When I was young, I read a collection of essays by Robert Benchley.  He was an essayist popular in the 1940s-1950s, and my father had a copy of some of his essays.  It was the first time I read something in that format, and I was struck by the idea that someone could write a book about many different topics.

Later in life, I remember reading Robert Fulghum’s “Everything I Need to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten”, and the newspaper essays of Clark DeLeon and Bill Lyons in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Most recently (in the last 5 years), I have consumed everything published by Malcolm Gladwell, Bill Simmons (ESPN), Peter King (Sports Illustrated), the Freakonomics series, Anne Lamott and Glennon Doyle Melton.  Some of them specialize in economics, some about sports, some about religion and spirituality.  But some of their most interesting writing, is about topics outside their specialty area.

That is what I am going to do, too.  I work in the pharmaceutical industry, but little/none of what I write about here will be about pharmacovigilance.  What I want to write about here is, in the words of Bill Lyons, “Random Thoughts and Second Thoughts”.   A collection of observations, experiences and musings, outside of my specialty area.

When I grow up, I want to be an Essayist.