I totally hear you on the validation part. Although for me personally, b/c I'm less a traditional sort of geek (I am certainly geeky about things, but they tend not to be the techy science things, except for internet things, & even then I am pretty minor league), I got that less from the book.

YESSSSSS re: the parents being professors & blah blah blah--good for you!

Y'know how the intro said they were deluged w/submissions? I wonder how they selected the final pieces... I assume they had @ least some eye to diversity, but I hope they also kept in mind that maybe less polished pieces that were written by folks who didn't have the class & education & family advantages of some of the other folks would've been worth including too. Dunno.

I guess it always sounds like I slam Seal anthologies, but the thing is, I always want to read them. Even when they're flawed, the topics are much more interesting & relevant to me than anthologies in general are, & the pieces that aren't flawed tend to be amazing.