Lisa's Date with Density a child from Josh Weinstein's school days who everyday would get onto the bus with a piece of toast, which had Vaseline on it. A majority of the story is a reference to the film "Rebel Without a Cause". Lisa remarks that Nelson is "like a riddle wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a vest", a reference to "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma"; this was Winston Churchill's opinion of Russia at the outbreak of the World War II. In its original broadcast, "Lisa's Date with Density" finished 63rd in ratings for the week of December 9–15,
The Riddle of the Sands alleged military unpreparedness." It was a notable influence on John Buchan, and on Ken Follett, who described it as "an open-air adventure thriller about two young men who stumble upon a German armada preparing to invade England." Follett has also called it "the first modern thriller". Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones listed "The Riddle of the Sands" as one of the ten classic spy novels, in "The Guardian"'s best spy novel list. Robert McCrum of "The Observer" included it in his list of the 100 greatest novels of all time. "The Daily Telegraph" has cited the book as the second best spy novel