## Procrustean Bed Procrustes is a character from Greek mythology who gained his nickname (Procrustes means *Stretcher*) with his rather peculiar sense of hospitality. He abducted travelers and fed them a generous dinner, before making them lie into his special bed. Procrustes wanted the bed to fit his guest to perfection. If the guest was too tall, he'd cut off his legs. If he was too small, he'd stretch him. This serves as an analogy for the models and expectations we create before attempting to make reality conform to them. The book is a collection of aphorisms meant to open our eyes to such situations surrounding us. I thought I'd select a few by the author, then contribute a couple of my own. ## Selected Aphorisms >You can expect blowups and explosive errors in fields where there is a penalty for simplicity. >Knowing stuff others don't know is most effective when others don't know you know stuff they don't know. >For a free person, the optimal — most opportunistic — route between two points should never be the shortest one. >Wisdom isn't about understanding things (and people); it is knowing what they can do to you. >Writing is the art of repeating oneself without anyone noticing. ## Contribution >Some people buy expensive cars to be like the rich. The rich buy cheap cars. >Most writing is produced by deciding what to say, then gathering supporting evidence. >Ideas become bad only in retrospect; in the spur of the moment, they're always rational and justified, even if it's just eating chocolate. >There are two categories of people; the ones who think there are two categories of people, and the rest. >Complexity is the refinement of imbeciles. >Most footwear has little to do with foot form. >Recipes don't teach you how to cook, they teach you how to follow recipes. >Putting out fires at outrageous prices is far more profitable than selling cheap fire extinguishers. >Hospitals call people patients to their face, but clients when they're not in the room. >An egoist is someone who does not put me first. >One thing journalists have taught us is that it takes about 1.000 deaths on another continent to get the same level of attention a single one does in your own country. >Speaking a single language is like seeing reality in only two dimensions. >Most courses are really just lists of topics. >Music's most essential component is the silence between the notes. >Historians are not practitioners; yet most experts belong to the first category. >How important can be the name of a ship that's sinking?