I'm close to the end now, and I do think it's a very good book. It has succeeded in making me look at the world differently! But be aware that there's very little about technology or lab methodology; it focuses on the people and ideas.

Marveling at rock layers, of course. But not until the '50s-60s did we start to have the tech needed to understand them: to extract deep cores from the earth, to study fossil bacteria and magnetic alignments inside rocks, to precisely map topography of ocean floors, and to do these things globally.

I’m loving Strata by Laura Poppick, non-fic about stratigraphy, the study of Earth's rock layers. This is how we figured out when life began, plate tectonics, the makeup of the atmosphere billions of years ago, and so much more…and I was stunned to learn that the field is barely as old as I am!

Oof, I've had that on my shelf since about 2013. I really ought to get it read before it gets completely outdated! (Though so far I think we're okay.) Hope you're finding it as informative as I hope to when I get around to reading it…😂

Oh, I loved Spiderlight! So much fun.

You're very welcome!

Yeah, I've been thinking about re-reading Mythago Wood too—for the same reason!

Slow Gods is probably my next book, too—it releases here on Tuesday, and I plan to POUNCE.

Envious! In the US we have to wait until the end of January.😩

Good morning! I'm reading The Genius Bat by Yossi Yovel, fun non-fic about the rather wacky history of bat research and full of cool—and often surprising—info about bats themselves. Like, it turns out that most species are quite friendly and easy for researchers to train. Who knew!?🦇🖤

You are right, reading the book unspoilered (before there even was a film) was *amazing*. I figured out the prestige a bit before the reveal and the realization was chilling, just utterly horrifying. And I read the rest in a state of dread I've seldom experienced from a book! It was glorious!😃

Do they typically publish a statement about “comprehensive rehearsals” before a capsule landing? If NASA/SpaceX said something like that, I'd feel sure they were preparing for a possible emergency situation. I'm worried about these taikonauts!🤞

Another book from the same era as The High Frontier (late 70s) was Colonies in Space by T.A. Heppenheimer. All us space-crazed folk were reading and discussing both of those, at the time.