"Often someone will hand you a book or paper and exclaim that you should read it because it's (a) the most brilliant thing ever written and/or (b) precisely applicable to your own research . Usually when you actually read it, you will find it not particularly brilliant and only vaguely applicable. This can be perplexing. ``Is there something wrong with me? Am I missing something?'' The truth, most often, is that reading the book or paper in question has, more or less by chance, made your friend think something useful about your research topic by catalyzing a line of thought that was already forming in their head."