Hershel had his own notions of elevator etiquette, trying to start conversations about national politics, labor unrest, even religious controversy, any of which it might take an ascent of hours, into lofty regions no high-iron pioneer had yet dared, even to begin to discuss.
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Hershel probably learned his elevator etiquette in non-electric elevators. People were probably trapped on those contraptions for at least twice as long as some men turned cranks or pulleys lifted weights or steam moved pistons to lift the cage. You could probably offend three or four people with Hershel's topics in a trip like that.
My favorite bit about topics that everybody claims should not be talked about is that we all know we're friends with terrible people and we just don't want to know exactly how terrible they are. So we declare a moratorium on talking politics or religion whenever we get a sizeable group together, knowing that the worst person in the room desperately wants to say the terrible things they believe and the other people just want to not know that person is worse than they already know they are.
Hershel is letting the reader know what topics will be discussed in this book. Topics that will take hours, or 1000 pages, to even begin to dissect.
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