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Sleepless Nights is one of those books that’s so good I can hardly stand it.

Your loser theory has a great deal in common with the Discordian-slash-GenX theory of “slack,” but I prefer your emphasis on excellence. I’ve been following a loser strategy my whole life, and I’m pretty darn content at this point.

Incidentally there *is* a plumber here on Substack who writes really good essays. I think he may have joined after you wrote this.

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Oh, but at the end of Revolutionary Road, only one of them "loses" with any sort of grace--Shep, who doesn't hate every single thing around him. Although perhaps I'm being too judgmental about who is the "winner" of the book in the first place.

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