In Fact Denounced as a Four-Letter Word, you offer readers a collection of aphorisms centered on topics ranging from politics to corporate culture. Why was this an important book for you to write?

There were three factors that drove me to self-publish my accidental thoughts.

First, the fear that I would hear someone say or read somewhere a thought that I deemed as invented by me. This fear grew with years but itself would probably not push me to plunge into self-publishing.

Second, the vanity, pure and simple – the devil’s favourite sin as per the concluding line of The Devil’s Advocate. As I self-police my mind to the tune well above the average I needed a justification for giving in to vanity. Here is my DIY absolution: Facebook and Instagram are powered by little more than human vanity. I am unlikely to make any sizable damage to humankind.

Third, I thought that if writing those thoughts provided me with some solace, they might console others too.

How did you go about organizing the reflections in the book? Was there a specific flow or structure you were aiming for?

When ploughing my journal for the selection of thoughts it was already organised into some categories. I have chosen a handful that I deemed to be better than the rest. When I surveyed the distillate, so to speak, some new categories appeared to me. Not all fit neatly hence the “Miscellaneous” chapter.

The sequence of the chapters was driven by my assessment as to their attractiveness to a wider audience. I put in the front those I thought would resonate with a wider audience and put at the end those that could count just on a niche appeal.

What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?

Sense-making, seeking solace, and trying to counter helplessness. Those three would stand for the bulk of my accidental thoughts. Picking on peculiarities and playing on words would be to other angles. Finally, pinning down absurdities that might be prevalent and yet are not obvious.

Can we look forward to more work from you soon? What are you currently working on?

​I have published a series of articles on Medium.com on what I refer to as grey mosquitos. Grey mosquitos is a term I would like to think was invented by me. It refers to a concept diametrically opposite to Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s black swans. Black swans are, by definition, close to impossible to predict. Grey mosquitos are ever present, but we are nearly always blind to them. I might develop this idea to a self-publishable stage.

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