Indeed. I recall he was a sociologist and spent a decade planning the plot and cultures. Didn’t care as much for the books his son jumped in on, much later in the series. The first three are great prose, then it was more about the seeing the plot and vision to slog through them for me.

I hear there’s been an unquantifiable amount of gold hoarding by the PRC plus Their army. Looks like it is their method of defense in case of sanctions and currency devaluation. Maybe also a way to wage their own monetary war if they sell tons of US bonds. Seems like the fin war stage is set…

Have you written some sci fi and what are they? I’d give them a read. And TY for the work you do here.