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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
i think he (and stephen jay gould) are geniuses and biology is so new and precious and beautiful and the meaning of my life and biologists are the worst scientists in the world. will flesh out thoughts soon. just have to get this down
I don't know that these essays would have much interest for the general reader of today. They are definitely of their time in the 80s with Cold War concerns. I found it interesting to compare his concerns to our current and wonder what he would think of where the world is currently.
Fascinating, but ultimately depressing. The threat of all-out-nuclear war that hangs over this book is terrifying, but feels relevant in this day and age.
I loved this book, it was easy and fun to read all the while sparking new thoughts and ideas
While a few of the essays in this collection are a bit dated as far as some references to the state of the sciences, technology, and geo-political machinations, the majority were a pleasure to read and allowed me to engage in cogitations of high measure.
He had some interesting ideas, but he didn't flesh them out or include any research on them, which drove me crazy. I felt like he thought that since he is a scientist his ideas are better or so original. At least the book wasn't hard to read.
The chloroplasts in today's green plants, which capitalize on the sun's energy to produce the oxygen in the atmosphere, are the lineal descendants of ancient blue-green algae. The mitochondria in all our cells, which utilizes the oxygen for storing energy from plant food, are the progeny of ancient oxidative bacteria. Collectively, we are still, in a fundamental sense, a tissue of microbial organisms living off the sun, decorated and ornamented these days by the elaborate architectural structures that the microbes have constructed for their living quarters, including seagrass, foxes, and of course ourselves. (Things unflattened by science, 74)
... We are born and we grow up with a fondness for each other, and we have genes for that. We can be talked out of it, for the genetic message is like a distant music and some of us are hard-of-hearing. Societies are noisy affairs, drowning out the sound of ourselves and our connection. Hard-of-hearing, we go to war. Stone-deaf, we make thermonuclear missiles. Nonetheless, the music is there, waiting for more listeners. (Altruism, 105)
... We are born and we grow up with a fondness for each other, and we have genes for that. We can be talked out of it, for the genetic message is like a distant music and some of us are hard-of-hearing. Societies are noisy affairs, drowning out the sound of ourselves and our connection. Hard-of-hearing, we go to war. Stone-deaf, we make thermonuclear missiles. Nonetheless, the music is there, waiting for more listeners. (Altruism, 105)
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Por lo visto no aprendo. A pesar de que el anterior (y único hasta ahora) libro del autor no me gustó nada, como me compré dos en el VIPS tenía que leerlo.
No es que el libro sea malo. Pero trata temas que no me interesan. No son grandes logros científicos, ni puntos de vista que hagan pensar, ni asuntos que conciernan a todo el mundo. Es como pedirle a un oficinista gris que escriba su opinión sobre la tecnología y publicarla. No sería interesante.
No es que el libro sea malo. Pero trata temas que no me interesan. No son grandes logros científicos, ni puntos de vista que hagan pensar, ni asuntos que conciernan a todo el mundo. Es como pedirle a un oficinista gris que escriba su opinión sobre la tecnología y publicarla. No sería interesante.