Good Books

I love the way that good books can inspire people to think, question, and struggle with what is known.

Last week when I was reading CC a chapter from The Time Garden, she encountered the Predestination Paradox again. The basic issue in this chapter is that children go back in time and save their parents. The first time we read this chapter she was excited to find out who had saved them - since the story from the parent's point of view had been told in Half Magic and we had never known who the kids that saved them were. Anyway, she didn't notice the paradox the first time.

Next time we read it, she was puzzled. This time she was inspired and confused. I explained to her that the feeling that it goes in circles and doesn't make sense is called a paradox. She asked if Albert Einstein was ever confused by paradoxes. I explained to her that yes he was not only confused by them , but discovered several in math. I explained as well as an old physics major can explain relativity, quantum mechanics, and "spooky action at a distance" to someone in first grade. She declared that she wanted to hurry to learn more math so that she could understand special relativity better and maybe travel beyond the speed of light.

We got all of that from a children's book. Don't you just love good books?