Dear Lyuba, thank you for such a thorough and personal comment. Allow me to be slightly more personal myself. JP wasn't even the first person in which I noticed this trait.

Many years ago, I had a chance to listen to a series of lectures at the university I attended. I was blown away by the lecturer and his ideas. He was very charismatic (like JP), and his explanations were exotic and original. I was hooked.I approached him, we talked and became friends. He appreciated my enthusiasm and later promoted me to be a proofreader for his Ph.D. (later book). When a job opening came about in his office, I was picked to become his assistant. All of which was great and made me proud.

But, when I got a grip on his ideas and theories myself, it became puzzling to me, "why such a fuss?" These things could be explained in much simpler terms: fewer Latin words, less complex sentences, more common metaphors. In my opinion, his idea was much more straightforward than he made it seem (which is actually brilliant on his part, great ideas are always elegant). We were both lecturing to the same class of students, and we often got into dispute; I wanted to make lectures more approachable, step down onto the students' level and explain it in their terms, while he seemed to enjoy the aura of a professor. At least that's what it seemed to me.Don't get me wrong, he was and still is a great tutor and an erudite scholar (way above the standard), but our approach to lecturing was in opposition. JP is just another and much more famous example.

I can recommend one more book: Harry G. Frankfurt: On bullshit.