I love writing about men. To get by in the world you have to know how men think. Not that all guys think alike, but women tend to think about more things at the same time, an overgeneralization, but I find it easier to make my male characters focus than I do my female characters.
All Norwegian children learn to swim when they are very young because if you can't swim it is difficult to find a place to bathe.
The CIA's research program is described in a book called The Search for the Manchurian Candidate.

