The other day, a friend of mine stumbled upon the expression "living vicariously" while reading a book and asked me what it meant. It wasn't the first time someone I had fielded this very question. Vicariously simply means that you're experiencing something indirectly, like when your friend's vacation feels like your own. Vicariously is the adverb form of the word vicarious, which also signifies experiencing something through another person. An avid reader, I'll be the first person to admit that I often live vicariously through the people I read about in books. I'm an avid American history buff and am always reading books that center on the Founding Fathers, including George Washington, John Adams, James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson. There are two I enjoy reading more about than the rest, though: Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton. Not only did they found the nascent republic's first two political parties -- the Federalist party and Democ...