Great astrophysicists don鈥檛 think alike. Harvard鈥檚 Margaret Geller is getting to grips with Afghanistan鈥檚 crisis. She鈥檚 reading Jason Elliott鈥檚 鈥渟earing personal account鈥� of travels in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation, An Unexpected Light (Picador, 2001). She鈥檚 also reading The New York Times writer Judith Miller鈥檚 鈥渢houghtful analysis of the Islamic fundamentalist movement鈥�, God Has Ninety-Nine Names (Simon and Schuster, 1996). The book was a profound warning, says Geller, which went largely unheeded.
Geller, too, finds time for a lighter read: she鈥檚 enjoying Adam Gopnik鈥檚 memoir about his years with his wife and young son in the French capital. Paris to the Moon (Random House, 2000) 鈥済ives added dimension to a city I have visited many times鈥�.
She indulges her fascination for maps 鈥渁nd everything about them鈥� with The Island of Lost Maps by Miles Harvey (Random House, 2000) about thefts of maps from rare books libraries.
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