Fargo-Moorhead Forever Young Adult Book Club discussion

I'm most likely not going to be able to attend book club on Friday, but here are some questions that can be discussed. Feel free to add your own.

- Origin of Species, by Charles Darwin was published in 1859. Is it possible for so many creatures to be created by 1914? How might it have happened? (And in an alternative reality, does it matter?)
- Alek considers it horrible to create animals to work like machines, but humans have bred animals for at least 5,000 years. Is genetically altering animals to create a new species that different from what farmers have done in the past?
- It could be possible to create a dinosaur in a lab using DNA from birds (a la Jurassic Park). Is that a good idea?
- Of the two creations, the airship Leviathan and the Stormwalker, which one fascinated you the most?
- Westerfeld describes the nature of steampunk as "blending future and past." For example, Leviathan combines future technology with the history of 1914. What are your thoughts on the steampunk genre? Why do you think it's so popular right now?
- Did the illustrations enhance the book? Would the machines have been harder to imagine without the illustrations, or were the descriptions sufficient?