Unless you’re an orthopedist or someone who experiences bone-related pain, you probably don’t spend a lot of time thinking about your skeleton. A well-formed skeleton resides quietly in the body, providing freedom of movement, anchoring muscles, and protecting vital organs. Like so many of the subtle structures and processes on which daily life is predicated, […]
“‘I believe I shall write a letter to England, monsieur.’ ‘England! But we are at war with England,’ the Marquis pointed out, mock-offended. ‘What I have in mind is a Natural-Philosophic sort of discourse,’ Eliza said, ‘and Philosophy recognizes no boundaries.’” ––The Confusion, by Neal Stephenson, pg. 111 “The idea is simply to tolerate […]
“Though she would never show it, Eliza felt a sudden upwelling of affection for Rossignol. In a world full of men who only wanted to take her to bed, it was somehow comforting to know that there was one who, given the opportunity, would prefer to read through a big pile of stolen correspondence.” ––The […]
It is always painful to write a negative review of a beloved author, but less so when the book in question is as desultory and tedious as this one. Neal Stephenson is probably my favorite living author, but making it through the first volume of his Baroque Cycle (which is really three books in one) […]
“There are phases in cultural evolution that are by their nature big leaps; a technology, or a constellation of them, proves so explosive that its lucky hosts suddenly seem light-years ahead of other cultures. Those laggard cultures, indeed, look so pathetic that it is tempting to ask whether there isn’t some qualitative difference at work, […]
“‘No, Robert.’ Hooke took advantage of Daniel’s plea to jam a leather strap in his mouth. ‘You may bite down on that if you wish, or you may spit it out and scream all you like––this is Bedlam, and no one will object. Neither will anyone take heed, or show mercy. Least of all Robert […]
“The Revolution was done, it had been Glorious, and what made it glorious was that it had been an anticlimax. There’d been no Civil War this time, no massacres, no trees bent under the weight of hanged men, no slave-ships. Was Daniel flattering himself to suppose that this could be put down to his good […]
“‘It is all right for a clock to run fast or slow at times, so long as it is calibrated against the sun, and set right. The sun may come out only once in a fortnight. It is enough. A few minutes’ light around noon is all that you need to discover the error, and […]
After last week’s unwelcome setbacks, I’m pleased to report that Jesse and I finished the new garden fence with relatively little trouble. With the posts already in place, we managed to run the fencing, hang the gate, and extend the existing retaining wall in just a few hours. The garden is now completely enclosed again […]
“‘A spherical body––a planet, moon, or star––having a given quantity of matter, produces a gravitational attraction that is the same as if all of its matter were concentrated into a single geometric point at the center.’ ‘The same? You mean exactly the same?’ ‘It is a geometrical proof,’ Isaac merely said. ‘That the particles are […]