This collision of worlds is lit. Freeman checks out the treehouse and then goes with teen daughter Emily, and Ken, to rendezvous with George on some island. The journey itself is a gem of a vignette. The movie scene would be great.
Conversation
“The plexiglass domes [on canoe manholes] were in place...Freeman repeated...that the canoe was beautiful. He confessed that he thought he would like it better without the domes — just the classic Aleut lines. The astrophysicist, oddly or not, did not like the spaceship look.”
1
3
This story is full of colorful side characters, like Will Malloff, a weird frontier guy who ran a 1-person lumber mill and bred Rhodesian ridgeback dogs (lion hunting dogs) on Swanson island, where Luke Dyson met Anakin “Darth Orion” Dyson.
2
1
2
“The Mallloff settlement testified to the energy that two isolated people...can unleash. Here, I could not help thinking, was the kind of small colony [Mayflower mode] that Freeman Dyson advocates.”
1
4
This whole bit reminds me of the “Amazing Crusoes of Lonesome Lake”, also set in the region, which I read as a kid as a Readers Digest condensed book. Looks like British Columbia is the true last human frontier. amazon.com/Crusoe-Lonesom
1
1
Damn. 2 other characters present, Ron and Julie Moe, are ex lighthouse keepers. I guess this breed had not entirely been automated out of existence in 1975
2
1
2
Father-son moment:
George: “What do you think about this idea of a radio? Some people think I’m crazy to want to put one in this canoe.”
Freeman: “I think a radio in the canoe is a good idea. That’s what I like about you—you’re not a purist.”
Next: paddle in a starship? 🤔
1
1
2
Freeman says he’s working on theory of what holds galaxies together
Daughter Emily: “epoxy” (which George swears by for canoes)
Now that’s a good family joke
1
5
George and Ken save 2 men from drowning on last day on Hanson island. This book is just endlessly eventful.
1
1
Book closes with some wonderfully meditative and poetic short chapters. This whole thing has been an epic read.
