The book itself is structured in terms of the big themes covered by my professional life. Thus, on occasion, it will look as if I am backtracking at the start of a new chapter. I am merely picking up the thread of the new theme at the point I began (or believe I began) to focus on a given set of issues. Unlike many academics that prefer to specialize, I was more of the dilettante who moved from topic to topic with the themes often overlapping with one another. Some claim I may have had an attention-deficit disorder though no such diagnosis was ever made by a medical professional.