Probably inspired by O.J.’s sterling example in “If I did it,” I’ve been keeping a list of reasons why this whole enterprise won’t work, if it didn’t. Call it a kind of pre-post-hoc rationalization. I came up with several “good” reasons, or, more accurately, I adapted the list from the kinds of reasons I’ve had students offer me.

1. NYU doesn’t feel like a real university because it doesn’t have a campus.
2. Random personal stuff.
3. Lack of background in science.
4. Terrible professor.
5. Terrible T.A.
6. Science sucks!
7. The book is boring.
8. The mid-term was really unfair.
Of course, that whole “self-fulfilling prophecy” thing, I have indeed moved away from the notion of doing everything and having Trace give me a grade, or a “grade,” but not because 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8. No, I’d have to say it is the lack of background, number 3, or the presence of a very old background, along with my Mother taking a turn for the worse, number 2, that did me in. Oddly, it wasn’t the book, indeed since I’m now reading it rather than attempting to study it, it’s really not all that bad. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t go out and buy it, and if I had done so, I wouldn’t be at all pleased, but reading it sans pressure is not too appalling a pastime.

But, more positively (I hope any scientists reading like this one!), the main reason I’m pulling back is that I trust scientists! Do you like it? I recently asked my orthopedic surgeon if many of his patients visit sites like webmd. “Don’t get me started!” he replied. I feel for him; I would never go to a doctor and think that my spending a few minutes on some web site made my opinion worth a damn. I wouldn’t do so because I think that I, and my insurance company, are paying him so that he’ll know what to do with my back, I’m going to stick to political theory and leave him to know the medical stuff.

Now, I’m off to Dublin to look in on the Mother, but I also hope to visit my alma mater and report on why my nephew, a biochem major at U.C.D., is thinking of dropping science.