Our bounty of maple syrup has arrived from Square Deal Farm! The closest I can come to describing it is that it tastes like sunlight made sweet and liquid, which I guess is a good description of what Maple trees do, but this is the first time that syrup has made that image palpable for…

Walking: I began the year struggling with knee and hip pain, wondering if I would ever hike again. After one failed regimen, a chiropractor gave me a therapy program that worked. I managed to hike across Wyoming with Ann and Pete, suffering far more intestinal pain than knee pain. Now I’m experimenting with running again,…

A collection of science fiction short stories that concoct a provocative mix of biotechnology, social issues, philosophy, and physics. The tales are a little heavy on the technospeak, but I found if I just charged on, the story would soon offer some alternate emotional motivation. A nice, highly imaginative holiday read.

I was convinced I’d never run again, but many miles of hiking experimentation had already put me on the minimalist footwear path. This book convinced me to try running again, very cautiously, despite my fear of injuries. So far, I’ve done more running in my Vibram Five Fingers than I’ve ever done before without pain…

Could a 16-year-old Irish girl make a major advancement in the highly cerebral field of cryptography? It seemed as if Sarah Flannery might have done it with her 1999 science fair project, and when the London Times put a story about her project on the front page, she might as well have. This a great…

I’ve been in Denver this week partially because my dad bought the whole family tickets to a phenomenal series of four concerts over two weekends, a Rachmaninoff Festival. This has proved difficult to explain to our friends who don’t partake of classical music, and our shifting and complex plans (like Ann going to Mexico during…

This book had many points of appeal for me. The idea of a monastic society based on science and math instead of religion is priceless. There is a lot of fun wordplay, as indicated by the title. The story contains a primer on ancient greek philosophy and remains entertaining. There are didactic dialogs that as…

This is an unusual gem of a book, especially for anyone with any familiarity with being on the nerdy side of the social sphere while growing up near the Rockies. The book is illustrated with a cartographic bent, and the narrative flows into and out of the illustrations like a train passing through tunnels of…

An accomplished minimalist film – almost nothing happens. While you are waiting you can’t help but ask yourself questions about what is going the minds of the characters, which is probably the point. You have to answer your own questions as the plot slowly plays out, commenting as it goes about the realities of the…

This book was on sale for 4 bucks at Borders when I had some time to kill. To my surprise, I read the whole thing. I have a terrible time keeping historical timelines in my head, but I love the perspective it gives (while I’m reading, anyway). I learn a few surprising things, like the…