My M.Sc. student gifted me this book when his project got completed. I am grateful to him for it is a wonderful read. Published posthumously, compiled during his final illness, the book comprises of set of essays covering a whole gamut of topics.
He starts with Darwin- not the usual Origin of species but covering Darwin's experiments with plants and making the argument for evolution and natural selection. So timely given the cacophony emanating from many of the right-wingers. I always used to be proud of the fact that Evolution and natural selection used to be taught in India without interference from religion (unlike America) but of course, I had reckoned without the right wing coming to power. They, of course, do not believe in Evolution.
Oliver Sacks then talks about speed and couple of other topics. But my favorites were towards the end. There was one on mishearing. When he starts to lose hearing, he also starts to mishear. I showed it to my father who is now suffering from lose of hearing. My father was deeply appreciative of this essay.
Then came the one on The River of Consciousness where he makes the case that what we think of one continuous stream of thought is in fact frames of thoughts stitched together into one continuous frame. A remarkable power of our brain
The final essay was on Scotoma: Forgetting and Neglect in Science. Many of the discoveries are neglected during the scientist's life time. Take for instance Mendel. He publishes his discoveries in a journal. No one pays attention and then in 1900s, the laws are rediscovered. And now Mendel is celebrated as Father of Genetics. Or Barbara McClintock who discovered the so-called jumping genes. No one paid attention till it turned out that these genes are important component the genome and contribute a great deal to variation.
All in all it is a book my father says he would like to read.
He starts with Darwin- not the usual Origin of species but covering Darwin's experiments with plants and making the argument for evolution and natural selection. So timely given the cacophony emanating from many of the right-wingers. I always used to be proud of the fact that Evolution and natural selection used to be taught in India without interference from religion (unlike America) but of course, I had reckoned without the right wing coming to power. They, of course, do not believe in Evolution.
Oliver Sacks then talks about speed and couple of other topics. But my favorites were towards the end. There was one on mishearing. When he starts to lose hearing, he also starts to mishear. I showed it to my father who is now suffering from lose of hearing. My father was deeply appreciative of this essay.
Then came the one on The River of Consciousness where he makes the case that what we think of one continuous stream of thought is in fact frames of thoughts stitched together into one continuous frame. A remarkable power of our brain
The final essay was on Scotoma: Forgetting and Neglect in Science. Many of the discoveries are neglected during the scientist's life time. Take for instance Mendel. He publishes his discoveries in a journal. No one pays attention and then in 1900s, the laws are rediscovered. And now Mendel is celebrated as Father of Genetics. Or Barbara McClintock who discovered the so-called jumping genes. No one paid attention till it turned out that these genes are important component the genome and contribute a great deal to variation.
All in all it is a book my father says he would like to read.
This post reminds me of the turmoil and ridicule Barbara McClintock initially had to go through when she first proposed transposition.
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