It's utterly amazing how good he is at it-as good as any television actor. You can take a laptop around with you, but the batteries are liable to run out. But having a good paperback in your back pocket when you're out hiking around the Sand Hills of Nebraska is a good thing. The things that we do that are small and embarassing can tell us a lot about what it means to be alive. There is no self-respecting government in the world today that would contend that torture is an acceptable form of government.
People do it, but people rob banks, too.
I don't really have any scientific proof, but I think being busy is a factor in why people don't respond to R.S.V.P.'s. You can't get much more isolated as a medical provider than the manned mission to Mars. It's such a straightforward thing and it makes so much sense. There's so little downside to it.