After only seven pages, I’m almost completely convinced that I’ve chosen a really shitty book. He starts out by talking about what a miracle people are and I couldn’t agree less. Simply because trillions of atoms decided to combine in a certain way to create you doesn’t make you a miracle. Is it a miracle when the lottery drawing takes place and the numbers 23, 12, 3, 17, 19 and 29 are pulled? No, it’s not. But if the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 were pulled people would call THAT a miracle completely ignoring the fact that every set of 6 numbers has exactly the same probability of being drawn. He points out that because you’re here today it means that all your ancestors managed to survive long enough to have children. That doesn’t represent some mind-bogglingly unlikely event; it’s a necessary condition for you to be here at all. Someone was going to win the ‘tree of life’ lottery and the fact that you’re here in place of someone else is a minor difference in the grand scheme.
Even if we put aside just plain ‘wrongness’ we’re left then with the terrifying statement from the author that before he started the book he didn’t know what a quark was. Now it’s all well and good to have no idea what a quark is; that’s what education and reading are for but I’m not sure I want such people writing science books. I have the rather troubling feeling that this is science pabulum and that the suffering will be long and rather annoying.
Current Novel: “A Short History of Nearly Everything”, Bill Bryson [45/490]
Periodic Robism: No work was ever done at 2 in the morning that wasn't subsequently done again at 2 in the afternoon.
Oh! For the more visually oriented, I've added my flickr account to the right-hand menu so you peruse some non-textual junk if you like.
7 comments:
I'm sorry you don't like the book. I'll keep this in mind next time I'm reading a book and thinking you might like it.
"Simply because trillions of atoms decided to combine in a certain way to create you doesn’t make you a miracle." -- that's right, it makes us all miracles. If you don't agree, what then would you consider a miracle?
Sorry if I set your expectation that this was a science book. Bryson is a humorist. He is not a scientist. He's a humorist who has written this book loosely around 'science' with a small s, and some of it's recent history. Is it really so terrifying that a humorist may not know what a quark is? I would not call this a "science" book.
Maybe you should do yourself a favor and stop reading this book if you find it so hard to stomach.
Oh, don't get into a tiff here. The book is fine; it rehashes things I've heard a dozen times but that's not necessarily a bad thin.
One thing it is not is funny. So I'd not recommend it as humor.
Hrm. Perhaps we're getting bogged down in the definition of a miracle here. If you weren't here then someone else certainly would be. The fact that one outcome transpired where another one of equal probability did not is in NO way miraculous in my mind.
A tiff? Few things will inflame a disagreement into a tiff like calling it a tiff before it is.
Don't back peddle. Is it "a really shitty book" or is it "fine"? Those two don't equate.
"...one outcome transpired where another one of equal probability did not is in NO way miraculous..." -- yes, of course. What is miraculous is that there is life at all. Human life even more so. I did not read this part as so referring to you individually as you seem to have.
If you don't find his writing funny, that's ok. If that's the case this book may well be a complete waste of time for you -- this is just a warning that based on your reaction so far, you may not get anything of value from this book. I think he's hilarious.
Fine fine. And I'm allowed to back peddle. After only 7 pages I was a'feared that it was going to be a shitty book. After 240 I think it's a good general overview of the topic in question but not exactly brimming with what I would consider new information.
That said, it's good for what it is but not something I would have picked if I'd known what I know now. Pretty sure I've heard all these anecdotes already. No big deal and nothing personal.
Alright, just for the sake of sanity, I went and got the official definition of a miracle:
1 : an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs
2 : an extremely outstanding or unusual event, thing, or accomplishment
I guess I'd not even qualify human life as a #2 type miracle. By my way of thinking, life is everywhere but we're just too ignorant as a species to recognize it. Give us time. Complicated life I'd say is probably a 10% commodity. Maybe one in ten habitable systems. This is obviously not testable but from both a theological and a biological standpoint I see no reason that nature should leave an empty canvas anywhere. In any case, it deserves a blog entry of it's own.
As to the book, after 200 some odd pages I have hit upon some interesting tidbits. The problem here is not with your selection but with my own background. I spent most of my time reading this sort of stuff as a child so the level of information doesn't jive well with my previous experience on the topic.
For a good Bryson read, read "A Walk in the Woods".
I found it very funny but I've always had an affinity for walking the AT someday.....
Rob, you used to walk 5-6 miles a night if I remember correctly. Perhaps you'll like the book anyway, but perhaps you'd be drawn to read it more so if it were titled, "A Walk Around the Neighborhood".
A good Bryson read is "A Walk in the Woods".
I found it hilarious and insightful, perhaps because I've always had affinity for hiking the AT. Plus I love nature and despise its demise.
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