Science and Inquiry discussion

The Age of Wonder is the poll-winning book for the next group read. If anyone is interested in being a discussion leader please send me a message.

Too new to lead the discussion- but I already started reading the book and really like it so far. I will be happy to contribute my thoughts to some other member's guidance....

I just finished the first chapter. I had heard of Joseph Banks but didn't know anything about him. Sounds like quite a character. How badly was Polynesia decimated by the European diseases? The author hints at it but never really said.

Yes, Banks seemed like quite a character and I like how the author describes the painting of Banks after his return from Tahiti. We, in this era, sometimes lack enough knowledge of the norms of a previous era to understand that the clothing, stance and props used in a painting infer the personality and beliefs of the famous person. Just this description alone (page 43) will cause me to look at paintings from this era in a different way.

Not sure about the European disease decimation in Tahiti...but may be hard to quantify if they did not keep population data.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol2no4... I've found this since posting my question. It looks like 50-90% of the population probably died as a result of introduced diseases.

In the chapter of Davy on the Gas page 262, they give the composition of air exhaled from the lungs as 12.8% carbon dioxide. The correct value is lower.

Component Atmospheric Air (%) Expired Air (%)
N2 (plus inert gases) 78.62 74.9
O2 20.85 15.3
CO2 0.03 3.6
H2O 0.5 6.2
from
http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultr...

The oxygen number is pretty correct though. When I saw the book numbers I wondered how artificial respiration could work with all that CO2 present.

Patricrk wrote: "In the chapter of Davy on the Gas page 262, they give the composition of air exhaled from the lungs as 12.8% carbon dioxide. The correct value is lower.

Component Atmospheric Air (%) Expir..."

I feel as though I'm intruding here because I haven't picked this book up, but I know a bit about your comment Patricrk.
The air that we inhale contains about 21 percent O2 and only about five percent is commandeered by our lungs in the exchange with CO2 at that point (while at rest).
This gives us about (as you have already calculated) 16 percent for an oxygen starved pair of lungs.
This is all approximate, by the way, as there are many environmental and physical factors that can effect the demand of O2 by the rescuer to say nothing of the ratio of O2 present in the air at the time.
I'm EMS by the way.
Sorry for the intrusion.

Does anyone else get the idea that the author really didn't care for Davy?

Not there yet...still in Africa with Mungo.
By the way, even though the chapter on Herschel was long, I did learn some things about female scientists of that era. I would like to read a book, if written, from Caroline Herschel's point of view. The author insinuated an other than sibling relationship between William and Caroline.....but perhaps today we do not understand the way sibling relationships were in 1780. Or perhaps acknowledged female scientists were so rare that even their relationships were under scrutiny.
What do you think?

I was thinking that Caroline had an emotional attachment to William. Something stronger than best friend or older heroic brother. It was a real slap in her face when he married, a sense of betrayal? I agree it would be interesting to see what a good psychological fiction author could make of their story.

I didn't really feel like Mungo accomplished anything except to get himself killed. It seemed odd to me that the Navy didn't know where the Niger emptied into the Atlantic.

I just started the chapter on the balloonists. I am really enjoying the book. I think he's an excellent writer. In the chapter on Herschel, I was struck by the statement All these speculative essays assumed the high probability that extraterrestrial life existed, either within the immediate solar system, or further out among the stars. How interesting that these guys, many of whom were very religious, did not feel that the existence of extraterrestrial life conflicted with their religious beliefs. Whereas today, if life was definitively discovered elsewhere, I think it would really have powerful ramifications for Christian belief.

Yes, I agree with you Donna. Makes me think of the movie "Contact" and the religious upheaval about extraterrestrial life portrayed in that movie. But I think most people are more afraid of extraterrestrial 'intelligence' more than anything.
I also agree that the book is well written. Again in the chapter about Davy, the author describes the scientific world of that era with good detail (or at least as much as we can discern about what it was like).

Donna wrote: "I just started the chapter on the balloonists. I am really enjoying the book. I think he's an excellent writer. In the chapter on Herschel, I was struck by the statement All these speculative es..."

What do you think really happened to the cat?

Patrick wrote: What do you think really happened to the cat?

Oh, I am totally suspicious of that whole cat story. Dropping down and handing it off to some milk maid. Really? Maybe curiosity killed the cat?

I doubt the milk maid story as well. I think some panicked cat went sky diving. A study was made of injuries cats received as the fell off high rise balconies and above 6 stories the height didn't seem to matter as the cat had reached terminal velocity. I want to believe that with some luck on the landing the cat survived the experience.

And had the best story ever to tell the rest of its life!

I just finished the book. Here are some thoughts I had along the way:

I really enjoyed the chapter on ballooning; I knew almost nothing about that piece of history. It sounds like a fad that died out because the main players all got killed doing it!

The Mungo Park chapter seemed oddly out of place to me somehow. Maybe just because Holmes didn't go into as much detail as the others. I came away wondering if Park really achieved much. I never felt a connection to him.

In the first Davy chapter, I was struck by how many of the romantic poets were not just inspired by the scientific discoveries of the day but how many of them were really knowledgeable or even trained in science (e.g., Keats).

Is science so specialized, technical and/or too difficult for most people to understand today? And where has that feeling of wonder gone? I think scientists and science-minded people still feel it but so many people don't. I get this from many of my friends: a Who cares? attitude. Who cares how an MRI works, who cares why plants are green, who cares why dead things don't pile up, who cares if we ever go into space ever again... This drives me crazy. Are we that jaded?

The second Davy and the Sorcerers and Apprentices chapters lost a bit of momentum for me, but I have to admit I am not artistic or philosophical.

I liked the ending with its image of the last dance in the 40 foot telescope.

Finally, if you didn't read the Cast List, you have to go back and read the entry for Goethe. I burst out laughing.

I really liked this book. It definitely made me want to do some further reading on some of these topics (I too would like to read more about Caroline Herschel, Cookie). This was a long book but I thought his writing was so good, I didn't get bored. I have read a number of other history-of-science books where the subject was interesting but the writing just didn't do it justice.

A 4.5 star book for me.

I am really enjoying this book--I am currently on the chapter on Mungo.

One little thing in the chapter on balloonists did bother me, however. In the section about crossing the English Channel, the author talked about "northerly" winds blowing the balloon to the north. Since the balloonists were investigating meteorology, it seems a shame that the author doesn't understand the meaning of the word "northerly"--it means blowing from the north, i.e., southward.

Just finished the book--excellent! I would never have read this book on my own--I'm glad this group chose it for this month.

The chapters on William Herschel were the most interesting to me. He realized that one of the best ways to make true advances in science, is to develop advanced instrumentation. Also, I was amazed that Herschel considered the possibility of aliens on planets throughout the universe.

I just finished also and enjoyed the mix of history, literature and culture of the times. I never knew about Banks and his important position in the Science of the day. He was the thread throughout the whole book. I am also happy that I read this book by joining this group. Favorite chapter? Gotta be the ballooning one.

hi all~ i'm so bummed that i didn't get to read this book along with you all, but i will definitely be reading it soon. if anyone has ideas for the next read, please post them in the book-club section. thanks