Flatland~Structure

Flatland, a book by Edwin Abbott, is a book written about the world of a 2D world, Flatland, and its inhabitants, the 2D shapes. Edwin had described the citizens of Flatland as having a system almost like ours, with different standings of people and the different lifestyles, how the triangles with the least sides are the poorest and should they have a square, an ordinary citizen, it would be sent away to live with other squares, where it will learn and study, away from its parents, like the poor being adopted into families like our modern society.

The book had started off with a story, with the story told an ordinary citizen of Flatland, a Square, who was visited in a dream by a 3D sphere, which convinced the Square of a 3 dimensional world called the Spaceland. The square later tried to tell all the Flatlanders about this world but to no avail. Later, the Square questioned the sphere about the possibilities of a fourth dimension, to which the Sphere angrily leaves the Square, thinking that the Square is incapable of comprehending other dimensions.

Many people after reading this will sympathise with the Square, thinking that it was outrageous for the Sphere to leave the Square after such a plausible theory, after all, Flatland was ignorant of Spaceland and its 3 Dimensional space, but that didn’t mean that Spaceland didn’t exist. Edwin had used the simple story to try and tell us that there is more to the universe than we think. He had first started with a visit from Spaceland. Due to us humans living in a 3 Dimensional world, we would believe that such a world exist and thus believe in Spaceland. We would laugh at the Flatlanders of their ignorance of Spaceland while sympathising with the Square and its valiant efforts to spread the knowledge. When the Square asks the Sphere about the existence of a fourth dimension, we realise, how like the sphere, we easily dismiss the ideas and theories.

With a book like Edwin’s, though it may be short, it managed to express his idea’s through using a simple yet relatable story. Like the Science Delusion, Flatland wants to tell the Scientists to keep an open mind, accept new ideas and not to follow the dogmas so strictly.

 

 

The Science Delusion~Structure

The Science Delusion, by Rupert Sheldrake, is a book written about the 10 dogmas of science. Using a title very similar to the bestselling The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, this book tackles the 10 dogmas of science and how they might be wrong. One might think that dogmas could not be possibly false, as they are the most fundamental knowledge for scientists for years, so why are they being questioned right now? The 10 dogmas are:

• Nature is Mechanical
• The Total Amount of Matter and Energy are Always the Same
• The laws of Nature are Fixed
• Matter is Unconscious
• Nature is Purposeless
• All Biological Inheritance Material
• Memories are Stored as Material Traces
• Minds are Confined to Brains
• Psychic Phenomena are Illusory
• Mechanistic Medicine is the only kind that really works

One might look at this and agree with all of them. However, not everyone agree with these dogmas. The 10 dogmas basically states that everything is mechanical that can be explained by Science. However, that is not true. While Science can explain how the eyes see, they cannot really explain the experience of the eyes. Scientists are meant to explain objects in a purely objective way, which is proven hard when they are trying to explain experiences, for one does not simply describe flowers without the word ‘beautiful’.

Rupert has split his book into 10 main chapters, each about a dogma, making it easier for the audience to go through and find a specific chapter without reading the whole thing. The best thing about his writing is that he knows where we, the audience, stand in terms of knowledge. He only talked about the most fundamental science, without going into too much detail while still conveying what he is trying to say.

At the end of each of his chapters, he would ask questions about the dogma mentioned in the chapter, making it not only a good review, but also lets us make a judgement call instead of forcing the belief down our throats. So if you do belief any of the dogmas, have a read of this book, and ask yourself this question, ‘Is this dogma true’? Maybe if the scientists modified their dogmas slightly, they might progress faster.

The Periodic Table~Structure

The Periodic Table, a book written by Primo Levi, is about his experiences as a doctoral-level chemist, with all the chapters relating to an element on the periodic table. He had used those elements to describe his life, from growing up in a Jewish household to finding a German chemist after the war.

He had started his book with Argon, which was used to describe his childhood, how it was like for him growing up and managing to connect each element to a part of his life, as if he was the Periodic Table. Even though the book was an autobiography, Primo had managed to incorporate science elements into his life, by using lavish languages to describe his experiences as carbon, he had managed to not only tell his story, but also teaching us about the element carbon.

The book was also structured in a chronological order, starting from birth to his prime, using an element for each chapter as he grows in the book. This makes him more relatable to people as instead of only explaining science elements, he tells us a personal story, relating the science topic to a part of his life, making it much more personal and much less boring for the general audience.

Although his book may be entertaining, some of the chapters had made me as bored as a plank such as the beginning of the book, he had mostly talked about his family, without much going on and not much science elements involved. Overall, the book had done well, with many links and metaphors connecting his life to the elements to the Periodic Table, making the book, not only an excellent read, but also an educational piece of art worthy to be read. The next time someone asks me about any elements mentioned in the book, I would definitely recommend this book to them.

Flatland- Structure

Flatland is an amazing book about an imaginary world made up by Edwin Abbott about a 2D world with the different social standings. The book has structured itself with an introduction to the world of Flatland, a 3D world Spaceland, the social standings in Flatland, the problem, and finally, the ending. The book had its entire plot around the anecdote of our world as Flatland, with the main character as an ordinary citizen-the square. It had begun with teaching us what Flatland was, with people of higher standings looking down on others, with the square telling us the different types of shapes in Flatland and the differences between them.

Next a sphere had visited the square, which had told him the world of spaceland, which shows that our world might not be the world which we know. The leaders of Flatland, after hearing this new idea, silenced anyone who preached about Spaceland. The square, after being opened to the world of Spaceland, he thought about the possibilities of more dimensions, which led to the Sphere leaving the square in disgrace. This shows that even the people who enlightens do not like being enlightened.

Back at Flatland, the square faced a problem of converting the others and with the official decrees that anyone preaching about Spaceland will be imprisoned, it didn’t help much. Finally, the square is locked away, forever trying to explain the 3^rd dimension to his brother.

The book had structured to tell us that no matter how developed we are, maybe there are many more things yet to be discovered. With so many discoveries, there are many more mysteries left to be uncovered. We should not rule out the possibilities of the impossible and rethink the probable. No matter how unbelievable it may seem, always ensure to keep an open mind.

The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins- Central Ideas

In the book, Richard had talked about religion. He had attacked it savagely, making points that religion is bad and that no one should ever be in one. He had also talked about decisions, how some people make them and how some people didn’t know they could. He had begun his argument with religion, and how kids of Christians are simply assumed to be Christians as well. When they later grow up, they would simply assume that they are born Christians and can never change.

Richard had also stated that religion is for the weak. He started the argument by stating the origin of religion, which started from superstition. In the past, if people fell ill, their families would pray for help, thinking that some high being would descend from above and cure them of the sickness. If the people were cured, they would assume that there really was a high being and that he had saved the peoples’ lives. If they had died, they would assume that they had not prayed hard enough to them. All this stems from human nature. Humans do not want to be completely powerless, and by believing in a god, they think that they are doing something that could help.

Finally, Richard also thinks that religion leads to extremist, people who believe in their religion so much that they are willing to sacrifice their lives, often in the detriment of others. This has already been proven true with bombings, terrorism and suicides. People only do this thinking that they would be rewarded beyond measure when they die and gain the highest level of luxury. Believing in that, they would do anything to achieve that. After, there are no police in their versions of heaven. Not only are they not treated as lunatics, people in their religion revel them, thinking that they are courageous. Maybe Richard is right, maybe religion isn’t all that good.

 

Celestial South Star Trail-Gemma Boys

The bright sparkly yellow stars filled the atmosphere, as if they were fireflies dancing in the sky. Slowly, they start spinning endlessly as if they were sucked into a black hole, becoming unclear. The gap between us and the stars are slowly becoming wider apart, with no way to bring back this beautiful scene back. Will there ever be a way to bring them back? Maybe, with more advanced technology we might be able to reach the stars.

The trees are basked in the sun, as warm as a mother’s hug. They are oblivious to the changes around them, happy and content as they are. Their trunks are brown and stable, stretching far up into the skies, almost touching the stars. The leaves on the branches form a protective layer for the Earth, waiting for the Earth to mature before finally letting the Earth into the world of mystery and wondrousness.

Science Delusion-Haobei Ma

Connections

In the book ‘The Science Delusion’, it has proposed that Science cannot explain everything. One example is that Science can explain what we are seeing and how we are seeing an object, but not the experience of seeing the object. We cannot communicate experiences in a purely objective way. One cannot describe the warmth of the sun in a solely objective way.

Challenge

What ‘The Science Delusion’ is implying is not all true. It had stated that ‘God did not design or create these plants and animals directly’. I think that without some sort of external powers controlling the creation, nothing would be created at all. In fact, all religion has stated that some sort of being has created the entire universe. With so many people agreeing on the same fact, something must be going on.

Concepts

The book had a lot of concepts and ideas. For one, it stated that Science not just a polar-opposite of religion and philosophy, but it is a religion and philosophy. The fact that Science and religion are both trying to pursuit the truth, it gives them something in common. Also, I think it is important that the book had pointed out that Science does not know everything. Sometimes, Science cannot explain human behaviour nor can they experience what humans are feeling. Even with so many years of research, there is still much more left to explore.

Changes

The book had changed some views in me. For one, I now know that Science is not completely perfect. It cannot explain everything and it has not discovered everything there is to be discovered yet. Also, it had taught me not to be held back by the Science dogmas. It could be because of the dogmas that not everything has been discovered yet.