"Niall: the UK cover is actually based on the art I commissioned. It's a close-up view of the original, so the face is a bit harder to make out, and the color scheme is different, but that's essentially the image I wanted. I was very happy with Pan Macmillan's willingness to work with me."posted by pharm at 6:11 AM on December 28, 2010
As they climbed higher up the tower, the sky grew lighter in color, until one morning Hillalum awoke and stood at the edge and yelled from shock: what had before seemed a pale sky now appeared to be a white ceiling stretched far above their heads. They were close enough now to perceive the vault of heaven, to see it as a solid carapace enclosing all the sky. All of the miners spoke in hushed tones, staring up like idiots, while the tower dwellers laughed at them.That reminds me a lot of that scene from the end of The Truman Show (at the 4:00 mark in this video), where Carrey's character is sailing across the sea in a stolen boat, defying the control of the reality show around him... when he suddenly crashes into the sky. The sky, which is actually the wall of a massive dome enclosing his world. At least he gets a chance to escape it.
As they continued to climb, they were startled at how near they actually were. The blankness of the vault's face had deceived them, making it undetectable until it appeared, abruptly, seeming just above their heads. Now instead of climbing into the sky, they climbed up to a featureless plain that stretched endlessly in all directions.
The 17th century historian Verstegan provides yet another figure - quoting Isidore, he says that the tower was 5,164 paces high, or 7.6 km (4.7 mi), and quoting Josephus that the tower was wider than it was high, more like a mountain than a tower. He also quotes unnamed authors who say that the spiral path was so wide that it contained lodgings for workers and animals, and other authors who claim that the path was wide enough to have fields for growing grain for the animals used in the construction.Or from a Google Books link quoting the same source:
According to Verstegan, "the passage to mount vp, was very wyd and great, and went wynding about on the outsyd: the middle and inward parte for the more strength being all massie; and by carte, camels, dromedaries, horses, asses, and mules, the carriages were borne and drawn vp: and by the way were many logings and hosteries both for man and beast. And some authors reporte the space for going vp to haue bin soo exceeding wyd; that there were feildes made all along besydes the common passage or highway, for the nuriture of cattel and bringing foorth of grain, but how-euer it were, an almost incredible great woork, may it well be thought to haue bin."posted by Rhaomi at 5:37 PM on January 23, 2011 [1 favorite]
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Seriously, though, I can't suggest reading Understand any harder. It's like "Flower for Algernon" except awesome.
posted by griphus at 11:17 AM on December 27, 2010 [23 favorites]