Il sorriso del fenicottero (1985)

An eminent colleague, a fine theoretician who has paid his dues in the field, once said to me, only partly facetiously, that fieldwork is one hell of a way to get information. All that time, effort and money, often for comparatively little when measured against the hours invested. True enough, especially when I count the hours spent drinking Cuban coffee, the one pleasure of my least favorite place, Miami airport. But all the frustration and dull, repetitive effort vanish to insignificance before the unalloyed joy of finding something new – and this pleasure can be savored nearly every day if one loves little things as well. To say, "We have discovered it; we understand it; we have made some sense and order of nature's confusion." Can any reward be greater? (from: Opus 100)