As I wallowed in my last bout of withdrawal from television over the last few weeks, I read a few books. I regularly join QPB [1] to get a handful of books for about $25, and then cancel after fulfilling the membership requirement. I also have a few hundred well-worn science fiction paperbacks, and some in hardcover. Those are comfort reading; familiar meanders through futures that haven’t come to pass.
I most recently completed “A Briefer History of Time [2]“. This survey of cosmology from the ancients through the latest theories of everything is easier to read and understand than the original. Even less math, better images, and more up-to-date science. It is briefer, yet covers more than the original.
I’d read “Molecules at an Exhibition [3]” before that. It was weaker than Emsley’s previous book [4], but still a fun survey of everyday molecules that one doesn’t usually think about.
I finally read “The God Delusion [5]” in one part of the house while reading “Two Complete Novels” by Douglas Adams [6]in another. To my surprise, Dawkins cited one of these Adams novels in his book. They balanced each other: One never quite getting to a point, and the other never letting go of one. Both worth reading. But beware of mental whiplash if you too try to read ’em in tandem.
My recent comfort books were an odd collection: Oath of Fealty [7] and Fallen Angels [8] by Niven, Pournelle, and/or Flynn, and The End of Eternity [9] and The Gods Themselves [10] by Asimov, and Heinlein’s 1948 “Space Cadet [11]“, among others.
I also skimmed through my Doonesbury collections, reliving election commentary for Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr, Clinton, Shrub, and all their opponents. I have the original college Doonesbury collection. Those strips are from before syndicate censors and wordsmiths denuded and dumbed it down for mainstream newspapers.
I also read some don’t-bothers, like Maher’s “New Rules” and Carlin’s “Napalm and Silly Putty”.
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