science

Very Hard Choices

Very Hard Choices is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Very Hard Choices rather than just read about it. In short: Very Hard Choices is a science-fiction/suspense-mystery novel from Canadian science fiction author Spider Robinson, released in June 2008. The novel, set in British Columbia, is a sequel to Very Bad Deaths and continues the story of the reclusive telepath known as Smelly.

Key takeaways

Very Hard Choices belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Very Hard Choices to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Very Hard Choices from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Very Hard Choices is a science-fiction/suspense-mystery novel from Canadian science fiction author Spider Robinson, released in June 2008. The novel, set in British Columbia, is a sequel to Very Bad Deaths and continues the story of the reclusive telepath known as Smelly.

Plot In this novel, Nika and Russell discover that protecting the secret of Smelly's telepathic abilities has brought them into conflict with the Central Intelligence Agency, who has been pursuing him since his escape from the MKUltra Project in the 1960s.

Characters Zandor "Smelly" Zudenigo, recluse and telepath Russell Walker, newspaper columnist Jesse, Russell's son, an American public relations executive Constable Nika Mandiç of the Vancouver Police Department

Critical reception David Gerrold has said "Spider Robinson is at his best when he is most passionate – and this is Spider Robinson at his very best. If you're expecting a nice polite distraction that you can put down and forget, you're going to be very annoyed. This isn't a story, it's a wake-up call. And it isn't over until you decide it's over."

External links Spider Robinson's "Spider on the Web" podcast – includes readings from this book

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Very Hard Choices

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Very Hard Choices claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Very Hard Choices before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Very Hard Choices ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Very Hard Choices

In research: Very Hard Choices appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Very Hard Choices in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Very Hard Choices is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2000s mystery novels, 2000s science fiction novel stubs, 2008 Canadian novels, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Very Hard Choices outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Very Hard Choices” →

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How to study Very Hard Choices in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Very Hard Choices means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Very Hard Choices out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Very Hard Choices in simple terms?

Why does Very Hard Choices matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Very Hard Choices?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Very Hard Choices.