All pretence of writing weekly updates has fallen away. The kids and I are drifting through what can fairly be described as the best summer ever.

Our days are spent between fun activities for the kids (Prenzlauer Berg is a children’s paradise), walking around, reading good books, and meeting up with friends. Work continues but at a much reduced pace.

I finished reading Mitchner’s Centennial, which I had started in Colorado. As with all of his epics it is great way to learn through the medium of story. Highly recommended. Next summer I will probably read his Texas. I would love to find a German author who mimics this style for German regions or cities.

After that I read Kim Stanley Robinson’s Aurora and was blown away. So thought provoking. One of my favorite authors, Amitav Ghosh (whose newest I have not yet managed to get a hold of) often poses the question on twitter as to where the novels dealing with the climate crisis are. Surely Robinson’s books must be at the top of the list. I alos very much enjoyed his New York 2140 which I read last year.

Anyway, This note is being composed on the train back to Berlin (the new ICE line to/from B to M) after a weekend auf dem Eichsfeld in Thüringen. It was as beautiful as it always is in the summer, and we managed to hit the Ritterfest at Burg Hanstein.

This week I’m speaking at Geo Berlin, which I’m very much looking forward to. Do please come along if you’re in Berlin.

Still to come this summer: some time in Potsdam on the water, and then more hiking in Thüringen. It is my sincere hope, gentle reader, that your summer is going as well as mine.