Rob’s Comments (group member since Nov 27, 2013)

Rob’s comments from the Ship of Theseus (S. by Dorst & Abrams) group.

Hi Ginny. Have no fear! Check out the photos section. I have uploaded Insert #1 and #5. I hope you are enjoying the book!

Hi Emily. The images are loaded! Two pages were written front and back so there are a total of five pages. I hope you are enjoying the experience!

Alisha wrote: "Hey all,
Thanks very much Rob for the inventory list. My copy of the book (library borrow) is missing three inserts - can anyone share copies of (or know where I can view):

11 (178) Native Birds ..."

No problem! Take a look at the photos section of our group. I couldn’t get the decoder ring pic to upload but will try later. Although an image won’t be terribly useful for you of course.

Enjoy the reading!
Rob

There is certainly a creep factor! It's like nothing I've read before.

I am on Chapter 7. I just don't get a lot of free time to read and I don't like to rush - especially with a book like this. I hope your expectations haven't been elevated that it disappoints you. It is quite a unique reading experience though.

The good thing is I don't think you must decipher the codes to enjoy the story.

Happy reading!

What begins at the water.............

Very good point, Clarissa. I really don't know!

The copies I ordered for friends are on their way now so I guess Amazon is restocked now.

I hope you enjoy the book. I am slowly making my way through it. I wish I had more free time to read...

I just received an update from Amazon that my order on S is about to be shipped! I wonder if this is the second printing?

I ordered two copies for friends in mid-December from Amazon. It was showing out-of-stock at that time, but I figured they would have a new shipment eventually. It is now the start of February and they have notified me they still can't procure any copies.

Are other people having the same trouble? I've heard they are planning a second printing, but I am curious if anyone else is having difficulty finding S in stores right now.

One of my favorite sequences thus far into the book is the descent into the painted cave. I can't help but think there is a lot of information to digest on pages 178 & 179 in particular.

The bird-wolf creation myth smacks of Native American culture, though my Internet searches haven't found such a tightly linked relationship between these two animals. It seems the common arrangement involves four animals.

The Ioway indians, for example, had three bird clans (Eagle/Thunderbird, Owl, Pigeon), with the each of the remaining clans focused on a different animal (Wolf, Bear, Elk, etc.)

In heraldry, the Enfield is a hybrid animal of fox, eagle, lion, and wolf.

Wow. I never heard of that before. Thanks for mentioning, Lindsey!

Sandy - I agree! It's exciting that we have more than one way to read a book.

Jeanette - Yes, I've seen that some people take one chapter at a time and do multiple passes with each one. That is an interesting approach.

Mary - Jump on in! Start with the title page and you will do just fine. Enjoy!

Thanks for the comments, Larry and Alexandra. It certainly is a challenge. But I do love the fact that the authors are not telling us how to read it. I'll be curious how it all ends!

Interesting idea. I hadn't thought of that.

Here is a list of all the inserts for S. The first number is the order of the inserts, the second number (in parentheses) is the page number it can be found, third is the title or main identifying feature of the insert, and the last phrase is a description of what it is. I hope this is a helpful reference for you!

1 (vi) Konfidential - photocopied page
2 (10) Pollard State University - memo pad sheet
3 (20) The Burning Word - photocopied page
4 (32) The Daily Pronghorn - campus newspaper
5 (54) Telegramm - two page telegram
6 (69) Lampa - color photocopy of newspaper clip
7 (86) "D" - blue fine letter paper
8 (100) "Eric-" - handwritten letter on gray paper
9 (112) Brazil 4 Panel - postcard
10 (130) Photograph of "S" - photograph
11 (178) Native Birds of Brazil - postcard
12 (190) Palm Tree Building - wavy-edged postcard
13 (192) Brazil Beach - postcard
14 (200) Pictorial Brazil - postcard
15 (203) Handwritten Notes - 3 pages of legal pad paper
16 (242) Female Photograph - small black & white photograph
17 (256) Gastrimargus divaceus - card with enclosed obituary newspaper clip
18 (306) Hand drawn map - napkin
19 (360) Jean-Bernard Desjardins - card
20 (376) Pollard State University letter head - two page hand written note
21 (416) "To my new friends" - handwritten note
22 (back cover) Decoder wheel

"What begins at the water shall end there, and what ends there shall once more begin" (p. 12). Both Eric and Jen are stumped by this. The only clue they give is speculation that this was on the Summersby tape that was stolen (by whom? Ilsa?).

This same phrase are in both teaser trailers for the book. I really wonder if this ties into the ending of the book. I am only starting Chapter 4 right now...

I have read on a number of places that the best way to read this book is to focus on the text and ignore the notes in the margins. I tried, but I just can't do it. I feel compelled to read everything on the page.

I am currently 100 pages into the book and I have not yet had a problem keeping up with the various story lines. However, I do think I probably won't remember things quite as well. I imagine I will be doing a second reading of the book, but perhaps a much quicker one.

On page 45, footnote number 3 states that Straka is unable to hear frequencies in the range of 2710 to 2760 Hz due to frequent ear infections. I looked this up and this range is between E and F on the piano, three octaves above middle C.

I have no idea if this helps solve what seems to be a puzzle, but I figured I throw this out there.

In Chapter 2, Jen mentions she uses a Playfair cipher to crack the code imbedded in the footnotes. I tried this myself and was able to confirm it. You can find out more about it in this Wikipedia article

The keyword is GEMINI. So the Playfair square looks like this:


G E M I N
A B C D F
H J K L O
P R S T U
V W X Y Z


In this version (the one that works) you have to drop the 'Q'. When drawing your rectangles, you want to move one letter left or one letter up).