one of three addictions…

More Sunday quotes ambivalent about chess—this time from Kurt Vonnegut's Timequake, a book I read yesterday night while suffering from the effects of the first addiction.

"The late British philosopher Bertrand Russell said he lost friends to one of three addictions: alcohol or religion or chess."—Kurt Vonnegut, Timequake, pg. 32.

… "ever since I have had physics at the university I have had much trouble with it. This was a huge blow to me because I was used to doing well in school. I thought there was nothing I couldn't do if I just wanted it bad enough."

My reply will go like this: "You might want to read the picaresque novel The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow. The epiphany at the end, as I recall, is that we shouldn't be seeking harrowing challenges, but rather tasks we find natural and interesting, tasks we were apparently born to perform.

"As for the charms of physics: Two of the most entertaining subjects taught in high school or college are mechanics and optics. Beyond these playful disciplines, however, lie mind games as dependent on native talent as playing the French horn or chess.

—Kurt Vonnegut, Timequake, pg. 148.