Spent part of the evening reading up on the senses of cats. Figured that if I was going to try using Buddy as microscope to look at the universe, then I should learn what his senses tells him about it. Pretty interesting stuff.

Day got by me today. Don't remember if I mentioned the relative success I had at cardiologist's yesterday. Heart appears strong; pacer working fine. May have had a mild heart attack in past but present discomfort can be remedied by medication alone. Don't need stents or angioplasty yet.

I've decided to build a virtual library. In my head I see a stately room filled floor to ceiling with polished chocolate red-mahogany shelving. The air molecules in the room have a faint whiff of citrus clinging to them. Perhaps from the polish. Right now the shelves are bare but I will start putting books  on them tonight. I would also like to start putting various items on the shelves as well as books. Give the room personality.

The first decorative item going on a pedestal shelf is a kaleidoscope from Italian-born Massimo Strino. The one I see is steam-punk looking. Attracted to it. (Offered by Uno Alla Volta, page 63)

The first books will be:

A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman (A history of 14th century Europe. Sound boring? Often lethal, never boring. But what really makes things spooky is how similar their society is to our society. We'd have magical abilities in their eyes but the underlying instabilities are there again.  The human components seem awfully reflective - hence the mirror of the title.)

Order Out of Chaos by Ilya Prigogine (Yes, THAT Prigogine — as in bifurcation. I tried to reread him recently to refresh my memory of the path that brought his work into my view of reality. Tried couldn't. The mechanics of chemical systems put under stress were too much for me this time. Too far away from my own chemistry classes. But I keep the book because even if I sometimes misstate the specifics, the proof is still in the book. )

Famous Science Fiction Stories by Raymond Healy and J. Francis McComas, editors (Because Isaac Asimov autographed his included short story "Nightfall" when I met him as a student before his lecture at UConn. I also keep in it a letter from a friend in the army. Sergeant Mike St. Clair wrote us a letter on Nov. 21, 1970 from Vietnam affirming his desire to return home from his second tour to his new daughter. When we sent a Christmas card the following  month to his family, we found out Mike had been killed a couple of days after writing the letter to me. I've had that letter with me since 1970. Years later Karen and I looked him up on the Vietnam Memorial Wall.

Introduction to Haiku by Harold Henderson. (My first exposure to the impact of good haiku was this book from second or third year high school. I've toted this book around for over 50 years. Still glad. Once again this winter, in the middle of a multi-foot snowfall, I will open to page 185 and read:

Loneliness

No sky at all;
     no earth at all – and still
          the snowflakes fall ...
Hashin

Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Charles Sheffield. (Ultimately wound up being my favorite science fiction author. Hard science with grand visions. Found this copy in a trailer park swap library while traveling to Louisiana Mardi Gras. Pure serendipity. Lead me to the rest of his work which I devoured until this brilliant scientist-writer died of cancer.