Marius’s Comments (group member since Dec 27, 2013)

Marius’s comments from the The Life of Science group.

I know, I know. It's a terribly late reply. Anyway, I would love to reread "The Demon-Haunted World" as it is the kind of book that settles most kinds of arguments against science. Now, the problem is, I'm quite a slow reader, as I have crammed my studying for some exams and I have the absolutely wild little habit of taking part in biology contests. But, I'll do my best. Your exhaustive reading of Melville reminds me of a similar thing I did with Orhan Pamuk's work. Worth every page. Except for "The New Life", which was worth every other page.

I couldn't have put it any better. You are welcome into this group (which, admittedly, doesn't have too many members, but hey, it quality not quantity). My first Dawkins book was also "The God Delusion", which I found to be refreshing and courageous, the sort of work that one remembers when one wakes up and needs a bit of a philosophical kick to get out of bed. And yes, I too followed up with most of Richard's other books, though I still have an unread and very alluring copy of "The Extended Phenotype" on my shelf. I haven't read anything by Neil DeGrasse Tyson yet. I am currently struggling (in the best sense) with "Nature via Nurture" by Matt Ridley, which seems to live up to the standards set by his "Genome".
I share your views about being a physician, but I think that one could always swim against the current and change something for better. I do not know whether I'll become a physician but what I know I'll do is genetics research. There's something about this domain which has always fascinated me. Well, I have a few ideas about what that is but the reply is getting way to long.
What fiction books are you reading? Would you recommend any of them to me? Should we start reading a science book and then talk about it, maybe write a review, what do you think?

Very well. Thank you for your suggestion.

I believe it would be great to have a new image and masthead photo for the group each month/week/fortnight (we could have something like a "Genetics" month or a "Richard Feynman" month during which the group image could reflect that).
The group will have an image starting on the 1st day of the New Year. Please send proposals suitable for a group photo and a masthead photo.
Happy New Year!

Well, I thought a fortnight would be sufficient time to read the average (as concerns lenght) science book. For our first reading I would like to propose Nature Via Nurture by Mark Ridley, because it deals with a debate that has been around for quite some time and whose discussion would be sure to gather some momentum. The decision will be made based on the book with the highest number of votes.
I believe it would be best for first reading period to be 4-17 January 2014, starting on a Saturday, but this may be subject to change.
All proposals for the first fortnight are welcome until the 3rd of January. Please offer a reason for your choice (any reason).

Welcome to this new group (well, it won't be new forever). I hope that you will enjoy the discussions and the polls here and I am waiting for any suggestions regarding new discussion topics, the improvement of the group page's structure or anything you think will be useful.
My name is Ethan and I believe that science holds the key to a lot of our problems. For me, a turning point was the reading of "The Selfish Gene" (well, I was, and still am, quite young). It was the moment I started to grasp what science was really like, its complexity, the fact that it can answer deep questions about human nature. I was amazed at finding something so different than what I was learning about in school textbooks and thus I started to explore what science is about, not the facts I had had to memorise for years. And my "appetite for wonder" has never abated.
What about you?