I'm dusting off my trusty old globe in preparation for upcoming talks about The World in A Phrase.

Back in the day, I conducted little happenings with aphorisms in which I neatly excised the Arctic Circle from a desktop globe, so that the top of the earth came off like the lid of a cookie jar. I dropped in dozens of little slips of paper, each one bearing an aphorism —­ either one I had composed myself or one from another aphorist. I then offered the globe to people and asked them to reach in, pick a phrase from the globe, and read the aphorism aloud. I'll be conducting the same little happening over the next few weeks after the book comes out on November 10.

These aphorisms tumbled out when I turned the globe upside down — unselected aphorisms from the last time this happening happened. If someone selected the blank slip of paper during a talk, they could name any subject and I would have to cite an aphorism on that subject. If I didn't, they got a free copy of the book. If I did, they owed me $19.99!