I've joined a book group reading Peter Watson's new book Ideas: a history of thought and invention, from fire to freud (assignment: first 200 pages by Friday).
His discussion of the Bronze Age led me back to the Ban Chiang thread: Southeast Asia gets new respect for its early tin-copper metallurgy (starting 3000 BCE?). Fuller brought this up in Critical Path, in connection with the evolution of seafaring and ship building.
That thread took me back to cross-checking his submarine aircraft carrier claims, about which more has surfaced in the last few years: OK, so the Japanese had 'em in WWII. See my Sept 17, 1997 review of Critical Path at Amazon.com for more context.
Woah, a guy just walked off with Ideas! -- said he planned to use it for a mouse pad, thought it was community property, apologized. It's now back in my possession, no harm done. Time for lunch with Don and Nick.
His discussion of the Bronze Age led me back to the Ban Chiang thread: Southeast Asia gets new respect for its early tin-copper metallurgy (starting 3000 BCE?). Fuller brought this up in Critical Path, in connection with the evolution of seafaring and ship building.
That thread took me back to cross-checking his submarine aircraft carrier claims, about which more has surfaced in the last few years: OK, so the Japanese had 'em in WWII. See my Sept 17, 1997 review of Critical Path at Amazon.com for more context.
Woah, a guy just walked off with Ideas! -- said he planned to use it for a mouse pad, thought it was community property, apologized. It's now back in my possession, no harm done. Time for lunch with Don and Nick.
