It started out innocently enough. I began to think at parties now and
then -- just to loosen up. Inevitably, though, one thought led to
another, and soon I was more than just a social thinker. I began to
think alone -- "to relax," I told myself -- but I knew it wasn't
true. Thinking became more and more important to me, and finally I
was thinking all the time.

That was when things began to sour at home. One evening, I turned off
the TV and asked my wife about the meaning of life. She spent that