“Bit by bit, my faith waned. I’m sure I’m not unusual in this. It tends to happen gradually because certain core beliefs seem so strong and certain that even if one supporting strut looks feeble, you survey the entire edifice and conclude that either that strut isn’t required to hold it up, or the strut must be stronger than it looks. It takes time to see that, in fact, the whole thing is being held up by threads.”