Science and my book collection
I remember early in college, my book collection (maybe 10) could fit nicely on the small shelf above my computer. A year after graduating, I have enough books to fill five decent-sized shelves in my room.
The increase is mostly due to my increasing interest in science over the past 12 months. Now that I don’t have homework to do, papers to write, chapters to read, presentations to make, I can learn what I want when I want.
I was never a great science student. But I have learned that science isn’t just memorizing boring facts; it’s a way of looking at the world around you — a deep understanding.
Consider that all living organisms on this planet share a common ancestor. If you trace your genealogy and one of a maple tree back billions of years, you would find that you share relatives. You are, literally, distant cousins with that maple tree.
Or consider that the sun is one of 200 billion — written out as 200,000,000,000 — stars in our galaxy. And there are hundreds of billions of galaxies in the universe. Think of the kinds of life that may be out there, orbiting one of those other suns.
I have a finite amount of breaths left to live. I would be remiss to fail to understand the universe I find myself in before it’s too late.
