Journal Entry #67
June 15, 2010
My Hungarian publishers, the Metropolis Media Group, invited me to join them in Budapest for the annual Hungarian Book Festival. My son Chris went along, and we spent a week in the company of Nemeth Attila, my local editor, and his staff.
It was a remarkable experience. I was at the Budapest festival Saturday, June 5. We had an enthusiastic crowd. MMG, which also publishes the award-winning Galaktika (www.galaktikamagazin.hu), had Hungarian editions of A Talent for War, Polaris, and Seeker available for the event.
During the balance of the week, Attila (in Hungarian usage, the family name is presented first) took us sightseeing. We visited the Parliament House, and had the opportunity to see the Crown Jewels. We also spent a day at the Art Museum, visited St. Stephen’s Basilica, and the Heroes’ Square.
On a mountaintop overlooking the city, we watched a ceremonial changing of the guard outside the President’s house, listened to a concert by a Finnish band, heard a couple of talented guys on stringed instruments playing something that sounded like Rachmaninoff, but which, when I listened closely, turned out to be “The Gang‘s All Here.“ A few minutes later Chris and I hoisted birds on our forearms. Chris had an eagle. (It was the first one I’d seen up close, and I don’t think I realized how big they are.) I settled for a hawk. His name was Chippy, and I’m happy to report he was friendly.
Some buildings erected during Roman times are still standing. There are no plain structures in Budapest, save those constructed during the Soviet era. The styles are classicist, Gothic, Art Noveau, Romanesque, and probably a half-dozen others. Every park is filled with statuary. Every public building is guarded by statues. They are everywhere. It reminded me very much of an observation made by one of the characters in The Martian Chronicles that art in the USA is something we put in museums. But that the Martians made it an intrinsic part of their lives. The same seems to be true of the Hungarians.
They were experiencing flooding while we were there. We wanted to take one of the scenic cruises on the Danube, but the piers were underwater. Planks had been set up, however, and we used those to get to the boat. It was the last day before all boat rides were cancelled.
We’ve posted a few pictures from the trip. Chris is there with his eagle; and you can see me trying to keep a respectful distance from Chippy.
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Read John Horgan’s The End of Science on the way over. I’ve been wondering for years how the physicists during the Alex Benedict era would justify their existence. What could possibly be left to discover, save those issues that can never be resolved? Like, maybe, why is there something and not nothing? Horgan argues persuasively that we are living in a Golden Age, and that most of the great discoveries have already been made. Once you’ve observed that evolution happens, and then discovered the process that allows for it (Crick, Watson, and the DNA molecule), what’s left other than filling index cards with details? Save, maybe, figuring out how life originated.
He makes similar arguments for the other sciences.
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On the way home, I picked up a copy of Game Change. Not halfway yet, but it provides an interesting perspective on the 2008 presidential race.
And, finally, I just finished, and thoroughly enjoyed, Allen Steele’s latest, Coyote Destiny.