After three weeks in light-therapy treatment for his depression, Frank still doesn't feel 100% better. But, when his agent calls and tells him a publisher has offered a 100,000 pound advance to write a coffee table book on the Twentieth Century, Frank doesn't worry about missing his upcoming treatments. Instead, he flies to London to begin writing so that it'll be ready well before the turn of the century. In London, Frank begins his research at the British Museum. For days on end, he reads about the atrocities of all the wars during the Twentieth Century -- not just the great wars, but the Tibetan genocide, the Japanese-Chinese war, and the Indo-Pakistan wars as well. Frank frequently compares death totals to the Vietnam war memorial that he visited in Washington DC. One day, the deaths weighing on him, he decides to get out of London and head to Scotland. On his way, he crashes his car but still manages to make it to Edinburgh to meet up with an old friend, Alec. Alec explains he attended a funeral for his friends' infant that morning, and the two men go out for drinks. Frank continues to drive up North towards the Orkneys. There, he camps in his car at night time and marvels at the Maes Howe and Skara Brae ruins. He reflects on their civilizations, now lost, and wonders what the next century will bring for world history.