The real force here lies in its rebuke of the grand gesture—that seductive belief that one perfect decision or heroic effort can outweigh our ordinary habits. Rubin cuts against our hunger for the dramatic by insisting the mundane possesses greater leverage than we admit. A person who reads ten pages daily will finish more books than someone who devours three in a weekend once a year; the daily reader also trains her mind differently, becomes someone *for whom* reading is native. This wisdom proves especially bitter medicine for those of us who work hard, then rest hard, imagining we're balanced when really we're just inconsistent.