On Thu, Feb 18, 2016 at 11:17 PM, Craig Berry <xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:

And of course the reason that "larger than what's on the page" works so well is that, quite often, Tolkien himself had a rich story in his head for such details. It feels like there's more behind the words because there is.

Yes. Another thing this author points out is that TLOTR was the first fantasy work to use maps, as if the land being discussed were a real place. Maps (particularly for roleplayers such as ourselves) have become so commonplace that we don't realize what an innovation this was at the time.

Richard Aiken

"Never insult anyone by accident." Robert A. Heinlein

"I studied the Koran a great deal. I came away from that study with the conviction there have been few religions in the world as deadly to men as Muhammed." Alexis de Tocqueville (1843)

"We know a little about a lot of things; just enough to make us dangerous." Dean Winchester

"It has been my experience that a gun doesn't care who pulls its trigger." Newton Knight (as portrayed by Matthew McConaughey), to a scoffing Confederate tax collector facing the weapons held by Knight's young children and wife.