Going away. For a week.

Taking a lot of books with me, the most interesting could be Richard Feymann’s ‘The Pleasure of Finding Things out.’
I have a feeling Vivek would really enjoyed this book. In our recent Goliath vs Goliath battle (the post about it mysteriously vanished from Sig9)
he told me a lot about this. Also, Carl Sagan’s ‘Cosmos,’ and more than a bundle of Science Fiction books will keep me sated.

Yesterday I read Nancy Kress’ ‘Probability Sun’ and ‘Beggars in Spain.’ Probability Sun was a true to heart Scifi novel, even if it
overemphasized the obscure science a bit. It’s dangerous (in ways both good and bad) to read books like that because you get your imagination reved up
but what you think possible might actually be laughable. The plot deals predictably with an Intergalactic War, but the characters are real and pointed and
not all of them are genuises, and this gives this book a nice aura. Beggars in Spain ranks among the best books I’ve read this year. It takes the philosophy of
Ayn Rand and asks some pointed questions about it. Of course, in the book, Objectivism is refered to as Yagaiism, but I couldn’t find
any tangible difference. There are some questions I have to ask too: What do you do with people who genuinely can’t help themselves. I might offend many
Objectivist scholars because just asking that question would mean that I haven’t understood the philosophy. But I’m not ashamed.

I think that’s what’s called the pleasure of finding things out.