This finished a bit too late to get into the previous collection of Random Stuff, so it gets to be its own post. A long but fascinating saga by St. Michael Flynn on the topic of what actually went down with Galileo, and the many competing astronomical models of his time:
I also very much enjoyed his book Eifelheim, about aliens landing in medieval Europe. It gives a much better impression of how medievals actually thought, compared to the usual fare. (Although I thought the frame story, set in the near-future, was a little weak.)
I've been travelling a bit recently, to Princeton and to the Perimeter Institute (which is in Waterloo, Ontario), but I hope to be able to get back to blogging soon. But this week, I have a visiting collaborator, and potentially jury duty (which for the record, I am not trying to evade.)
