John Lisle

I can imagine having a negative experience or a bad memory and then dwelling on that and knowing every single detail of that and having to relive that in photographic detail every time you think of it.

I'm sure that couldn't be a pleasant experience.

Smoke show.

That was your younger crush.

I think I'd handle it.

Even me for questions, like, you know, if you ask me, how did you come to write this book?

Like, you ask me, how did you become interested in this topic?

When I was thinking about the answer to that question, I mean, what I said is factual in the sense that I was doing a dissertation on scientists in the intelligence community and this.

But is that really like how I came to this topic?

I might have read some other book that I read the name Sidney Gottlieb and that got me interested.

And, you know, even when I'm talking to you about my own autobiographical experience, to me, it's like...

I mean, what I'm saying is true, but is it like literally true in the sense that I know with precision that how I came to this topic because I was doing my dissertation on this?

It might have been, you know, I kind of remember reading Tim Weiner's book, Legacy of Ashes, and it briefly mentioned Sidney Gottlieb in there.

Maybe I read that and like, oh, who's this guy?

You know, right.

So there's a classic joke about how there's a guy looking for his keys on the parking lot.

and it's night, and there's a lamppost right above him, and a police officer walks by, and the police officer says, sir, what are you doing?

And he says, oh, I'm looking for my keys on the ground.

They must be somewhere around here.

And the officer says, oh, well, did you drop them right here?