Young men and women start out believing in giants — not make-believe giants, mind you, but real, hulking gargantuans who only rarely notice the mortals flitting about them. For someone just starting out on adult life, the world seems full of actual giants, legendary figures who have lived lives and filled careers far beyond any normal person’s capacity.

Then one day, with a dull thump, we realize that our heroes weren’t all that different from other human beings. They remain admirable — smarter or faster than we are, stronger or harder working — but they no longer seem the incomparable, inhuman figures of our youth.