Newton Reading

Quote: "There, in 2 years of rustic solitude--from age 22 to 24--his... by means of a prism,..."

Question: One question that keeps popping up in my mind is, did this guy really dedicate if not his whole life, most of his life to math?

Comment: I'm really amazed at the fact that Newton, started to work and do studies on math at an early age. I mean usually you hear of a young man at his age when he started would be out. But Newton, really loved math, he must've loved it because I honestly wouldn't sit down and try to derive or solve some math puzzler that has been unsolvable for years. I just didn't think that it was possible that someone could have the love, the passion, for math as he did.

Bryson Reading Chapter 5-6

Quote: "With the passage of time Kelvin would become more forthright in his assertions and less correct. He continually... were relatively, but inescapably, youthful."

Question: A little bit after this quote, it gave me the impression that Kelvin sort of in a way, gave up. Did he actually give up or did he just kind of made his studies short?

Comment: The quote I chose really stood out to me because it made a good point when it talked about the sun being able to burn for a few tens of millions of years continuously without exhausting its fuel is very interesting. I'm still a little puzzled on how is it possible that theres absolutely nothing in physics that could explain this. It got me to thinking that maybe since theres no oxygen, no oxygen, in space, maybe, just maybe, it fuels itself with the oxygen it has. Overall, this reading was really interesting because of how it explains what these people did to try and figure these things out and all the things they wrote down and kept record of it, and explains in depth in my opinion.

Bryson Readong Chapter 4

Question: When he created the new form of math, calculus, why didn't he share his findings, or the subject of mathematics?

Quote: "Set atop these odd and quirky traits, however, was the mind of... dates of the second coming of Christ and the end of the world."

Comment: The entire reading was very interesting, but what really stuck out to me was what he did to himself as a result of his insanity. Yet throughout all his insanely actions--sticking a bodkin in his eye and starin in to the sun--he was a genius. It also shocked me as to how he created a new form of a mathematical subject: Calculus. When I read the part about him being frustrated about the limitations that were put on mathematics he invented a new form. It's still a little unbelievable that he sat down and created calculus all by himself and kept it secret for 27 years. In this chapter, it also said that "he did work in optics that transformed... not to share the results for 3 decades." Anyone who did something that great and hides it for 30 years is a very secretive. Overall, I liked this chapter but this part of it really stood out because it isn't a normal thing for someone to stick things in their eye and stare in to the sun.

Bryson Reading Chapters 2 and 3

Question: Is it possible for other life-forms like ourselves to even exist in the entire universe? Let alone in our Galaxy?

Quote: "What and interesting and exciting thought. We may be only one of... so far beyond us as to be, well, just beyond us."

Comment: Bryson began coming up with really interesting points on how far things were. It was very interesting to find out that even if we could travel at the speed of light, the traveler wouldn't make it to Oort Cloud in back in his lifetime. I also found it particularly interesting when he began talking about the Oort cloud and had specific speeds about the comets and how long it would take for it to reach Earth. I'm still a little confused as to how they know that much about something they've never seen. How do they even know that there's an Oort Cloud out there?

Bryson Reading Intro and Chapter 1

Question: If atoms are not living creatures and have no idea as to what they are doing, then how are they able to form a human being then shut down disassemble then turn into something else?

Quote: ''To begin with, for you to be here now... they will answer to a single overarching impulse: to keep you you.''

Comment: I was really pulled in at the beginning when it began talkig about how atoms aren't living things, that they don't even know they're not alive they just float around forming into different things. It really broadened my ideas as to what others believe on how the Earth was formed. Even though I'm a Christian, Bryson has caught my attention in a way that I'm looking forward to continue the next read by him.