A well-earned prize

There’s nothing funny about what’s going on in Ukraine, but we can surely make fun of how some people in the U. S. respond.

Cloud Castles

Last night I finished reading Cloud Castles by Dave Freer. It was a fun book. I would recommend it.

Cytonic

The book I finished reading most recently was Cytonic by Brandon Sanderson. It’s the third in a series that starts with Skyward. It’s science fiction (although not hard scifi) and definitely aimed at the “young adult” (YA) market, so I’m not technicality a part of the target audience. That said, I most definitely enjoyed it and recommend it. Of course, since it’s by Brandon Sanderson you probably would have expected that; he’s definitely one of the best fiction writers around.

Wonder

I’ve been thinking that now that I’m retired I should try to blog more frequently. So I’m going to do a little poetry criticism. (This won’t be what I do every day.)

Today’s poem is When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer by Walt Whitman:

When I heard the learn’d astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,
When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.

I still remember the first time I read this—in high school, I think, but it may have been earlier—I had a deeply negative reaction, and I find I still do. The proofs, figures, diagrams, and so on don’t detract from the wonder of the stars, they add to it. The universe is a marvelous place, and the more we learn the more marvelous it seems.