What makes somebody an open book?

I suspect it's just a feeling you have with someone. As for your last question, I suspect the answer is yes, absolutely.

I should circumscribe my comment above a bit by saying a person should be an open book if he or she is about to embark on an intimate relationship with me...at least that's my preference.

But it is not necessary to be open with everyone. Some people can ask questions that are mean or manipulative. Some people I wouldn't want to be open with -- but I would like to feel that I could tell you anything if it came up and you could tell me anything -- that you would hear what I say in the sense that it is intended, that you would be sympathetic, not judgemental. That you would not see my information as a threat to you. It's ridiculous talking in generalities like this -- I am thinking of specific people and specific situations.

I had a date with a man who seemed to have a lot of keys. When I asked him what they were keys to, he wouldn't tell me. This is the same man who said to me, "I want to see you, even if it has to be through bullet-proof glass."

But I digress.

People have secrets, often interesting secrets, often shameful secrets. The secrets might be none of our business, no matter how close we are. I wrote a blog on the question, "Are you an open book?" The blog is about a good friend and a mentor. A wonderful person. But not an open book.

Finally, I must stress that no matter how open, self-disclosing, and honest people are, there is an essential core of mystery in an interesting person that we can approach, but perhaps never know.

At the end of the filme My Dinner with André, André says this:

"But have a real relationship with a person that goes on for years—well, that's completely unpredictable. Then, you've cut off all your ties to the land, and you're sailing into the unknown, into uncharted seas."