I made it back to Bonaire this year, looking for more parrotfish, and more Challenges. The tropics will return to SRS in the months ahead!

When I look back over the past twelve months of Challenges, answers, comments, and discussion, I see a rich back-and-forth between readers (some of whom are active commenters), me, and the world at large.

I mean, look at the range of topics we’ve investigated! We’ve talked about everything from why an island in Fiji seems to be missing (January 3, 2018) to deep investigations about why a piece of real estate in San Francisco seems to be unusually shaped (February 28), to how large seeds are dispersed (June 2), and why a stream in Austria seems to flow uphill (July 25). These are all amazingly curious observations about the world; things we notice that drive our curiosity and our research.

What I find so much fun about these Challenges (and frankly, the discussions that come out of them) is the incredible range of topics that attract our interest, and what we do to discover the answers.

As you know, that breadth of curiosity is important to me–I firmly believe that people with a curious outlook on life know more, do better work, and are generally more interesting! You are definitely all of these things.

The SRS blog started in 2010 as a way for me to share insights about how to do effective online search. Along the way, it transmogrified into ideas for a book on this topic–running title: The Joy of Finding Out. As I mentioned earlier, the book is happening! I just got the publisher’s copy-edits! Once I accept (or challenge) them, they’ll print up a galley of the book, and that’s the last pass. After the galleys are accepted, the thing gets sent off to the printers! The expected due date is early summer, 2019.

I’ll let you know more about the book when it gets closer to publication date–but I want to let you know that all of you, the loyal SRS readers, have played an important part in the process of getting this book into print. So, as we begin a new year, I wanted to be sure you all know how much I appreciate all of you. Your intrepid research skills are amazing, and the discussions we have in the comments are wonderful. Thanks!

I’m going to take two weeks off (I’ve got to attend to those copyedits!), but I’ll be back on January 9, 2019, with a whole new Challenge. (And a few additional special treats.)

Have a marvelous New Year! I’ll see you soon, back here, in SearchResearch!


— Dan