Warped

When I was younger, I enjoyed reading difficult books, usually about science. These weren't hyper-dense books, but they required thought -- I had to slow down frequently and think about what I was reading.

Over the last couple of decades, I got out of the habit of reading those. I simply didn't have the time to make much of a dent in them before the library wanted them back. Why libraries don't let you keep some books for months, I don't know. The library that served the area where I grew up had a 'summer rentals' policy that said you could take books out for two months. I think that makes a lot of sense.This doesn't appear to be the policy of my local library. For that matter, they don't seem like books like this, either. Their idea of 'new books' is heavily skewed to self-help, finances, starting your own business, and biographies of actors. I could just buy the book, I guess, but I hate the idea of spending twenty bucks for a book that I don't at least get most of the way through. What I'd love to do is split the cost -- we each pay fifty percent, then I read it, and when I'm done with it, they get it. Course, as I say, that could be months later. Maybe years.

Fortunately, other libraries in the local system do have dense books available for loan.

Since it appears that I'm going to have a fair amount of time now, I am going to try to start reading those books again. And I'm starting with a killer. It's Warped Passages, by Lisa Randall. She's a physicist, studying particle physics and cosmology at Harvard. I read some of the introduction while eating lunch today, and at the end of one paragraph, I looked up at my wife and said 'And this is the easy stuff? I may be in trouble...'

But I'm going to give it a shot. Wish me luck.