I truly could not have predicted becoming obsessed with the methods of communication in and out of Paris during the 1870-71 siege as a result of picking up this book but here we are. They turned the train stations into workshops to sew balloons! Carrier pigeons carried letters on proto-microfiche!!!

Do you know about the psychic snail sex telegram?

Not off the top of my head, but I'm assuming that it involves Victor Hugo, which is probably the only context in which I'd read the words "psychic snail sex telegram" and think "...yeah, that checks out."