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Is there a parallel between the cracks Magda discusses and "the crack" Paul Grobstein introduced? I'm not sure mainly because I'm not sure what is meant by a "crack" in each case. I see the science crack as a break in the otherwise whole "loopy" scientific method. To me Magda's cracks seem a lot like the memory fragments that are discussed. I found two mentions of memory fragments. "the way we organize perceptions into stories with beginnings, middles, and ends, how our memory fragments don't have any coherence until they're reimagined in words." (p. 47) During a discussion of Erik's father's memory of the Japanese officer there are three short sentences: "Intrusive memories. Fragments. These are the pieces that won't fit." (p. 84-85). I see Magda's metaphor as similar to these metaphors about memory. It seems to me that the idea is that we are made up of fragments that we try to pull together into a coherent "self."  The expression "I fell apart" comes to mind.  Those words seem to evoke an image similar to the cement magda discusses giving way.  I haven't figured out what any of this means, or if I even agree with myself, but I just thought I'd share with you some of my thinking on the subject.