I was 14. The hormones did their job and I became interested in the opposite sex. On a dance I approached a pretty girl. “My friends have warned me about you. You’re odd,” she said. “Good advice,” I said, and walked away.

I was lying in bed preparing for sleep, reading an article on my iPad mini. It described two things. The first was an experiment by Benjamin Libet. Participants sat in front of a clock with a moving dot. They were told to flex their wrist whenever they felt like it, and to note the exact…

My father was born in Bosnia. When he was ten years old his family was killed by the Ustasha, and he was sent to a concentration camp in Germany. His mother, his father, his brothers and sisters — gone. Only an older sister and an older brother survived. I did not know any of this…

We were on holiday in Venezuela, Isla Margarita, all inclusive. Our son Stefan was ten. He was bored — not many other kids his age, too much sun, too much poolside. The hotel offered activities every day and I usually ignored them.One day the activity was volleyball. The hotel’s team against the guests. Stefan wanted…

After changing schools, one of the first places I went was the library. That was not unusual for me. Wherever I went, the library was where I oriented myself. It was the one room that felt the same everywhere. The library was small and usually empty. It smelled of dust and old paper, and most…

This morning, as I went to the kitchen to make coffee, I noticed the dishwasher had finished its cycle and needed emptying. I can do that while the coffee brews, I thought. But a voice inside me said: No. That’s boring. I don’t feel like it. So I made a bargain: I’ll just start with…

This morning I emptied the dishwasher before making coffee. That sounds like nothing. For me it was everything. There was a voice inside me that said: no, that’s boring, I don’t feel like it. I emptied it anyway. The whole struggle of my life was right there, in one small ordinary act. The same voice…