“The idea that agency extends beyond the mind. I think we're still stuck in the received wisdom that you can't change your situation, but you can change how you respond to it. And I think that's wrong. I don't think that's good advice for young people or any of us.”

think, like, this, thank you. I, I mean, candidly, writing this book nearly killed me. It was so hard. It was definitely, and by far, the hardest thing I ever did professionally. And maybe because my identity is bound up with my professional achievements, I think it's also the hardest thing I've ever done personally. I mean, I really struggled. I was like, how do I write a book about the situation, this thing that people aren't looking for books about because they're not seeing their situations and they're certainly not seeing their situations as a locus of their agency. I think the idea, though, is so deep. I mean, I'm not the first thinker to say that the situation is powerful. As you know, I'm a big fan of the philosopher Michel de Montaigne. I won't try to use my high school French and pronounce the name with like whatever, South Jersey French accent, but Michel de Montaigne, about a half century ago, being like landed gentry, wrote essays. I mean, he invented the form of the essay, like to try in French, to essay, like to try to work out a…