Outside of a Dog: Flynn, Michael: Eifelheim

Aaron Bergman

Aaron Bergman wrote on July 1, 2007 at 11:11 AM:

There is something true about Sharon Nagy in that one half-missed detail: that she uses a pen and not a pencil. It betokens a sort of hubris.

Talk about getting the small details wrong.

Everyone I know uses pens for notes and calculations. Pencils fade. And sometimes those mistakes aren't as mistaken as you first thought.

Kate

Kate wrote on July 2, 2007 at 9:16 AM:

Aaron: heh. I didn't even think about that, because I was too busy saying "'half-missed'? Who's doing the missing, here?"

But I guess I shouldn't be surprised about the small details, considering what Chad had to say about the big picture.

(I only use pencil for editing other people's documents.)

andyl

andyl wrote on January 30, 2008 at 3:07 PM:

There is no need to go to the tropics to get large insects. Stag beetles common in Britain and Europe and can be between 2" to 3" long not including antenna. The European rhinoceros beetle is a bit smaller topping out at around a respectable 2". If you measure from the thumb web to the top of the thumb the beetles have me beat even without their antenna.

Kate

Kate wrote on January 31, 2008 at 2:20 PM:

andyl: sure, I've seen bugs bigger than my thumb (house centipedes, *shudder*), but they aren't my default for "bug."

And more importantly, this stood out because it was just one example of a persistent pattern in the book that I found intrusive.