Because normal human activity is worse for nature than the greatest nuclear accident in history.

He never had been good at arguing with women; they tapped into pools of resentment over slights that had steeped for years.

It was like a Russian party, Arkady thought. People got drunk, recklessly confessed their love, spilled their festering dislike, had hysterics, marched out, were dragged back in and revived with brandy. It wasn’t a French...