Diarists come in various flavors. One thing is for sure — they’re an unpredictable bunch, primarily because they're invisible. While snarky wit finds its way into print, devastating comments, sometimes unintentional, which can sink us into the deepest therapist’s couch, wisely remain hidden in diary pages. Diarists need to be invisible to continue friendships and avoid being the target of defamation suits or Mafia suits and turn into agoraphobes. In A Good Idea, Michael Rubin mines fifty years of diary memories and reveals a paradox — is it viable for a memoir to be accurate? It's biased because we are forced, biologically speaking, to see the world through our own eyes. A diary or journal provides a window into the soul, albeit as opaque as glass block in a locker room. Michael is convinced if everyone kept a diary, the world would be a better place. History shouldn’t be written by one person but by everyone. What he learns is not to lose sight of our own insignificance, like the college dorm posters of the speck of Earth at the edge of the Milky Way. In a tale that began with Tightrope Over Eden , Michael stumbles from a suburban upbringing in New Jersey to an impulsive escape to South America. Now twenty years an expat in Brazil, he looks back with wonderment on his path with a diarist's candor. His rapid-fire essays cover a bizarre expanse of topics — from MRI's to Brazilian ping-pong soccer, from dieting to the absurdity of time management, from OCD envy to Jewish Christmas. It's a funhouse of whimsy from St. Augustine and tooth-brushing to the surprises of aging, which Michael equates with expat life. “Expats and Seniors are outsiders. We're forced to ask ourselves, How many times a day is it okay to feel like a fool?”