Bullet Points

When you make a living solving other people’s problems - it’s good to be aware of your own. In the next ten seconds several facts presented themselves to me: that Richard has already formed the same ambition as I had; that, with his academic prowess and a family who did not so much support him as physically heave him into useful niches, he would have a better chance of fulfilling it; and that, unless I could defy precedent and probability, I would find myself for ever half a lap behind. Psychologist Peter Kristal has a method for sorting out people’s lives. By arranging their histories like the index entries in a biography, the sequences of cause and effect that have led to their particular neuroses are cunningly revealed. His technique gains him a modicum of success: a thriving practice in Chicago with a client list of rising stars. But by concentrating on his rival Richard he is blind to the other factors which put both his life and the lives of others at risk.