Ideas, Facts, and Beauty on a Desert Island

There would be disadvantages, of course. No conversation (I'm on this island alone — not for me Gilligan and the skipper), no Chopin recordings, no toothpaste. On the other hand, there would be no boring small talk and uneasy silences, no television, no annual trips to the dentist. Contemplating what there wouldn't be — part and parcel of planning what there would be — is delightful and distracts me for the moment.