Book 2: Chapters 11-13 Summary

Joe Bonham runs through the times tables but the numbers get too big to handle. He tries words like lie and lay, who and whom, and others. He runs through Dickens characters, the last of the Mohicans being an Iroquois, random lines of poetry, the names of planets, the thou shalt nots, and "the Lord is my shepherd". "Dwell in the house of the Lord forever" sounds good to him. Too bad his teachers never teach him anything and he pays no attention. Otherwise, he would have things to think about. His mind is all he has left and he must use it. He is ignorant as a baby when it comes to trying to think and decides it is time to learn to concentrate.

Bonham remembers from his tenth grade history class that early humans study the stars...