One of the reasons I read is to step into lost worlds. Nero Wolfe’s New York, Bertie Wooster’s London, and Don Fabrizio’s Sicily are all places that reward the wanderer. And though such worlds never really existed, I suspect they are close enough to ones that did to spark recognition in the eyes of those who lived in them, were they still alive.
Now most of the lost worlds accessible through literature are at least somewhat remote in time, otherwise they would not be lost. But sometimes the world changes so quickly, and so drastically, that a book written just a few years ago can seem like a dispatch from the distant past.
This is an extended meditation on the idea that the worlds of biology and technology are converging, with consequences for both. Along the way we meet lots of interesting thinkers and doers and see what sort of crazy things some of them have been up to (Biosphere 2 anyone?).
Kelley’s a pretty good writer and, while all of his theses don’t ultimately mesh together, I can’t recall reading another book with as many densely packed ideas as this one.
What does the notion of the Constitution’s ‘Original Meaning’ really mean? Rakove’s books is a methodical, but still readable, exploration of that subject through historical analysis. Rakove shows what a tricky concept ‘original meaning’ actually amounts to.
Psmith buys a newspaper. In America, no less. Wodehouse’s attempt to render the New York vernacular leaves something to be desired, but it’s an enjoyable outing anyway.
