You would probably enjoy Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus, by Orson Scott Card. In this alternate history, the people of the world have finally figured out how to care for the planet, but it’s too late. Ecological collapse is right around the corner and inevitable. There is a limited potential for time travel. Several people go back in time to the era of Columbus – to change history at a crucial tipping point.

Fascinating reading. I cried when I finished the book, for it was fiction.

1. I have a classic watch; it’s timeless.

2. I went to see an acupuncturist today. He needled me about my pain.

• I’m grateful that I have 43T to remind me that this is something I have valued and prospered from doing, and I need to continue.

• I’m grateful for all the time spent with the Cubbette the last couple days. I know the time will come (all too soon) when she’s ready to fly the coop. I need to practice being grateful for that, too.

• I’m grateful that Riverdancer got caught up on sleep.

• I am grateful for all the problems I’ve been fuming about the last couple of weeks. On the whole they are problems of abundance.

• I am grateful for friends and family who have not only tolerated my grumpy, grousing, growling attitude, but have waited patiently for me to come to my senses, meanwhile scratching where it itches.

• I am grateful to have done some writing during my days off. It’s been years since I spent so much time engaged. Not that I wrote a lot, it’s just that I’ve written so little for so long.

My analyst diagnosed me as suffering from ennui. I don’t really care.

Ennui has made more gamblers than avarice, more drunkards than thirst, and perhaps as many suicides as despair. —Buddha

1. Have you ever looked up “synonym” in Roget’s Thesaurus?

2. Ponder the question of Adam’s navel.

3. Take the dog out to read his pee-mail.

4. Teaching origami to the lost sheep so it can return to the fold.

5. Wearing teflon soled ballet slippers.

6. What doth it profit a man if he gain the world but lose his solipsism?

7. Nobody nose the truffles I’ve seen.

8. Did you hear about the drunken shepherd who kept seeing double ewes?

9. My quantum mechanic just raised his rates. Even though it’s all relative, I hate physics.

I’ve meant to read it since they covered it on NPR’s Science Friday. Pollan represented well. It will be on my 2009 TBR list.

(my problem is that I’ve now picked out enough books for 2009, 2010, and 2011 TBR challenges)

Last year I think I only read 7 of my books. And five of those were read in December. The rest got deferred to this year.

How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk is awesome. My kids are VERY grateful that I read it.

(Actually, I’ve never finished reading the book, but I’ve reviewed the illustrations repeatedly. That seems to work better for me than reading a lot of words.)

I’ve been lagging with my posting. Here’s my progress is tracked in the list I wrote at the begining. I’m reading book # 32 for the year (most, but not all of them are TBR). I’ve now read every book off of last year’s TBR challenge list.

I do hope to sit down and write some posts on the books I’ve been reading. They’ve been really terrific.

I’m reading one of two recently added books – I’ve had them on the shelves for a couple years. I started on Rules, Games, and Common-Pool Resources, but found I could stand a bit more background, so I dug a few oldies off the shelf.

The current read attempts to make the math less intimidating by using humor. I think it succeeds, but I’d rather just plow through something more concentrated. So this is probably good, it’s forcing me to smell more roses on this journey of words, ideas, and an expanding universe.