“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.”
Conversation
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.
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“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.”
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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
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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
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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? 🤔
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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
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George and Ken save 2 men from drowning on last day on Hanson island. This book is just endlessly eventful.
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Book closes with some wonderfully meditative and poetic short chapters. This whole thing has been an epic read.
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