And some reading

 It's been really hot here, so I've been doing more reading than anything. 

For work , I'm working on "America's Public Lands" (Randall R. Wilson), which is a pretty interesting history (if you like such a thing) of how we came to own (as a nation/people) and how we have tried to dispose of "public land" (which in sensu stricto would be grazing land, but more broadly also includes National Parks and military bases and similar). I teach about this in my environmental policy and law class and there are a couple things thus far the author points out that are things I've neglected or glossed over and should not, like the Dawes Act. 

I also finished "Dear and Glorious Physician." I admit I slowed down a bit on it towards the end - I think because it was more events I "knew," some of the things literally discussed in Luke's Gospel. I will say the author's treatment of Mary - as this sort of ageless figure, who should be a woman in (perhaps) her 40s but who still at times resembles the teenager she was when she met with the angel, that there's something unworldly or otherworldly about her - was interesting and I think well-done. (Also, the consideration that she was quite devout even as a girl, which would help explain her relatively level-headed reaction to the angel's message). In places it's a hard book because along the way, Luke loses so many people - and for me, that kind of thing is just hard to read right now, because I've had what feels like more than my share of loss these past few years. 

I do suspect if you're...not exactly friendly....to the central Christian narrative, this would not be a book for you. And as I noted before, there are some things in it that have aged poorly since the 1950s. 

Last night I started a book I pre-ordered last summer, "A Prayer for the Crown-Shy," which is Becky Chambers' second book in the "Monk and Robot" series.

I absolutely *loved* "A Psalm for the Wild-Built," so I ordered the second book as soon as Bookshop had a link up. And then I waited. Finally it was shipped last week. I was busy, and then I was sick, so I didn't start on it until last night.

I'm not very far in, but it's nice to revisit the world of Sibling Dex and Mosscap the Robot. I don't know if this the last book in the series, or just the second (and I'm not far enough in to judge if it's a story likely to continue). I might consider her other series (I think it's called The Wayfarers) after this. Her writing is enjoyable and the "hopepunk" worlds she generates are nice. There are also interesting themes - like the "hopepunk" element, and the idea of low-pollution tech (the ox-bike, solar power, ways of purifying water and generating "biogas" for cooking...) but also her way of addressing some issues we are seeing today (Dex is nonbinary, and yet in the world of the novels, it's an absolutely mundane and unremarkable thing, nobody has a problem referring to them as "them" or anything similar). Fundamentally, at this point, the story is a journey story, but presumably they will eventually reach a town - apparently Mosscap is "famous," in the sense that people want to speak to a sentient robot who actually wants to talk to people (One of the situations in this world is that robots became sentient, humans decided "well, we really should grant them rights, then" and the robots said what they wanted was to be left alone and "fired" from their jobs....and they spent their apparently-near-immortal lives contemplating nature away from humans). There's a lot of interesting undercurrent of "what does it mean to be" and "what is purpose in life" which are questions I think a lot of us have been asking since the pandemic. There's also a complex and slightly confusing religious/philosophical system involving six gods, which may or may not be believed in as literal beings that exist by their followers and even their acolytes

Again, this is a book I would recommend - there are more than a few "swears" in it, so be aware of that if it bothers you.