I approached geek reads, the readit 2011 theme for August, with trepidation. Science just does not stick with me. However clearly a theory is explained, however well I think I understand, it's all gone with the turn of the page. I think it's something to do with how poorly my mind processes symbols, numbers and patterns. I don't spell well, I can't play card games without muddling the suits and forgetting the rules and I have tremendous trouble remembering my home phone number and car numberplate.
So I approached Matthew Hedman's The Age of Everething: How Science Explains the Past with care. This book explains a range of methods that scientists use to determine age. Aimed at non scientists, it is clearly written with very accessible explanations. To ease myself in gently, I decided that I'd just read a few chapters. Though many were tempting (the Mayan calendar, the pyramids, human DNA) , my passion for Tony Jones' Time Team pushed me in the direction of the chapters that dealt with Carbon 14 dating.
Hedman first explains atomic structure, the difference between normal carbon (carbon 12) and carbon 14, and why measuring the amount of carbon 14 in organic deposits can be used to determine the age of those deposits. He takes a brief step in the direction of quantum physics to address the question of why, if each carbon 12 atom could change to a cabon 14 atom at any point, they do so in a nice uniform, yet individually unpredictable way that makes carbon dating possible. I was quite happy with the explanation, which as I understand it can be summarized as 'because'. This is the sort of scientific explanation that is within my grasp.
I read another chapter, dealing with the practical application of the science in dating the human habitation of the Americas, and at this point, feeling quite pleased with my progress, put the book down. I'd like to go back and read more chapters at a point when I can find some quiet stretches of time and give it my full attention.
Sally Magnusson's The Life of Pee: The Story of how Urine got Everywhere is an ideal book to read when quiet time is not plentiful, and you can just fit in a page or two at a time. It is a collection of urine related facts, some scientific, some historical and some just plain strange. The entries, in short paragraphs and arranged alphabetically, include C for cocain (the use of wich can be accurately guaged by testing waste at sewage treatment plants) , M for Marathon Runners (who apparently do not stop to visit public toilets) and P for Picasso (who attempted to use urine to hasten the oxidation process on his bronze sculptures). Mildly amusing and informative, it captured the interests of the kids who attended my library's after school book group.
My third geek read was a biography: Darwin, His Daughter and Human Evolution ( also published as Annie's Box and Creation) by Randal Keynes, a great great grandson of Charles Darwin. The book emphasizes Charles Darwin's family life, with his wife Emma and their 10 children, and suggests that this family life was influential in the development of Darwin's scientific theories. Keynes shows the detailed notes that Darwin made observing his own children's early development, and those he made on the first orangutangs to be displayed at the London zoo, and argues that these, along with observations made on the Beagle voyage and then poetry of Wordsworth shaped Darwins thinking on human nature and evolution. Further, Keynes argues that the death of Charles & Emma's eldest daughter, Annie, at age 10, led Charles (but not Emma) to a rejection of religious beliefs. He never attended church again after Annie's death.
Keynes show just how radical Darwin's theories appeared to many of his contemporaries. He also show Charles Darwin as a warm and loving family man, who welcomed and enjoyed the company of his chidren.
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