Animals live authentic lives. They are honest and without pretense. They live for the moment. They tend to their needs first and foremost, before taking care of others (if they even do). They live like there is no tomorrow. They eat every meal like it might be their last. They don’t worry about what others…

You can tell a lot about a community by its used bookstores. Its general views on religion, politics, and a thousand other issues are immediately available. Some stores are just romance novels and cheap pulp; others are full of pseudointellectual tomes that imagine unrealistic societies incompatible with human nature. College towns are long on theory and…