Finished de Camp’s autobiography Time and Chance. Now I’m reading Lost Science: Astonishing Tales of Forgotten Genius by Kitty Ferguson. I would never have even heard of it, let alone picked it up, had not my local bookstore gone out of business and had a sale. It pretty much lives up to its title – these are mostly forgotten incidents and scientists, and the book is well-researched.
I will take issue with her saying that Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford is a relatively forgotten man. They still sell Rumford baking powder in Europe, and I see him cited now and then. He’s certainly known locally - his birthplace is a historic site in nearby Woburn, MA, and there’s a statue of him in front of the Woburn public library. (I have mixed feelings for the man – he was a brilliant, largely self-taught scientist who exerted himself for the public good. He was also a British spy during the early stages of the American Revolution.)
On audio I finished Stephen King’s If it Bleeds , an anthology. The title story turns out to be a sequel to his “Mr. Mercedes” trilogy, and implies that there had been another sequel before it. Based on information in If it Bleeds, I figured that had to be The Outsider, so I’m listening to that now.