But can these influences coalesce to form something more than the sum of their parts, something genuinely new?
"If we look outward and combine our funds with outside institutions, we can create something greater than the sum of the parts, something that will attract top faculty and students".
A lord might accept from his vassal a sum of money (or something else of value, often a horse) in lieu of service on some expedition.
Instead, we must now venture into these strip-lit cattle markets and tut disapprovingly, even as we're exchanging a derisory sum of money for something that used to be quite expensive.
But I also know that the city is wasting a large sum of money on something that benefits no one.
Especially in times like these, as people lose their faith in traditional banks, I bet more and more people are using their mattresses... and home safe boxes, cellars, closets, secret spots, etc. to keep a healthy sum of money should something go terribly wrong with the banking system (despite the government-backed FDIC guarantee up to $250,000 per person).
Some women choose to have their placenta capsulated or, at the risk of spending a fairly large sum of money on something that is very likely to get thrown up a few minutes later, turned into a smoothie, with fruit juice and berries.
"It's very rare to get four people together who all want the same thing, each have something special to bring to it, and the sum of the parts is something unique," Howson sums up.
On those journeys, my ear would cling always to a line that seemed to sum up something of what I hoped to find: "More golden, more open," it runs, "more happy than just hopin'".
In sum, there is a germ of something here, but it would take a lot to have it germinate into a valuable contribution".
