Working in New York, with family in Australia, I spend quite a lot of time on airplanes. If I’m not sleeping, I usually work—at least till my brain turns to mush. After that, I usually read. I don’t read fiction much; I prefer philosophy. I figure that there is so much good philosophy I’ve never read, that I’d rather learn about that.

Just before I returned to Australia for Christmas, I was buying books as presents in a New York bookstore, and I came across Basic Writings of Nietzsche, an anthology of some of Nietzsche’s books. Nietzsche is an intriguing philosopher, who I have only ever dipped into in the past. So I thought it would be a good idea to read him a bit more systematically. Since then, the book has been weighing down my hand-luggage.