Yeah, we get like that because a lot of the time we *do* know more than the person we're talking to. It breeds arrogance, and we forget that a) that's not going to be the case every time, and b) Just because we know more than the other person about stuff in general doesn't mean we know more about the topic at hand.

I can see how that works with anxiety. "I can't leave this character in this perilous position! I must keep reading!" *fails to go to work*

It generally doesn't work that way at PhD level, and the University of Sydney is a reputable university. I have to assume either he became a creationist after he got his PhD, or his doctoral thesis doesn't reflect his beliefs.

Did you leave the word 'not' out of that? I mean, it makes sense the way you've written it, but…

Would safe words work in that situation, though? If there's issues of consent they'd be around someone being in a state where they want to do things they normally wouldn't want to. In which case they're not going to use the safe word.

I remember the people here once got into a long conversation about commonly mispronounced words, and some random person wandered in and bemusedly asked if this was normally what happens in this comments section for a sex advice column.

It's more like those awkward conversations that royalty have with people. "So, how long have you been a cripple for? It sounds fascinating."

"On my computer and tablet? You're millennials… this shouldn't be a weird concept for you."

I read somewhere that the better version of 'just be yourself' is 'be the best version of yourself'. Which is this case probably means 'be intellectual but also have an open mind about popular fiction and the people who like it'.

I've actually found one of the best things about being a PhD is that it removes any doubt that I'm intelligent, and so I have no fear of asking questions which might sound stupid or reveal my abject ignorance of something.

Yeah, studying stuff isn't conducive to actually enjoying it. It's taken me years after doing Art History to enjoy art galleries again, and there's still large areas of history I can't read for fun.

This is pretty much my marriage.

I love Christopher Brookmyre, but he is overly fond of misdirection, to the point where in the first or second chapter I'll usually be thinking something like 'so he wants us to assume that it's this character in this situation, but her name is never mentioned so clearly it's going to turn out to be someone else'. For…

Some people don't understand the concept of 'different tastes and opinions'.

Burn her!

*makes note to check this book out*

That's a huge and not very accurate generalisation about history, especially regarding the Great Man theory. There is lots and lots and lots of non fiction about footsoldiers, deserters and the people left behind.

I don't think liking Harry Potter is really the issue, it's not having other favourite books as well, and not being able to articulate why they like Harry Potter.

Yeah, there's a big cross over in terms of dickish behaviour, which is interesting because otherwise the personalities tend to be fairly different.

Absolutely, but you'd think if these women are well read they would mention other books at some point. Maybe after LW reacted to Harry Potter like that they decided to stop making an effort, idk.