Something new to say

I had a college professor whose opinion I really valued once tell me that he thought a particular author I admired had said "everything he had to say" already in the early books he had written, and that there wasn't much point in reading anything else by him. At the time, I was confused by this. I wanted him to explain to me what it was that had been said already and why it wasn't worth more reading. He didn't know how to do this or to explain it any further.

Ever since then, though, I ha...