Christopher Boone Quotes

Also people think they're not computers because they have feelings and computers don't have feelings. But feelings are just having a picture on the screen in your head of what is going to happen tomorrow or next year, or what might have happened instead of what did happen, and if it is a happy picture they smile and if it is a sad picture they cry.

This is quite a claim. What do you think? Are feelings "just having a picture on the screen in your head"? Or is something deeper going on? Also: usually when we talk about feelings, we talk about the heart rather than the head. Do you think it's significant that Christopher places feelings in the mind instead?

But most people are lazy. They never look at everything. They do what is called glancing which is the same word for bumping off something carrying on in the same direction [...]

But if I am standing in a field in the countryside I notice everything. (181.3-4)

This may not technically be a "version of reality," but it's certainly a unique way of experiencing it. Once again, Christopher doesn't mince words in proclaiming his own way as better. It's not quite right, however, to call other people "lazy," since they can't experience the world in his way any more easily than he can experience it theirs.

It was nice in the police cell. (23.8)

This might be the first time in human history these words have been written. But what's behind Christopher's warm and fuzzy feelings about the place? Well, it's a combination of a few things Christopher values, including being alone, being in an enclosed space, and being in a familiar situation (at least, familiar from TV).