"A Hat Full of Sky"

I just finished it, and I think it may be the best of the three YA Discworld novels. I'd definitely rate it above Wee Free Men, and I think it's a bit better than The Amazing Maurice. Any book that, at one point, reminds me of Ursula Le Guin at her best and, at another, of T. S. Eliot is pretty impressive, even if it is labeled "Young Adult".

Le Guin: There's a rough analogy Tiffany:hiver::Ged:gebbeth. The resolutions are rather different, but I think they're similar in spirit. Le Guin's is a bit darker; Pratchett's stance of willed optimism appeals to me a good deal more than UKLG's resignation.

Eliot: Compare these two passages:

Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colours. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.
(A Hat Full of Sky, p. 349)

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time
(Little Gidding, V)

(I love the Four Quartets.)

Thanks, Pterry.

At Work

I underwent the ethics training yesterday. Most of it was pretty obvious, and very little of it applied well to professors; it's more aimed at civil servants, especially regulators and buyers. (I passed.)

My two observations this year were actually a bit humbling. B. and S. are both much better teachers than I am... When S. came in last night, he spotted me in the back row. (We'd never met.) He came back to find out who I was and what I was doing in his classroom. I identified myself; he shook my hand and went back to begin his lecture. Man, he was good. The students were alert, and most of them answered his nonstop questions (all addressed by name) immediately and accurately. When one didn't, S. gently guided him to the correct answer - and he did it in a way that encouraged the student's confidence. He constantly pointed to matters of practicality as well as theory, and pointed out different options for dealing with problems (though, of course, focusing on the technique of the day). His demonstration of the use of Mathematica to finish a problem was pedagogically beautiful. The lecture was scheduled for two hours, but I left at the midpoint break; I'd seen enough. He came out of the room, rather nervous; I told him I was very impressed.

I am somewhat consoled by the fact that he's ten or fifteen years older than I am, so I have a hope of being like him when I grow up. That I had the job of judging him is... peculiar.