried very hard to be; it might be described as unhinged, but this implies being hinged beforehand.

I sometimes felt that the focus of the interview was less on the value I could bring to Google...and more about how I should feel "honored" to be interviewing at Google.

• people want to shape dogs' behavior to suit their desires
• people want what's trendy
• all dog breeds were shaped by human intervention
• purebred devotees are at odds with kennels that breed hybrids
• meddling with breeding can have side effects (e.g., selecting for predisposition to disease)

Most Shelties, if encouraged, will discuss Proust with strangers if given time.

My view of it is that if someone who thinks that clicking through an ad is too much work to do and isn't worth it, then they're not all that incentivized to read the blog.

You may not work around any technical limitations in the software