Just finished reading Joan Didion’s Where I Was From. It’s a great bit of California history, and an insight into the unique nature of the left-coast psyche. She does a good job explaining our particular creation myth. Recommended! Meredith, you should read this one.
A while back I re-read one of my sci-fi favorites, Bruce Sterling’s Schismatrix Plus. I used to read tons of mostly “hard” SF when I was a kid. I can’t bring myself to even look at most of Sterling’s other stuff - it looks like junk - but Schismatrix is incredible. Lots of science, body modification both organic and mechanical, and a finely woven subplot about the nature of humanity. One idea I found interesting is that intelligence isn’t necessarily a trait that contributes well to survival in the long term. At geologic time scales, our “intelligent” striving for constant advancement is self-defeating and contradicts the galactic steady state. While I can’t say if that’s true, I’ve certainly felt my own version of that tension often enough.
And now on to Po Bronson’s What Should I Do With My Life? — picked it up in the airport coming back from the east coast the other week. So far, the vignettes are straightforward and honest, insightful, useful, interesting.
It’s getting warm here in Madison, warm and humid. I taught a sailing lesson in the early evening yesterday, great wind, and a great sail. Today I’m planning to head out on an I-20, but they are calling for afternoon thunderstorms. Wind = good. Rain = no problem. Lightning = bad.
After this week, I won’t be doing as much sailing for a little while… I’ve been invited up to a friend’s place on the shore of Lake Superior this weekend. Looking forwards to that, it should be beautiful up there. Plus lots of little country bars, etc. On my return I’ll be heading out to SF for a few days: a little work, and check in with friends and family. Then back to Madison for a week before heading off to Tallinn! I’ve spent at least six hours over the past couple of days trying to find decent, upgradeable flights from MSN to TLL and back… No dice — it looks like I’ll be sitting in back on that trip.
