Chuckolate and I were getting into a couple good discussions last week during a happy hour. I came out of it wanting to buy two books. One for me and one for him.
For him – The Blind Watchmaker – by Dawkins. I wasn’t able to present Dawkins’ ideas very clearly so I figured the book would do him (him == either of them actually) more good. Not that I think it’ll change his mind on intelligent design, but just because I know he’s got an open mind and is up for the discussion. What discussion? Well…
One side of the argument is that if one is walking through the forest and sees a pocketwatch on the ground, one could think – “Hmm…this watch is so complex and precise and has so many parts moving in concert, there must have been some master designer behind this work.”
Dawkins in this book and others, makes the argument that natural selection can result in similarly complex systems – without any forethought or explicit design. That even when there is no direction – only evolution – complex systems (mainly us) can still be created. Eyes, plants, the richness of diversity on the planet – all from natural selection.
I’ll re-read some of the book before I give it to him, cause he’s on vacation anyway – and it’ll help me next time I need to try and explain it. Perhaps I should have re-read it before writing this post…
But instead, I wanted to start reading the book for me. Much lighter stuff. It’s a graphic novel. Or comic book. It seemed to me that he was impressed with Purvey cause it made her list. It was always on his list. But sometimes, having something in common with someone can be powerful. Anyway, since they both recommended it, I thought I’d give it a try.
So the package arrives today and I’m holding both books in my hand. There’s a new cover for The Blind Watchmaker but I like the old one (pictured above). Then I look at the other book – Y: The Last Man – and I smile big time. Really big. And I feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
The first quote on the top of the cover is from revolutionSF.com and says – “This is why God created comic books.”
What a small world indeed.
So it was with that kind of warm fuzzy feeling that I started reading it. It’s interesting – the life of the last man on earth – but kind of…short? There’s like 8 more books or something I need to buy to get the rest of the story, at 10 bucks a pop. Maybe it’s time to see if the Sunnyvale library carries comic books. I mean, graphic novels.
What it did help inspire me with – is the fact that it’s mostly dialog. When I write, sometimes it’s mostly dialog. Now maybe I’ll start thinking about writing a comic book. There was a drawing book Catherine was thinking of getting me when we were at the Obon festival this past weekend…what a small world indeed.