Firefly

Finished the Bryson book last night! Now onto the Feynman biog. Harry Potter was finished ages ago by the way but I have not been allowed to talk about it until my wife finished it as well.

The Short History of Everything was just that but in way which gave new insight into almost every area of science. Bill Bryson has no professional reputation in the fields discussed and so can afford to say things which scientists will not normally say, things like "We don't know." or "There is just too much to do." He does not gloss over the many dangers we as humans face on what is in reality a very dangerous place to live. It is only by luck that we have managed to survive long enough to redirect our powers of analysis back on ourselves. It seems that science does not like revealing these truths in case it panics us. The general population has such a low opinion and knowledge of science, that these realities would just be mind-blowing.

My daughter has been asking whether whales are the largest animals that ever lived. She cannot believe that they are bigger than dinosaurs. It is not generally known that Whales are far bigger than dinosaurs. The average Blue Whale is about 25m long and weighs around 100,000 Kg. In contrast, the Brachiosaurus, although longer only weighed about 50,000 Kg. Still big and quite impressive bearing in mind that it lived out of water for at least some of the time. But nothing like a whale.

My mind is like the sky - a complete blank. Off to read some Feynman.