We were at the dinosaur pool in the middle of a warmish late August afternoon, our week-long vacation at its tipping point. It was pretty much as advertized - a large, pink dinosaur with a slide surmounting its middle was in the center of the pool, with various non-dino attractions at the edges. The water was a foot deep, perfect for a five year old who loves the water but has demonstrated in swimming lessons a tendency to sink rather than float.

The boy was enjoying the pool quite a bit, going down the slide as often as possible while exploring the other objects in turn (and getting told off more than once for climbing on the top of a blue tube that seemed tailor-made for climbing on). And every once in a while, he'd come out so I could towel off his face.

And each time he came out, he'd ask to go on one of the water rides that flanked the dino pool. One was a tandem ride whose height restriction would prevent him from riding. The other was a fairly high waterslide, built for speed more than turns, that he was just a little too short for, but could potentially buffalo his way onto.

Each time, though, I told him that he couldn't go on the rides, that he was just a bit too short, and wasn't he having fun in the dino pool? He considered this each time, and concluded each time that he was in fact having fun in the dino pool, and off he'd go.

At some point in this repeated process, I told him that the next time we came back he'd be tall enough to ride the other rides. This is almost certainly true; we've never vacationed in this part of the world (western New York) before, and it was unlikely we'd be back for at least a year, probably more. By that time he'd be plenty tall to ride, and if our return is farther down the road he may even be old enough to negotiate the rides on his own.

He ran off again, happy in the thought of future rides. While I thought of the future, his growing up and the challenges he'll face in school, developing friendships, and so on.  I thought about me, being older, eventually not having kids to take on vacation. And I thought that, as much as he wanted to go on the big rides, I would be happy with him staying in the dino pool for a little while longer.

Book Log 2014 #15: The Curiosity by Stephen Kiernan

I find it fairly easy to suspend disbelief when I read, which is a good thing with a book like this, in which a man frozen in a specific type of arctic ice is reanimated by a process developed by a well-known scientist. While the scientist looks to take the Boston-based project to the next level of funding, the unfrozen man is mainly tended to by a female scientist, who becomes his link to the modern world.

But over the course of the book, little factual errors started to nag at me. The unfrozen man and the female scientist go to a Safeway.  The closest Safeway to Boston appears to be in the Philadelphia area. There's another plot point involving the unfrozen man knowing the words to the Dropkick Murphys song "Tessie," which the book presents as the same song sung by the Royal Rooters in the early 20th century. It's not.

And then it's on to bigger questions. There's little work done to trace the man's family, which is odd given how easily a lab like this could prepare DNA samples and do some basic online research into his family. This is kind of covered by the main scientist's lack of interest in the human element of the project, which then raises an even bigger problem when you consider how thinly drawn the lead scientist and the female scientist are. The main scientist is an extreme caricature of the type, while it's a little on the nose to have the female doctor be the one to create a strong emotional connection.

Funny thing is, I still kind of liked the book. Much of it is solid storytelling, and some of the supporting characters are interesting. But one things started to cascade, it was hard for me to not get annoyed at little things, or even big things (the ending seems pretty implausible to me, which is kind of a funny thing to say about a book starring a reanimated human). You may have better luck with it if you're not from Boston, or get less hung up on the details.

Book Log 2014 #14: The Men Who United the States by Simon Winchester

Winchester, a newly-minted American, takes this opportunity to discuss the men - and it's pretty much only men - who worked to united the states that make up the US, not politically but geographically and commercially. Using the five unifying forces from Chinese cosmology, he discusses thinks like the Lewis and Clark exploration, the interstate highway system, and the Internet, and how they've all made the US what it is today.

A lot of this is familiar, but each new item helps to show how the changes to our connectivity helped to shape the other changes that fueled America's growth. I do think it lagged a bit towards the end (perhaps we're a bit too frayed now to be seen as truly unified), but overall it's an enjoyable read. Winchester peppers the history with his own personal history, which adds a personal dimension of how he became united with his new country. Worthy of a read, especially if you want to learn more about this view of American history.

Book Log 2014 #13: Tatina by Martin Cruz Smith

The latest book featuring investigator Arkady Renko sees him take on a case involving the death of a crusading journalist - or perhaps non-case is more accurate, as the death is ruled a suicide. When the case intersects with Moscow's organized crime leaders and the disappearance of a translator from a Kaliningrad beach. The clues that may help to tie the cases together and solve them both include some audio tapes and the interpreter's notebook, kept in a series of symbols and marks intended to only be legible to the author.

Renko's personal connections are stronger in this case than usual - he knew the victim, and his prodigal ward, Zhenya, gets involved when he tries to decode the notebook with the help of a fellow chess player (also a potential girlfriend). Renko's father makes a brief appearance, as he usually does, but it seems like his presence is fading, which I guess makes sense as Russia moves farther away from the socialist paradise Renko pere fought to defend.

I think I liked this one a little more than the last couple of novels, thanks to the more personal touch and the use of Kaliningrad, a sliver of Russia disconnected from the motherland and thus prone to be a little different. Certainly a worthy installment to the series.

Book Log 2014 #12: The 34 Ton Bat by Steve Rushin

Highly entertaining look at the objects that surround the national pastime, from the equipment to stadium features to what you eat and drink at the ballpark. I do wish some of the later chapters were a little less chronologically-oriented (in my memory, these chapters more or less tell the story of how the item became linked to baseball rather than looking at specific objects or people). The author's personal connection to the theme - he used to work in Metropolitan Stadium, where the Twins played before moving to the Metrodome - gave me another way to connect to the book. Recommended.

Book Log 2014 #11: The Pagan Lord by Bernard Cornwell

The continuing saga of the English born and Danish raised Uhtred sees him leading his own army of mercenaries and planning to retake his ancestral home from the uncle who took it. But the Danes, who have been quiet since the death of Alfred, seem to be plotting something. Not in favor with the new English king, Uhtred once again has to choose between the land of his birth and the land where he was raised.

A very solid outing in the series, good battle sequences and good to finally have Bebbanburg play more of a role.