Sorry for the long silence, but we just got back from three days at Notre Dame where my nephew Jesse graduated. It’s a gorgeous university, obviously with lots of money, but it is also obvious that much of that money comes primarily from sports. So I have a hard time respecting a university knowing how many compromises they must make in areas such as their admissions process, in order to be what Jesse’s mom calls “the leading sports school in America.”

I probably should have majored in history in college, since I really love history, and always have. That carries over into my science fiction reading, since most of my sf reading is not about “science” but rather “future history”. And nearly all my non-sf reading is either historical fiction or historical nonfiction. I mention this since while in Indiana, and driving the 10 hours each way, I read most of Harry Hearder’s ITALY: A SHORT HISTORY. It was fascinating stuff, from the Etruscans, Roman Empire, Germanic invasions, city-states, and Renaissance, through the European domination and Garibaldi. But Mussolini lurks a few chapters ahead! This is all background reading which I intend to follow with some detailed books about various aspects of Italian history and culture. I’ll probably start with two books I already have, Plumb’s THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE and King’s MICHELANGELO AND THE POPE'S CEILING.

For fairly obvious reasons, Italy is a country I have wanted to explore for many years, so why not start now? This does not mean I am abandoning my studies of China. It just means I’m expanding my multi-tasking into one more area! Ah, the joys of retirement...