(How's that for a pretentious title for a blog post?!) Anyway, I've been plugging along and when I realized my Kindle was telling me I was at 50%, I decided I should post some of my thoughts.
So here's a random assortment of the notes I made so far:
- On page 1, Bryson writes: "(It is a slightly arresting notion that if you were to pick yourself apart with tweezers, one atom at a time, you would produce a mound of fine atomic dust, none of which had ever been alive but all of which had once been you.) And my note is: "Why do I have a feeling my mind is going to be blown so casually like this over and over while reading this? What an exciting prospect!"
And so far, that's basically what has happened. I've had to read this book in small chunks, because I find I can't take it all in and just keep on reading. I get so amazed (or confused -- sometimes both), that I have to put the book down and just think about it for awhile.
Also, though, I've found that time after time the amazement comes from simply stated facts about how ridiculously precarious life on this planet is. And I start to get depressed. Thinking, well then, is there really a point? To life? To trying to save it? etc. etc. etc. I usually get over myself fairly quickly, however, and continue to read the next day.
- Page 6: "The idea was to see if it isn't possible to understand and appreciate -- marvel at, enjoy even -- the wonder and accomplishments of science at a level that isn't too technical or demanding, but isn't entirely superficial either." My note: Thesis statement! And at 50% read, I'd say he's fairly successful. There have been sections that do get too technical for me and I've had to start skimming. But it's not too long before he breaks and moves on to another topic, and I'm able to jump back in again.
- There are lines that just make me laugh out loud. Page 88: "Once his wife returned home to find a freshly deceased rhinoceros filling the hallway." Can you imagine?!
And, page 327, talking about a scientist working on the multitudes of seemingly new fossils recently found: "There was so much unrecognized novelty in the collection that at one point upon opening a new drawer Conway Morris famously was heard to mutter, "Oh fuck, not another phylum." This had me guffawing. And I think I'm going to adapt it as my new phrase to utter when feeling overwhelmed.
- My final thoughts for the post are about the scientists in general. What a bunch of wackadoos! I'm currently listening to a book on CD titled "The Science of Evil" which posits that evil is actually a complete lack of empathy. Today I heard a section in which the author said that studies have shown that humanities students tend to score higher on the empathy scale while science students tend to score lower on the scale. I wonder if that has something to do with all this bizarre behavior we're reading about.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I think that when I first became interested in reading this it was because of his thesis statement. I wanted to know about the ideas, the facts, the things I didn't know before or had forgotten that I once knew. But from very early on, I knew I was reading for the characters. As you said, what a bunch of wackadoos! Of all stripes. From the guy who like to do push-ups in his office and irritate his soft-spoken colleague, to Hubble - the Adonis-liar, to the genius who you couldn't look at when you spoke but must instead address the vacancy next to him (clearly on the autism spectrum somewhere, don't you think?)...What I am not good at doing is keeping them all straight!
Speaking of liars...my pants are on fire. Postings galore was definitely wishful thinking from me for this evening. I have been working 12 hours a day for the past three days and I had an awful time sleeping last night. However, I promise to write more soon.
In the meantime, I leave you with the thought that struck me on the bus on the way home tonight. I think it would be fascinating to catalog these characters and their personality quirks and align them with what Bryson has to say about the women in their lives! For example, what about that rhinoceros in the hallway?! What did she have to say about that? Most of the men discussed are such oddballs I feel like there is a whole other story to be told about the women who loved them.
Wackadoo scientists and the women in their lives. That is interesting, though I suspect for many of them, the wives were probably at a fair remove. Most of the scientists before the 20th century probably were wealthy men who had the family money they needed to pursue such unusual pursuits. Which makes me wonder how involved their wives would have been in their lives. (Though there is no denying that there is definitely a relationship story to be found somewhere when you find a rhino in your house!)
Did you have any of the mood swings I had while reading? Awe and wonder which turned to mystification, which then turned to depression and defeatism when he focused on how likely it is for life to be extinguished. And then back to awe and wonder again at the end with the unlikely rise of homo sapiens. Thanks goodness he returned to that -- I would not have reacted well to ending with the doom and gloom bits. All that being said, maybe I was just exceptionally emotional while reading!
I did have some of the same mood swings you had in reading about the precariousness of life. The part that was particularly striking to me for whatever reason was the discussion of Yellowstone. Overdue, cataclysmic, terrifying - perhaps especially for those who survived the initial disaster and then had to try to keep surviving. Shudder.
I didn't actually find the ending to be as much of a turnaround as you did. The focus on all the extinctions, the carelessness and lack of stewardship that humans demonstrate seemed to drive home the point that we'd been extraordinarily lucky to have made it thus far but then he ends by saying we'll have to be more than just lucky if we are to keep going as a species. But so many of the would-be-catastrophes he discusses (asteroid collision, Yellowstone explosion, tsunamis, earthquakes) are completely outside of anyone's control. I find that depressing but it also sort of feels like if there's nothing to be done about that maybe we put our energy towards other things - maybe that part's not our responsibility. I don't know if that makes any sense.
What saved it from being overwhelming for me was just his writing and his humor. Honestly, when I got to the end and started reading some of the notes they just got me giggling. "He wanted to name the planet George. But instead it is Uranus." "The next time you spray on Chanel No. 5, you may wish to reflect that you are dousing yourself in distillate of unseen sea monster." That's just a great phrase "distillate of unseen sea monster." Perhaps it is a lucky human attribute to be so easily distracted/amused?
Post a Comment