Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessel is a challenging book. The story of a Father and Daughter who move around the country a lot and have the richest, fullest intellectual lives this side of Professor Higgins chatting away with a second, younger, female Professor Higgins with side commentary provided by Sherlock Holmes. If I had not listened to Emily Janice Card’s brilliant audio book version, I doubt that I could have plowed through this baffling and brazen bit of business. I used to read a lot of books on writing. Mainly on writing Science Fiction. I whipped out…