Ramnagel - aNobii

Books (192)

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- Cryptonomicon (422)
- By Neal Stephenson
- Reading since Nov 20, 2011
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The Poetic-
al Works of Lord…
- The Poetical Works of Lord Byron (5)
- By George Gordon Byron
- Reading since Aug 2008
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- From So Simple a Beginning (9)
- Darwin's Four Great Books (Voyage of the H.M.S. Beagle, The Origin of Species, The Descent of Man, T…
- By Charles Darwin
- Reading since 2008
 
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From So Simple a Beginning

Voyage of the H.M.S. Beagle (1845): Found here is some of the best science writing ever to be penned. It is very readable and was a best-selling phenomenon in its day - people did not have the means to travel they do now and without television, Darwin's detailed and fascinating tale of the animals a ... (continue)

Voyage of the H.M.S. Beagle (1845): Found here is some of the best science writing ever to be penned. It is very readable and was a best-selling phenomenon in its day - people did not have the means to travel they do now and without television, Darwin's detailed and fascinating tale of the animals and peoples and strange lands he encountered must have seemed like a steriod-boosted hybrid of a David Attenborough nature documentary and exotic travel programme.Considering the tone and quality of the writing it is a sobering wake-up call to realize that Darwin was only 23 when he started writing it and the voyage lasted more than 5 years. Though the book was only published in 1945, much of it had been serialized during the voyage in scientific journals. He comes across as a well-rounded young scientist. His knowledge of geology was as impressive as his intimate familiarity with animals and plants of all kinds. He had a sharp eye for detail but unlike most people could always put those details into a bigger picture. Details for him were the means to notice larger patterns, more general implications. The mere way grass grew, or the way stones were arranged across the road and in the surrounding country-side spoke volumes to him of seasonal weather influences, or climate. The kinds of plants and foods he noticed in an area could lead to insights of the food-chain dependencies of the common fauna of the locale and what further implications these relationships might have entailed. History has confirmed that he had an uncanny instinct about natural systems that led him to make many guesses and predictions on a paucity of evidence that have since been vindicated. Almost every chapter surprises you, or rocks you back on your heels as you reel in the face of his astoundingly accurate conclusions; though you probably need to be familiar with the natural sciences to some degree to fully appreciate his insights.My favourite chapters were the one describing with great humour what truly miserable pieces of frozen excrement the Falkland Islands are, and the landmark one that covers his first appraisal of the Galapagos islands. But there are gems scattered throughout the work like his bang-on-target analysis of the curious formation of reefs and atolls and why they can tell us about the changes in height of the earth's crust that happened hundreds of thousands of years ago, and why they are good correlators of volcanic activity, earthquakes, or the lack of both. Awesome. He did all that just by thinking about things very carefully, the very same things that were in plain sight of everybody else, too, who had previously tried and failed to come up with viable theories.

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— Apr 22, 2009 | Add your feedback
- The Psychopath Test (9)
- A Book Exploring the Psychopath
- By Jon Ronson
- Finished on Jan 29, 2012
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- Relativity (6)
- A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)
- By Russell Stannard
- Finished on Jan 3, 2012
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- The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (299)
- The Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life (Penguin Classics)
- By Charles Darwin
- Finished in 2011
  
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The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection

The Greatest Idea Ever By A Human Mind

This is a book probably very often dismissed as being too intellectual or scientific for mere mortals to understand. Yet the reality is not so; Origin is accessible and remarkably easy reading--indeed there is no other major scientific work as accessible to the lay reader, and in fact, there ... (continue)

This is a book probably very often dismissed as being too intellectual or scientific for mere mortals to understand. Yet the reality is not so; Origin is accessible and remarkably easy reading--indeed there is no other major scientific work as accessible to the lay reader, and in fact, there is no other scientific work as major as this.
The controversy surrounding this book and its implications for humanity's understanding of life on Earth is precisely because no other science publication has had a more profoundly ground-shaking effect on human complacency and ignorance.
Darwin lays out the most compelling argument for the origin of the diversity of life on our home planet that has ever been publicly recorded. It is a delight to read, and even to those familiar with the principles of Darwinian evolution, there is much here to astonish and enlighten.
Apart from one of the most compellingly composed arguments for the evolution of species, this is also a work of literature. Darwin was a master of English prose, and quite capable of soaring to poetic heights when conveying his enthusiastic insights to Nature: the most beautiful, horrific, and fascinating puzzle to face humanity ever.
Religion is perforce taken on during the course of events, and the singular target of Darwin turns out the be the idea of specific and special Creation (and, necessarily therefore, the immutability of species) that held sway among many educated people of his day. Darwin shows the failings of this idea over and over again, using water-tight arguments, breathtaking insights, and illuminating imagery. A particular highlight is his exploration and explanation of the geographical distribution of varieties and species, which he shows to be entirely and profoundly incompatible with the idea of special Creation.
It is clear, by the illuminating guide of Darwin, that species evolve and continue to do so and have always done so. Objections that were raised in his day, like the testimony of the fossil record or the complexity of the eye, were also dashed to pieces by the arguments laid out in Origin. What is truly astonishing is that arguments against the mutability of species that were thoroughly defeated by Darwin himself in his book, are still being used today, as if they still had any respectable force. The intransigent and low character of these Bible-waving Nature illiterates of today is perfectly highlighted while reading Origin which was published over a century ago.
Note: always try to read the first edition of this work. The later editions, especially the sixth, included concessions to his main argument to religious pressures brought to bear on it. Darwin famously introduced the word "God" to the end of his book, but the first edition certainly reads better without it, and contains the more unabashed, pristine, and muscular version of his argument.

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— Nov 21, 2011 | Add your feedback
- Viruses (1)
- A Very Short Introduction
- By Dorothy H. Crawford
- Finished on Dec 31, 2011
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- Toxin (22)
- By Robin Cook
- Finished on Dec 27, 2011
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- The invisible kingdom (1)
- from the tips of our fingers to the tops of our trash, inside the curious world of microbes
- By Idan Ben-Barak
- Finished on Dec 25, 2011
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- Stone Cold (62)
- By David Baldacci
- Finished on Dec 25, 2011
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- Why Does E=MC[squared]? (21)
- (And Why Should We Care?)
- By Brian Cox
- Finished on Dec 20, 2011
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- E=mc2 (23)
- By David Bodanis
- Finished on Dec 19, 2011
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- Johnny and the Dead (60)
- By Terry Prachett
- Finished on Dec 19, 2011
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- Johnny and the Bomb (50)
- By Terry Pratchett
- Finished on Dec 18, 2011
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- The White Order (12)
- By L.E. Modesitt
- Finished on Dec 5, 2011
  
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The White Order

Ho Hum, And A Whiff Of Average

There is nothing wrong with the well-worn theme of this book, a classic “underdog, young orphaned boy is raised in the country, dirt poor, who slowly discovers his own great magical talent, and is destined for greatness, but who must suffer the slings and arrows and indignities visited upon him by p ... (continue)

There is nothing wrong with the well-worn theme of this book, a classic “underdog, young orphaned boy is raised in the country, dirt poor, who slowly discovers his own great magical talent, and is destined for greatness, but who must suffer the slings and arrows and indignities visited upon him by privileged and ultimately less talented bullies who underestimate his powers to their own detriment” coming-of-age tale, which is one of my favourite kinds of books. I just did not think it particularly well done, or at least, particularly excitingly done.
Fans of Modesitt’s Recluce Saga (of which this is one installment) clearly do not enjoy these books for the beautiful writing or the psychological depth of characters or the profound philosophical insights. This is, in other words, pulp fantasy through and through. Perhaps the previous books would allow the reader to enjoy this one more because it answers many questions apparently about the “evil” White wizards that previous books left unsaid, and indeed I did find many questions in this book that were also left hanging (presumably for later books), even though the back cover does describe it as being able to stand alone perfectly well.
The story is rather tedious and the pacing is tepid, and though it does eventually result in an action-packed climax, the slow parts are not there because they are full of finely crafted writing and character-building. They are merely unexciting. Even the climax is routine, and the hero never seems to be in any real danger throughout. The moments of action and excitement and revelation are rather thin on the ground. There was a notable lack of humour among the characters, too, and they did not have much depth. I also noticed a peculiar aspect of Modesitt’s style: he ends almost every single chapter on a down note. There are no cliff-hanger chapter endings in the entire book and that impacted negatively on the “page-turning” aspect for me.
Modesitt’s system of magic, however, is well thought out and rather scientific in its principles. This might endear it to fans of science fiction rather than of Tolkienesque fantasy. I found that it was not “magical” enough, but more suited, perhaps, to what you might expect from a fantasy computer game. This may count in its favour for some people, but I found it a tad dry. It was like a bunch of commandos running around whose machine guns and grenades had been replaced by fire-balls and lasers. Even the invisibility magic was described in a pedestrian way.
I would rather recommend the books of David Eddings’ first series, The Belgariad, as examples of five star kick-ass action, humour, romance, magical adventure, and coming-of-age page-turners. The White Order may do in a pinch if you are stuck for something over a weekend since it is not very bad, just underwhelming.

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— Dec 6, 2011 | Add your feedback