Why is that?
Some of it is envy, probably. But some of it is, if you're exuberant, you're out there. You're going to be vulnerable.
Carl Sagan was an incredible scientist and a great teacher, but he's got to be the poster boy for laughable exuberance. He was lethal because he popularized science. Frightening! People might actually love astronomy!
I think there was professional resentment from other astronomers and mathematicians. He was out there waving his arms around -- it's easy to laugh at.
There's something slightly absurd about larger-than-life emotions. People feel mistrustful, and probably legitimately so. We all have wired in us mistrust of anything that's too far outside the norm. It alerts us -- you don't quite know what's coming from this person. They might have great judgment or not. They may lead you down an interesting path or take you somewhere that's dangerous or ridiculous. It makes sense that people are wary.
Do we live in exuberant times?
Now seems to me a pretty unexuberant time. It's hard to see where the national joy is.
In some respects you can say, "Well, 9/11." But as important as 9/11 was, it doesn't account for a lot of the sociological factors [that mitigate against exuberance] -- the lack of time and how driven our society has become. For exuberance to exist, you have to have a sense of free time and free spirit, of relaxation, joy. Exuberance doesn't tend to exist in situations that are tense or high-pressure, or fraught.
What is the genetic and environmental cocktail that brings forth exuberance and makes it thrive?
Exuberance has a genetic component, no question about that. Bill Clinton's mother was clearly quite exuberant -- loved life, loved everything she was into, had three husbands, breast cancer, and she obviously loved [her son]. In his case, the apple did not fall far from that tree. [Clinton] had the best of all possible nature-nurture combinations.
In your book, you profile many famous, successful people to illustrate exuberance. Do you need to be exuberant to succeed?
Exuberance is highly useful. [But] it is a continuum; it's not all or nothing. I don't think anyone should be any one thing -- that would be an extremely boring world. If everyone were revved up like I am, it would be chaos!
I make clear in the case of scientists, for example, that there are a thousand ways to be a good scientist. There are a thousand ways to be a good writer or artist. Shyness is often one of them. Introversion is often one of them.
What I hope is that people would respect and appreciate differences more, not squash them.
