Mark Sommer, HJ Fantasy Editor
I am not sure if I learned much directly from the show. It was more like a catalyst that got me reading, researching and thinking. But here are a few things I have learned over the past few years that I might not have discovered if it weren’t for the show.
1. I am capable of reading more than one book a year. (Check out the Hollywood Jesus LOST Library for proof.) I’ll never be able to keep up with my wife’s pace, but let’s save some of the impossible for Heaven.
2. Names are not hard to come up with – just steal them from obscure scientists and philosophers, and no one will ever suspect… until some geek lets the cat out of the bag.
3. Time travel is all in your mind – unless you are teleporting to the Tunisian Desert or having a severe nose bleed.
4. As a tribute to C S Lewis, you can name a giant pendulum after a well-known place in Narnia, or portray him as a beautiful anthropologist with long curly red hair. (I knew he was Irish, so the red hair makes sense, but…)
5. Jet airplanes are made in such a way that the wing can come off and the engine can still be running.
6. The island is not Purgatory; just the people who are on it are in it… or something like that.
7. Flashing can be done backward, forward, and sideways. And it’s apparently not illegal if you are a candidate.
8. A huge Egyptian statue can be knocked down by a nineteenth century ship being carried by a tidal wave.
9. “Do not place metallic objects inside” applies to more than just microwaves, but something exciting can happen if you disobey this rule.
10. Donkey wheels can make islands disappear.
