Well, I have my India trip book (one of them anyway). This New Ocean, "the story of the first space age," by William Burrows is not a new book (published in 1998), but it looks like a great read. I bought a used copy through Amazon.com (I love buying used books through Amazon - unfortunately I also love buying new books through Amazon). This comprehensive history of rocketry and space flight is a pretty fat trade paperback, but it should still fit in my computer bag for the long trip from Boston to Dehradun, India this Friday to Sunday (that's just the trip over - I'll be there until the 18th). I'm going to attend an optics conference.Although I have often been to other Asian countries, this is my first time to India. I don't quite know what to expect but it should be interesting in any case. One of the strangest things will be the likelihood of no internet for more than a week - seems the hotel and conference don't have net access. It's been a while since that has happened - so in addition to the booster shots and anti-malaria pills I already received, maybe I should ask my doctor for something in case of blog withdrawal symptoms.
5 comments:
Bruce,
Burrows' book is wonderful. There's a certain cockiness to be achieved after having slogged through it. You'll know that you've received a pretty darn thorough overview of spaceflight.
That trip sounds like it will be really intersting. I'd be surprised if you don't have net access at local cafes and such. India is a fairly wired country (thus the call centers, I guess), and it'd be strange to have a conference in a place without internet cafes even. I know what you mean about the blog withdrawl, I went three days without it and was feeling totally shut off from the world! I can go three days without news, no sweat, but three days without blogs, no way.
Bruce,
BTW, I'm not sure if you've run into it before, but Library Thing is a wonderful Web 2.0 program for storing and sharing your library. Check mine out at http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=anthonares. It's free for small libraries, but like $20 for a lifetime membership. It's got recommendations and ratings and everything.
have a nice trip Bruce. You sure fly oversea a lot! :)
Thanks guys. Dehradun is a fairly small "town" (~500,000 people, small for India I guess), and although it has multiple research centers (mainly government), there's no university. My "guide" is a friend of our company president who is visiting relatives and will accompany me to the conference. He has been told "don't expect too much in this small town." I'm hoping to be surprised and find a web cafe or something. I'm the manager of international distribution, so overseas comes with (indeed IS) the territory.
That librarything.com looks dangerous - I could really get into cataloguing my books (I once started to do it with a Mac HyperCard application I wrote in the late 80's before I went over to the Dark Side). Your collection is pretty much the usual thing - space, Buddhism, physics, geology, wedding planning, SF, GEB, Sagan, Feynman, etc. Quite eclectic actually (not surprising).
-Bruce
Well I think it's fair if I've showed you my collection that you show me yours. It may seem dangerous, but I entered my (admittedly small, compared to some of the folks there) library in just a few hours. The dangerous part is the tagging and rating and reviewing that could occupy you for weeks.
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