I'm spending a quiet day reading today. Tomorrow I'll have to go in to the school to fire the kiln, so today I'm not even getting out of my pajamas. I'm finishing reading A Short History of Nearly Everything (by Billy Bryson) and I have to say I'm loving it. The next book I have in mind to read is another Bryson book about language... I think it might be about the English language and how it got that way. I haven't yet asked the owner if I can borrow it though, so I'm not sure I'll be reading it. The other next book I'll be reading is jPod by Douglas Coupland. I really like Coupland - something about the way he writes and the things he writes about just click with me.
What is striking in my reading today is Bryson's descriptions of Charles Darwin and Gregor Mendel. I remember learning about them in school, the irony that our current understanding of evolution and genetics came from two deeply religious men being driven home by the teachers. I always felt the stories were fairy tales. Bryson presents a much more believable picture of Darwin: he might have been headed in to ministry but for his trip around the world. The description of Mendel is less thorough. He was a monk, eventually became abbot, cared deeply about science and was highly educated in science and physics. He had assistants, and his pea experiments were real, controlled, scientific trials. But there's nothing about his opinions or beliefs. Darwin had the luxury of money and rank, and ended up not in ministry. I wonder if Mendel had had similar privileges if he would still have been a monk. I wonder how seriously he took religion, and how much he really believed. I wonder mostly because I know that if I had felt the need, I could have squashed my deep feeling that god makes no sense, and continued with my half-life of doubt. If you'd asked me, I would have said I believed, but can belief really exist when you have to shut off a portion of your reason to allow it?
I wish again that there were people who liked to talk about this stuff. Most people don't want to.
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4 comments:
Your dahl looks fantastic.
S and I were in Ktown this weekend, staying with Cleo and her friend. We drank at the pub, nipped in to the Minot. holiday party, and hung at the Goat, where we ran into Yelsel with a fabulous sweater on.
Missed you very much indeed.
it's true! we had fabulous guests. and you were missed. and not a single one of us cooked dahl. we did eat a lot of cheese, though.
kate
shocking that you would eat cheese, really! :P
i was sad to be stuck up here, knowing you all were having a fabulous time down in kdot.
i suppose we will all have to make a stupendous effort to be in ktown at the front end of august for a certain music festival, eh?
ps anne, you should see the pottery stuff! it's totally taking off like a rocket.
That's such good news about the pottery. So glad you are finally getting to really do it right. I bet the kids will be so proud when they see their things. :)
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