I learned that a good number of the mysteries could be solved be reading carefully for the one detail that really didn't have any reason to be mentioned.

I was made a gift of "The Grain Brain at the Academy" as a young child, and must have read it at least a dozen times, so it's burned into my memory.  The other books in the series I had to check out of the library, so I read them once each, and barely remember any of them.  It's a weird asymmetry.

I was made a gift of "The Grain Brain at the Academy" as a young child, and must have read it at least a dozen times, so it's burned into my memory.  The other books in the series I had to check out of the library, so I read them once each, and barely remember any of them.  It's a weird asymmetry.

I remember reading a science-based version of Encyclopedia Brown when I was kid, although I couldn't have told you the name.  Must have been Einstein Anderson, I guess.

I remember reading a science-based version of Encyclopedia Brown when I was kid, although I couldn't have told you the name.  Must have been Einstein Anderson, I guess.

I found the Star Trek Technical Reference Manual in the public library as a young kid and devoured it avidly.  As best I can recall, it's from that book that I learned the curious fact that Vulcan feces consist of hard, dry pellets.  Anyway, I've had that little nugget (heh) of knowledge in my head for most of my…

I found the Star Trek Technical Reference Manual in the public library as a young kid and devoured it avidly.  As best I can recall, it's from that book that I learned the curious fact that Vulcan feces consist of hard, dry pellets.  Anyway, I've had that little nugget (heh) of knowledge in my head for most of my…

Oh man, I devoured those books when I was a little kid.  (I didn't know or care who this Alfred Hitchcock guy in the framing stories was, though.)

Oh man, I devoured those books when I was a little kid.  (I didn't know or care who this Alfred Hitchcock guy in the framing stories was, though.)

"You have no historical perspective. Science in those days worked in
broad strokes. They got right to the point! Nowadays, it's all just
molecule, molecule, molecule. Nothing ever happens big!"

"You have no historical perspective. Science in those days worked in
broad strokes. They got right to the point! Nowadays, it's all just
molecule, molecule, molecule. Nothing ever happens big!"

Got me through high school.

Got me through high school.

Yeah, that sounds familiar to me too.  And for the rest of Spidey's term as Captain Universe, didn't at least one of his books regularly sport the phrase "The Cosmic-Powered, Non-Mutant Superhero!" on the cover?

Yeah, that sounds familiar to me too.  And for the rest of Spidey's term as Captain Universe, didn't at least one of his books regularly sport the phrase "The Cosmic-Powered, Non-Mutant Superhero!" on the cover?

Anyone else ever read any of the novels from Marvel's "Pocket Books" series of the late 70's?  I found several of them in my library as a kid, and read them long before I started reading comics regularly.  One of the Spider-Man novels had a scene that was particularly memorable for me.  Spidey barely escaped an…

Anyone else ever read any of the novels from Marvel's "Pocket Books" series of the late 70's?  I found several of them in my library as a kid, and read them long before I started reading comics regularly.  One of the Spider-Man novels had a scene that was particularly memorable for me.  Spidey barely escaped an…

I was just a wee little tyke when I watched Spider-Man on the Electric Company.  Some of the bad guys genuinely scared me.  I must have been just the right age.

I was just a wee little tyke when I watched Spider-Man on the Electric Company.  Some of the bad guys genuinely scared me.  I must have been just the right age.

One of the earliest comics I followed regularly was "The New Mutants."  I often wished I had a nickel for every time Sam Guthrie thought, or said, "Good thing ah'm invulnerable while ah'm blastin'".