Seveneves

by Neal Stephenson

tatterdemalion

“an asymmetrical problem,”

shirty

autochthonous

heterozygosity,”

If he lived by a simple code of ethics, it was not an end in itself, but a way to get something done without selling his soul or destroying his reputation. It was a tool to be wielded like a shovel or a stick of dynamite.

Endomement,

eleemosynary