Charles T. Mayfair spent a decade in finance and another decade teaching himself art and culture not from any academic training, but from sheer determination not to nod blankly at dinner parties anymore.

He once stood in front of a famous painting with no idea what he was looking at. He asked the dumb question. He learned. He remembers exactly what it felt like not to know, and he writes from that place every time.

He is a smart friend at dinner… someone who knows a great deal but never lords it over anyone, who never announces he is about to say something clever but just says it, and who is always honest about what he didn't used to understand.