It is the late ninety's and STEM is all the rave. Author Bill Bryson must have picked up on this. A Short History Of Nearly Everything draws off the science of everything that surrounds the everyday human, and essentially gives a pretty well rounded spark notes of life as we know it. With the intention of drawing his reader in and causing an excitement around science Bryson serializes the creation of the earth. Although filled with a large amount of chemistry, physics and biology the book also dabbles in geology, meteorology, and even sociology. Covering events from the big bang to the Cambrian explosion to the extinction of the dodos. The book succeeds in both showing science at an incredibly microscopic and and personal level, as well as showing the grand insignificance of the human race and the great deal of chance that has played into our existence. This, i believe, ties back greatly to Bryson's purpose, to inspire interest in science and research, particularly in the hopes toward betterment and conservation efforts. I think Bryson best sums this up in his concluding paragraph of the whole book. "If this book has a lesson, it is that we are awfully lucky to be here-- and by "we" i mean every living thing... We really are at the beginning of it all. The trick, of course, is to make sure we never find the end. And that, almost certainly, will require a good deal more than lucky breaks."
In order to draw his audience in Bryson fills his book with factoids. Not always totally relevant but unfailingly interesting. Most of them show either the deeply personal level of science, or the unbelievable scope of it. For example, he tells us that in any given handful of soil there are 1 million plant yeasts two hundred thousand molds, ten thousand cryptozoa; or that one humans DNA spans 120 kilometers. This somehow makes the science more personal and potent. But to even further show its immense vastness he explains that as the universe expands it doesn't fill space, but creates it; or that we have only observed 1 trillionth of the universe. By showing the personal nature yet unimaginable size of the space and time, and show the shear lock that let us be a part of its beauty Bryson effectively advocates for conservation and research.
Sunday, January 22, 2017
Monday, January 16, 2017
A Short History Of Nearly Everything (TOW #15)
To categorize and chronicle the entire history of the universe is quite a daunting task. However, there are few people better suited to take on such an endeavor as Bill Bryson. Bryson is an author known for his nonfiction works and who ranks among some of the best nonfiction writers of all time. He served as the chancellor of Durham University between the years of 2005 and 2011, and his publication of A Short History Of Nearly Everything won him the Aventis Award from the Royal Academy Of Science for the best Science book of the year. This award is held by others including Jared Diamond and Stephen Hawking.
The most intimidating aspect of a 500 page about science is not a lack of content. The issue is an excess of boredom. It is incredibly difficult to create a book describing complex scientific concepts that is both easy easy and inciting to read. Bryson's best weapon in this case is the anecdote. Rather then explain concepts and list facts Bryson weaves a story, creating context to discoveries, personifying discoveries, and characterizing key figures of the history of science. This is best shown in his description of researches and introductions to new key figures, which, although some may argue are unneeded, i believe that they aid in making the book more story like, approachable and personal. These contexts aren't just scientific aspects of the researchers lives, they include things from their spouses to how they take their coffee. Bryson again makes the book more personal by relating everything back to you. He takes macroscopic ideas and shows them in the microscopic, and in the end, brings everything back to the reader. No part of the book was more interesting, although self apparent, than when Bryson so sagely observed that "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."
To me this book has been a compelling read throughout. I am most passionate about science when it comes to education. However, Bryson himself is quite the opposite, a self admittedly bad science student Bryson writes this book for people like him. And in doing so helps to abolish the stigma that you are either science minded or you are not.
The most intimidating aspect of a 500 page about science is not a lack of content. The issue is an excess of boredom. It is incredibly difficult to create a book describing complex scientific concepts that is both easy easy and inciting to read. Bryson's best weapon in this case is the anecdote. Rather then explain concepts and list facts Bryson weaves a story, creating context to discoveries, personifying discoveries, and characterizing key figures of the history of science. This is best shown in his description of researches and introductions to new key figures, which, although some may argue are unneeded, i believe that they aid in making the book more story like, approachable and personal. These contexts aren't just scientific aspects of the researchers lives, they include things from their spouses to how they take their coffee. Bryson again makes the book more personal by relating everything back to you. He takes macroscopic ideas and shows them in the microscopic, and in the end, brings everything back to the reader. No part of the book was more interesting, although self apparent, than when Bryson so sagely observed that "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."
To me this book has been a compelling read throughout. I am most passionate about science when it comes to education. However, Bryson himself is quite the opposite, a self admittedly bad science student Bryson writes this book for people like him. And in doing so helps to abolish the stigma that you are either science minded or you are not.
Sunday, January 8, 2017
How 'Fight Club' Became the Ultimate Handbook for Men's Rights Activists (TOW #14)
Fight club is a book written by Chuck Plahniuk about an unnamed narrator who is consumed in materialism and capitalism, until he meets Tyler Durden, starts an underground hyper-masculine anarchy group called fight club, and ultimately try's to destroy the world. The book was widely popular and adapted into a block buster film. My essay relates the way that fight club was transformed from such an insightful reflection of the ninety's into the handbook for male rights movements. The article, written by Paulie Doyle of vice news, seems to take a view of this as a tarnishing and misuse of fight club.
The article opens with a brief summary of fight club and its textual themes and continues demonstrating how it was an effective reflection of its time periods, the 90's, in which male vulnerability and introspection became a more mainstream and acceptable cultural concept. After describing fight club adequately the author then explains how the "manosphere" has sacrilegiously appropriated the text. He explains the men's right belief that there are alpha and beta males, alpha being superior physically and sexually while beta are introverted and weak. Fight club to the alt rights men movement shows the way modern life has confined men to suffer by taking away there killer instinct and replacing it with consumerism. In the eyes of the movement, the author explains, this is the fault of women, who have obviously gained too much power in society and need to be put back in their rightful place. To many men in the manosphere Fight Club is a description of this need. Not only this it shows how a beta like jack the narrator can transform into an alpha like Tyler Durden.
In my opinion the authors most powerful tool in this article is his tone. He decides to use a very conversational tone so as to effectively portray his opinion on the topic without making it too serious. The author effectively wields tone so as to condemn the manosphere rather than just describe. He uses witty asides, sarcasm, and at some points demeaning references to the manosphere to show this thought.
this article is effective and informative and serves as a mean of refuting the men's rights view of fight club as well as a way of redeeming the films true purpose.
The article opens with a brief summary of fight club and its textual themes and continues demonstrating how it was an effective reflection of its time periods, the 90's, in which male vulnerability and introspection became a more mainstream and acceptable cultural concept. After describing fight club adequately the author then explains how the "manosphere" has sacrilegiously appropriated the text. He explains the men's right belief that there are alpha and beta males, alpha being superior physically and sexually while beta are introverted and weak. Fight club to the alt rights men movement shows the way modern life has confined men to suffer by taking away there killer instinct and replacing it with consumerism. In the eyes of the movement, the author explains, this is the fault of women, who have obviously gained too much power in society and need to be put back in their rightful place. To many men in the manosphere Fight Club is a description of this need. Not only this it shows how a beta like jack the narrator can transform into an alpha like Tyler Durden.
In my opinion the authors most powerful tool in this article is his tone. He decides to use a very conversational tone so as to effectively portray his opinion on the topic without making it too serious. The author effectively wields tone so as to condemn the manosphere rather than just describe. He uses witty asides, sarcasm, and at some points demeaning references to the manosphere to show this thought.
this article is effective and informative and serves as a mean of refuting the men's rights view of fight club as well as a way of redeeming the films true purpose.
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