“ You know, in a weird way, there’s really only one basic problem in all writing — how to get some empathy with the reader. And that problem is a jewel on which there are many facets. And this is a somewhat different facet — how to take this very, very abstract stuff, boil it down so that it fits in a pop book, and give the reader enough of the real story so that you’re not lying to him, but also to make it clear enough so that it’s not just understandable but halfway enjoyable for somebody who hasn’t studied math for 20 years.It’s really not completely different from the question, how do you get a reader to inhabit the consciousness of a character who, say, isn’t a hero or isn’t a very nice guy, and feel that person’s humanity and something of his 3-D contours while not pretending that he’s not a monster.
David Foster Wallace, on Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinity.
