Sometimes I do things on a whim, like eat breakfast, read the newspaper, or go to bed. This weekend I did hardly any of those whimsical things. Instead, I danced in the family room with my kids. The injuries inflicted by my flying limbs were not serious. Then I watched a movie of George Orwell's Animal Farm and a Victor Borge performance. Finally, I read two books I've been meaning to read: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams and Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. What a ride!

In both Animal Farm and The Hitchhiker's Guide, animals understand both animal-speak and human-speak, while humans only understand each other, making most animals clearly more intelligent than humans. Whether it's mice or pigs that are smartest, you can't help but wonder how animals react when we foolish humans tell a joke. Do they cringe? If our crude intellect came to understand one of their infinitely superior jokes, would we die laughing? Maybe that's why they don't talk to us. They are reserving their best weapon for later.

I can relate to the Wiggins kids in Ender's Game, so I found it inspiring. When I was young, I spent a lot of time figuring out how to build a secret laboratory of machines in a mountain cavity so that I could advance my skills without being hindered by such remedial nuisances as public school. To earn the money for this lab, I was going to design, build, and sell a computer with a single-chip design, 256-bit data paths, and 3 MB of memory, which would make incredible computing power available for little cost. Once the computer, lab, and car were finished, I was going to open large cylinder-shaped malls where I would sell buckets of Legos for 50 cents. I felt that Legos would resolve a lot of the world's problems, so they should be practically free.

I was disappointed at first when I realized these plans weren't working out, but later I understood why. I concentrated on engineering problems, ignoring the need to build social networks, so I lost time. Nevertheless, I held on to the dream long enough that it did me a lot of good. I think I would have found Ender's Game very encouraging.

When Ender's Game is made into a movie, though, it will probably be dark and brutal. I doubt I will see it; it could spoil the images I've created in my head.