Dragaera

The Phoenix succession (was: The Jhereg)

Thu Jan 2 21:56:12 PST 2003

>Actually, what [Heinlein] classifies as the highest type of lying is telling
>the exact truth in such a way that it won't be believed.  
>
>It's just amazing; trust me on this.

I recall an incident in high school (where I was a typical dateless geek)
when some of my friends started teasing me, asking, "Who's the girl of
your dreams?"  Having read Heinlein, I had the perfect counter:  I shot 
back the name of a girl on whom I did in fact have something of a crush.
They kept asking, and I kept telling them, and they kept not believing me.

Another good example is the "Who Stole the Door?" story from _Surely
You're Joking, Mr. Feynman_.

-- 
   David Goldfarb       <*>| "It's not called 'The Net of a Million Lies' 
goldfarb at ocf.berkeley.edu  |  for nothing."
goldfarb at csua.berkeley.edu |   -- Vernor Vinge, _A Fire Upon the Deep_