This is the first installment in a monumental new series called Bomb Light - an expansive historical epic of intrigue and international espionage, presaging the dawn of the Atomic Age. Set against the turbulent decades of the early twentieth century, Polostan is an inventive, richly detailed, and deeply entertaining historical epic from Stephenson, whose prior books include “Cryptonomicon” and “The Baroque Cycle”. Our conversation host for this evening is Charles C. Mann, journalist & author of “1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus” and “The Wizard and The Prophet”. Mann has also given two Long Now Talks.