1. Mickey remarks, "The centre cannot hold." This is a quotation from a wellknown poem. What is the poem? Who wrote it? What is meant by "the centre cannot hold"? How does it apply to Heads?

2. "He feared another level of lie," Mickey remarks of Thierry. Why does Bear attack religions in general rather than simply focusing on the one religion of Logology? Are there other works of Bear's that contain similar views? Is it possible to distinguish between a character's views—which are the stuff of fiction—and those of the author himself?

3. Mickey is given a job that seems common and important in our own time: "the new station's chief financial manager and requisitions officer." What does a financial manager do? What does a requisitions officer do? How would these jobs be important to the Ice Pit...