>I have made really sweeping changes in my way of viewing the world
>several times over the last 55 years or so -- but I don't remember a
>single substantive change that came about by being convinced by
>argument. Books changed me in several ways I would imagine, but the only
>identifiable instances -- that is, the only instances in which I would
>explictly say something like, gee that's right -- were instances in
>which I realized I had been thinking that for years without knowing I
>had. Read Pope's _Essay on Criticism_ -- I think it is a pretty powerful
>statement of how books make a difference in a reader's life.
>
>Carrol