"NATURE IS TANTRIC,” Robbins suggests one afternoon as we’re driving north in his convertible. “The water on earth exists because hydrogen, with only one electron, is lonely and needs oxygen.”
The observation leads promptly to a discussion of the chemical concept of oxidation-reduction reactions, and Robbins listens carefully to an explanation of that process from the science student in the car.
“So is that what bonds hydrogen and oxygen?” he asks finally.
“No,” says the science student. “That’s when charge is transferred between two atoms.”
“They are in love?” Robbins wonders.
“Well,” she says, with some hesitation, “it’s like they both need something. One has too much and one has too little.”
Robbins nods, satisfied. “That’s what I said.”"
(From a Rolling Stone interview with author Tom Robbins)