Teaser Tuesday...A Short History Lesson
And I'm finally home from proctoring my last final of the term AND participating in a massive Writing 115 grading session. My brain is mush and I am in rare form. It's a wonder I can even write a coherent sentence, let alone an entire post. But, since it's Tuesday, a teaser is a must! Today's blurb comes from Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything. Thank you Wallace Books for this literary gem!!
"Perhaps nothing speaks more clearly of our psychological remoteness from the ocean depths than that the main expressed goal for oceanographers during International Geophysical Year, 1957/8, was to study 'the use of ocean depths for the dumping of radioactive wastes'. This wasn't a secret assignment, you understand, but a proud public boast. In fact, though it wasn't much publicized, by 1957/8 the dumping of radioactive wastes had already been going on, with a certain appalling vigour, for over a decade. Since 1946, the United States had been ferrying 55-gallon drums of radioactive gunk out to the Fallarone Islands, some 50 kilometres off the California coast near San Fransisco, where it simply threw them overboard" (342).
SAY WHAT!!!! This book is truly fascinating! Thank you, Bill Bryson! And now I am abstaining from reading anything for a bit...maybe...
"Perhaps nothing speaks more clearly of our psychological remoteness from the ocean depths than that the main expressed goal for oceanographers during International Geophysical Year, 1957/8, was to study 'the use of ocean depths for the dumping of radioactive wastes'. This wasn't a secret assignment, you understand, but a proud public boast. In fact, though it wasn't much publicized, by 1957/8 the dumping of radioactive wastes had already been going on, with a certain appalling vigour, for over a decade. Since 1946, the United States had been ferrying 55-gallon drums of radioactive gunk out to the Fallarone Islands, some 50 kilometres off the California coast near San Fransisco, where it simply threw them overboard" (342).
SAY WHAT!!!! This book is truly fascinating! Thank you, Bill Bryson! And now I am abstaining from reading anything for a bit...maybe...
My brain is hurting so I couldn't exactly read this but I really want to know more.
ReplyDeleteIt's a pretty daunting book, but it's surprisingly reader friendly and entertaining. I'm looking forward to really being able to sit down and read it.
ReplyDelete