Elena, next time you’re talking to a gaggle of engineers, drop ‘grok’ into the conversation (“wow, that guy totally groks latino issues”), and you’ll be immediately inducted into the Brotherhood. It’s our secret handshake :)

Given your inclinations, I suspect you would really really enjoy Ursula K. LeGuin. No better american author alive today, in my humble, uneducated opinion. She writes socially relevant, politically and morally charged scifi. You might want to start with one of her older books (Left Hand of Darkness, The Dispossed) just to get where she’s coming from, but her new stuff just rocks. I’ve read every book by her, and have really enjoyed her steadily maturing point of view.

Oh, and by the way, if you want thousands upon thousands of hits, try having a url that differs from a famous porn stars by ONE hyphen. You should see the email/comments/propositions/IMs I get… :)

What’s funny is I’ve been carrying around the same book for a few years now and have never once turned a page. Picked it up for a dollar at some used bookstore long long ago and it’s been sitting around ever since.