where his civilizations, including our own

Thrillpointed IS an awesome word. And you know, I think there is a website called something like "Find that book" where you can type in descriptions of a long-lost book. I came across it when I was looking for a book out of my own youth, but I'm not sure now if it was a forum where helpful people would take your vague (or not-so-vague) description and offer suggestions, or if it was just an out-of-print bookfinding place run by one person, and the "search" costs money. A (free) forum would sure be great, though.