Stephenson is one of speculative fiction’s most meticulous architects, and here he’s got sheets and sheets of blueprint.

There in about 340 B.C. the founder of a school of astrology, a Babylonian named Berossos, wrote a history of his homeland. In it he told his Greek readers that the numbers sossos (60), neros (600) and saros (3,600) occupied a special place in Babylonian arithmetic and astronomy.

The safety of Florence, which means even more than the welfare of Florentines, now demands severity, as it once demanded mercy.

Swedish massage techniques applied to your feet have reflexology effects, too, and give those tootsies the break they need.