I grew up with a father whose intellectual curiosity was beyond admirable. It”s so unfortunate that he died so long ago, years before the home computer age was born. You mention Rachel Carson and I recall my father’s impassioned discussions with me after reading “Silent Spring.” I can still see a copy of it on his nightstand, atop a copy of Will and Ariel Durant’s lastest volume, which of course was atop The Warren Commission Report, which lay on top of a copy of America, Inc.:Who Owns and Runs the United States, which rested on a volume of Thomas Mann’s “Stories of Four Decades.”. He was rarely satisfied with just one author’s approach and he’d do research on a topic until he exhausted his find. I often think that had he lived beyond 1977, he would have enjoyed the Internet and the treasure troves of information he’d be able to find…Forgive my rambling, all this over your mention of Rachel Carson! ~ Jeanne