I had brought in some of my

At least relatively technical mail

To chip away at at the office

Since I was on downtime.  

Looking through an AI publisher's brochure,

I noticed the "Z" in the title

Of a paper in one book:

"Reasoning About the Unobvious Consequences of Actions in the Modal Logic Z",

A topic I was not familiar with.  

I next browsed three months worth of brochures

From the Library of Science,

Which I had just joined.  

The first topic in the first book in the first brochure was Z‑DNA.  

Naturally I noticed the "Z"‑recurrence

And also was reminded of

A parameter I had named "Z"

In the prime number pattern work I had just spent a month on

And had in fact worked on earlier this morning.  

(I wanted to get back to the prime number work

And was debating if I should do that

Or browse these brochures)  

In the second science library brochure,

The second book's description mentioned "Z" particles.  

The feature book in the third brochure

Was an excellent selection called "Fearful Symmetry".  

I remembered noticing the book's author

When I was looking at books in St. Petersburg last week

Because he had such an unusual name ‑‑

At the time I thought it might be made‑up.  

Apparently not, though ‑‑

He's a world‑class physicist at U.C. Santa Barbara

And also at the Institute for Theoretical Physics,

Also in Santa Barbara

(I called Santa Barbara yesterday...).  

I realized that it was exactly a week earlier

When I had been in the bookstore in Florida,

Because today was Friday and it was about 11:30

And I was in the store last Friday from around 11 to 1.  

The author's name?

Anthony Zee ("A. Zee" on the book cover).