Larry’s Comments (group member since Nov 23, 2020)

Larry’s comments from the Nonfiction Reading - Only the Best group.

It is 12 degrees F right now in Fairfax, Virginia. Our HVAC SYSTEM IN OUR BUILDING HAS BEEN BROKEN FOR ABOUT 12 days. But they brought us ceramic heaters on the first day, and at no point has our temperature inside our apartment gone below 66 degrees. It’s actually 71 degrees right now. I won’t go into any more details of the HVAC problem, but it is being addressed. I just feel sorry for those who are cold in this weather.

I have to confess that I never finished Hawking’s first book either … and I started off as a physics major in college … before I switched to economics.

Anisha and Cynda, that March 1 start date is only a suggestion. If you both want to start earlier, I already have my copy of the book. I’ve looked through it, and it looks great.

Ten Questions ... with the answers pulled from the archives of Stephen Hawking. Essential Reading.

Suggested beginning date: March 1, 2025.

"Brief Answers is one of his last projects, completed for him after he died. It draws on half a million or so words stored over the decades in the form of essays, lectures, keynote speeches and – since A Brief History of Time made him a celebrity and his long struggle against illness made him an icon – it addresses some of the questions that, over the decades, so many people had often asked him."

Cynda, I’ll set up that thread when I get home this afternoon. And I’ll plan to read that book myself.

Rob, how was the book on the music of the 90s?

Christine, that book in Antarctica looks good.

Drip … drip … drip … that’s about all you’ll need, John. It’s going down to 12 degrees F tonight here, but now that we’re in an apartment in our retirement community, we don’t worry about this kind of thing any longer.

Stay warm and stay safe. I bet you’ll be in another place next year.

In the DC area, the weather will be extremely cold on Monday through Wednesday, with the highs only hitting 22 degrees F. Good days for staying inside and reading.

Ron, my daughter-in-law had been in Austin the last few days … she is flying back to DC tonight… into much colder weather.

The Schar Cancer Institute has art everywhere, including in the exam rooms. There are so many exam rooms and no doctor has any real claim on any of them. There are about 30 of these exam rooms, and on any given day I bet there are about six oncologists, moving from room to room to visit with a patient. Good but not great art on the walls of every room. A lot of landscapes and some nice abstract art. I have no idea who chose the art, probably a consultant.

He is good at distinguishing how doctors can’t really be consumed by empathy but need detached compassion … but how detachment can’t fall into complacency. He really is good at exposing how his aging has affected his participation in events like Morbidity and Mortality meetings … he got to where these were difficult for him.

Also if n ch. 3 …. He recalls the early days of the pandemic …he thinks of returning to service as a doctor but doesn’t think he could work on the Covid wards because of his age.

Ch.3 we discover that at his house in London, he has a woodworking shop and also that he keeps bees … and that he is hesitant to leave this house for another house in Oxford, because there will not be enough space for his things.

In chapter 2 … an amazing fact that almost all animals have hearts that beat about 4 billion times in a lifetime. A shortlived mouse has a heart that beats 500 times a minutes a Galapagos turtle [tortoise???] has a heart that beats four times a minute.

I really liked his comment about the importance of doctors giving hope to their patients … and telling them that they have a 5 percent chance of survival could be almost as good as telling them they have a 95 percent chance.

February will be when I read it also, Cynda.

There are national security reasons for forcing the sale of TikTok. My guess, Ron, is that it will continue with perhaps a short hiatus …. Because there are tens of millions of users who, like you, find it valuable.

Cynda, I’m on the third chapter. Really good writing, with a look back at the early days of the pandemic and how it affected him and his wife. I’m really glad that you will be reading it.

Carol, I totally agree with you on the attraction of Monticello. Before I retired my wife took the Japanese Agricultural Counsellor and his wife to visit Charlottesville and Monticello. We had lunch at a lovely restaurant downtown. But the highlight of the trip was definitely Monticello.