Learning By Reading Fiction

Poul Anderson, Starfarers (New York, 1999).

OK. I did not know that Rehavia (see image) (p. 61) was a neighborhood in Jerusalem. I have reread Starfarers to p. 65 of 495 and have learned:

the beginning and end dates for the publication of Anderson's Kith series, forty four years from start to finish;

parallels and divergences between Anderson's Genesis and his Starfarers;

the idea that perennial virtuality precedes temporal reality;

the hypothetical transitional stages between the dynamic vacuum and the atoms of which we are composed;

an argument against artificial intelligence;

the meaning of metastability;

that Epsilon Eridani and Tau Ceti were regarded as good prospects for SETI;

that there is more recent evidence for planets in orbit around these stars;

something about Fridtjof Nansen;

the meanings of several previously unfamiliar words;

something about a Thomas Wolfe novel;

that Rehavia is a neighborhood in Jerusalem.