Books
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Salman Rushdie talks about Quichotte
Saw Salman Rushdie last night at Sixth & I. Sponsored by Politics and Prose. Enjoyed hearing Mr. Rushdie speak; he’s quite knowledgeable about literature and the world. I did NOT like the interviewer, Dolen Perkins-Valdez. She had too many anti-Trump, leading questions. Mr. Rushdie actually stated that he ‘did not give the 45th President a name in the book so that it would not distract, and then I would have to address that’. The interviewer did not get the hint. But such issues aside, this was a most enjoyable evening. The 2nd level of the main synagogue was not full and has great views of the stage. Once Mr. Rushdie…
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Lisa Randall: Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs
Lisa Randall was at Politics and Prose Bookstore in Washington DC tonight, giving a very interesting talk about Dark matter and the Universe. In her new book, Dark Matter and the Dinosars, she ties in the dinosaurs by speculating how Dark matter may have been responsible for popping a comet out of the Oort Cloud, thus sending it on its way to crash into the Earth 65 million years ago- wiping out the dinosaurs and most life on the planet. Her talk was great; first book tour talk I’ve been to that was like a classroom lecture: she had slides with diagrams, pictures and explanatory text. So…
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Edward Dolnick signing The Clockwork Universe
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Edgar Allan Poe’s Poem to the Blessed Mother
“Hymn†At morn–at noon–at twilight dim– Maria! thou hast heard my hymn! In joy and woe–in good and ill– Mother of God, be with me still! When the Hours flew brightly by, And not a cloud obscured the sky, My soul, lest it should truant be, Thy grace did guide to thine and thee Now, when storms of Fate o’ercast Darkly my Present and my Past, Let my future radiant shine With sweet hopes of thee and thine. -Edgar Allan Poe
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All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Just finished reading Anthony Doerr’s historical novel, All The Light We Cannot See. This was a wonderful reading experience; Doerr’s writing is so expressive and beautiful. The book is the story of two parallel lives just before and during WWII. One is the story of a German boy, Werner, “recruited” into Hitler’s Nazi Youth. An orphan, he is accepted into an elite school because of his genius with radios. It is there he is trained as a soldier (he is 14 when he starts ) and hones his electronics skills. Meanwhile, the other parallel story is about a blind French girl, Marie-Laure, and her life with her father and uncle…
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William Gibson: The Peripheral
William Gibson at Politics and Prose, Washington, DC (November 8, 2014) Where Flynne and her brother, Burton, live, jobs outside the drug business are rare. Fortunately, Burton has his veteran’s benefits, for neural damage he suffered from implants during his time in the USMC’s elite Haptic Recon force. Then one night Burton has to go out, but there’s a job he’s supposed to do—a job Flynne didn’t know he had. Beta-testing part of a new game, he tells her. The job seems to be simple: work a perimeter around the image of a tower building. Little buglike things turn up. He’s supposed to get in their way, edge them back.…
