NORTHERN PLANNER

Since I’ve always been a interested in science but too thick to understand most of it, I was always going to love Bill Bryson’s book explaining most of the big subjects in a world I usually can’t grasp. I enjoy it for two other reasons:

1. The art of being able to simplify the most complex and difficult subjects (special relativity anyone?) for consumption of all is a an invaluable planning skill – and you won’t see it done better than this book.

2. He has a trick of finding romance in the dullest subject. It’s partly the way he writes but also with the way he dramatises the journey. Every stage in science came about through a new discovery and Bryson brings those people,and the situations to life. Sometimes the discovery is inspirational enough, but now and then, dramatising the journey is even better than the discovery.

The introduction totally seduced me with the idea that I’m incredibly lucky to be here at all, and should make the most of my good fortune, what with:

• The incredible luck to  have billions of atoms come together in a way that makes me (some of which came from Shakespeare, some from Genghis Khan, some even from a Tyrannosaurus Rex too but all came from stars).
• The chance that atoms decide to get together as life at all – only happens on earth as far as we know.
• The miracle of evolution – I had to have had fins, gills, fur, scales and decided to crawl out of the water all at the right time, in the right order, or me and other humans would not have got here through 5 mass extinctions.
• If my ancestors had not been attracted to certain people in the right order, and not mated at the precise time I would be someone else.
• And now I’m here I’m in constant danger – forget films, a meteor could crash here anytime and we wouldn’t know until too late. Yellowstone Park is the world’s biggest super volcano and it’s due to go off – last time it wiped out 80% of land based life. The world’s climate is precariously balanced- and had to go up and down in the right way for us to be here. It could get rid of us very quickly too since we’re actually in an ice age still, it’s just in a bit of a warm lull – it could go back to freezing very quickly – or even heat up again.

Good stuff.