Sock

Penn Jillette, (2004)

Penn Jillette is hero, in case you didn't know. But he's also a novelist Sock is an interesting read all the way through. There's a device that appears throughout the novel, pretty much at the end of each paragraph, that can get a little irritating. I don't care. Penn Jillette is a hero.

There are women who don't really get turned on by cops. Most women are in the middle. They don't bring it up, they don't even think about it much, but a part of them, a part below the waist, wants to be used by a man in a uniform. But another part of them, a less interesting part of them, knows that cops are high school losers. Those women know there's something creepy about a guy who enforces other people's rules. Maybe if cops were paid more they wouldn't be that creepy. Teachers aren't paid much, and they're creepy without being sexy at all. [10]

All the real education (outside of scuba) the Little Fool had ever received had been in that ice cream truck. The Little Fool had gone to a public school. "Better to be uneducated than educated by your government." For a long time we believed Thomas Jefferson said that. But the Web says that's wrong. It seems no one said that. So let's say I said that. A sock monkey said that. "Better to be uneducated than educated by your government" — Dickie, sock monkey [35]

This guy didn't have much headroom under the crazy beam. He was already banging his wacked-out head. [128]

Do I even have to write up the part where he brings the note to work and they fire him and ask him to be thankful that they're not bringing him up on charges? I probably do, because his reaction was different than yours, and that's the stuff you need to know. You need to know there are other ways to live. [136]

If it's stupid to believe in a religion with a god who looks out for you, how stupid is it to believe in a religion that has no god watching over you? Buddhism is the slowest competitor in the Special Olympics that is religion. [139]

In everyday life, you will find that your boss, your lover, or your government often try to manipulate you. They propose to you a "game" in the form of a choice in which one of the alternatives appears definitely preferable. Having chosen this alternative, you are faced with a new game, and very soon you find that your reasonable choices have brought you to something you never wanted: you are trapped. To avoid this, remember that acting a bit erratically may be the best strategy. What you lose by making some suboptimal choices you make up for by keeping greater freedom. David Ruelle, Chance and Chaos [Quoted on p. 160]

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