Cirrus@Austlit

'As a child, whenever I wanted to impress family friends I would ask them if they wanted to hear me count to one hundred in less than two seconds. They would smile and nod, and my immature understanding of facial expressions would interpret their ‘I’m humouring you’ face as ‘awed confusion’ and ‘preparing to be blown away’. I would pause for dramatic effect, take a deep breath, and then go “One, two, skip a few, ninety-nine, a hundred!”. I’d then laugh, because I had totally tricked them, and laughing at your own jokes is a good way to win friends.' (Introduction)