I'm Alan Alda and this is Clear and Vivid, conversations about connecting and communicating.

And now for something a little different. Regular listeners to Clear and Vivid know that

we always end our show with seven quick questions, mostly about communicating and relating.

We thought it would be fun to pick out a few of our favorite answers and not all of them are that quick.

We always ask the questions in the same order, starting with what do you wish you really understood?

One of our first guests was decelerated by a Linus and an old friend of mine, Itzak Perlman.

We'd been talking about Beethoven and his late string quartets.

And here's my first question to Itzak. What do you wish you really understood?

Well, I wish I really understood. Yeah. Oh, he give fault.

What was in Beethoven's mind when he wrote all these quartets?

How is mine worked? Wouldn't we all benefit from doing that? Well, we kicked off our second season with Michael J. Fox.

And he had a really interesting answer to the first question. What do you wish you really understood?

Why I like things to be mysteries. Oh, that's interesting.

I wish I understood why I don't like I don't need to understand everything.

You need to understand specific things. I mean, if I could figure out Parkinson's or I could figure out Famine or I could figure out something.

I don't have to be everything is one thing of a grant.

Just recently I talked with another old friend. Someone I've had many conversations with over the years as I've struggled to understand what he grasps so brilliantly mathematics.

He's Steve Strogatz.

And when I asked him what you wish you really understood, I was expecting Steve to suggest some incredibly have true mathematical theorem.

Instead, he said, well, my dog Murray.

I know, Murray, I wish I understood until what do you wish other people understood about you?

How in love I am with Murray.

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