Footnotes are one of my favorite parts of a book, but I can state pretty definitively that hardly anyone reads them—in part due to the sheer volume of emails I receive from people saying, "I read your book, are you familiar with so-and-so's work?" When that person's work is cited extensively, with commentary, in the endnotes.

Sophisticated minds adopt simplified lifestyles; simplistic minds are drawn to overly sophisticated lifestyles.