Genome by Matt Ridley [Honors Biology]

Genome is an autobiography regarding the human genome. With 23 chapters dedicated to the 23 pairs of chromosomes within our human genome, this book provided me with a greater curiosity for the nothing short of magnificent world of DNA and genes. Initially this book was very intimidating due to my own unfamiliarity with the subject, and as I advanced in the book my initial thoughts stayed apparent. Even though I struggled understanding the technical biological terms, I still was able to gain a simple understanding of the topics in the book.

After being recommended to this book by my friend Louis T. we had a conversation about his impression of the book, and how he felt the book affected him. As we conversed, Louis mentioned how this book, and biology in general wasn’t really his “forte.” Even though Biology wasn’t Louis’ most favorite subject he still found the books contents to be interesting, he felt this way because reaching the end of the book he realized he was fascinated by our own biological heritage. In general he found the book to be long and tedious, although with somewhat of an understanding of the human genome he was glad to obtain something out of his experience.

The book was an autobiography about the human genome, and as I mentioned earlier each of the chapters was dedicated to a chromosome in the human genome, although the human genome is so complicated and elaborate, that the chapters could not cover the Genomes full complexity, rather the chapters where given a certain characteristic that related to the chromosome (Death, Memory, History). As I mentioned before, following the message Matt Ridley was trying to convey, at times, was very difficult, due to the unfamiliar terms and complexity of the message itself. That being said I didn’t study the book and not acquire any “take-aways” after reading the book comprehensible information stuck with me…

The human genome is information, information whose contents are the cause of practically everything you are, physically and mentally. The book mentioned how if you read the genome carefully you could successfully create a complete human body. Within the human genome there are genes, and these genes contain your information, some contain appearance features, some hold information that tell you if you have disease, some even contain information that define your personality.

In the beginning of the book Ridley gave an excellent introduction to the genome which I believe helped me understand its basics, in the introduction he explained what the anatomy of the genome which let me attain the following understanding… I am a human, within me there are approximately 100 trillion tiny cells with special jobs that make me human, within those cells there is a city which functions to carry out their special job, within the city there is a blob called the nucleus which contains two sets of the human genome (one from my mommy and one from my daddy). Within a genome there are 23 pairs of chromosomes, and within those chromosomes there are genes, which hold tidbits of information about me. As you can see my knowledge of the anatomy appears to be limited, and it basically is, but this book wasn’t only about anatomy, actually, it mainly focused on different traits of chromosomes.

One chapter that really struck me was chromosome 2, Species. In this chapter Ridley talked about how closely related we are to chimpanzees, more than even gorillas. The fact he projected was that we are 98% the same as chimpanzees, and 97% the same as gorillas. This fact truly is astonishing, Ridley continued on to explain how our Genomes are so closely related that only a tiny portion of our genes are contrary. He then brought to light the common misconstrued appearance differences we have with Chimps (Cranium size, Hair amount, and skin), but he effectively corrected these thoughts when he pointed out that we both have thirty-two teeth, five fingers, two eyes, four limbs, and a liver, something so simple although hidden by other dissimilarities.

Another interesting fact that stuck to me appeared in Immortality (chromosome 14). In this chapter matt spoke about the aging rates of different species, and how some animals appear to live longer than other, he explained how cells need to work harder to keep elephants alive (due to it’s large size), although the elephant lives longer than a mouse whose cells don’t work as hard (due to it’s tiny size). Ridley then revealed that the secret is that all species have the same amount of heartbeats although different pulse rates, so the Elephant’s rate is slower than the mouse’s rate, so really comparing the two by heartbeats, they would live the same.

Even though this book is considered a preliminarily to the world of Genome, it was very challenging to comprehend at times. Although after finishing, I realize that the unreal complexity of the Genome is what makes me want to read more.

The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli [To Enter 11th Grade]

BOOK COVER

The Prince is a book written by Niccolò Machiavelli in 1532, Machiavelli wrote this book to prove to Lorenzo de Medici^1 that he could teach people how to be a successful Prince. He wrote this piece along with other important writings, after being fired from secretary.

NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI

Pre Conversation

This book was recommended to me by my Dad, Burt Espe with the aspiration of achieving a higher-ranking occupation in the military. My dad read The Prince in High School knowing that the contents of the book contained beneficial information on becoming an effective leader. After reading the narrative my dad felt a sense of “Informativeness” - he found/is finding the book’s messages to be a good source of “Leadership Tips.”

As a former Captain of Naval Vessel (The Uss Comstock LSD-45) my dad found himself utilizing a commonly highlighted message within the book which also is a quote Machiavelli is accredited to “The end justifies the means.” When thinking about this message one comes to think about ethics and values. When attempting to complete a task, it is important to consider ethics because with a proficient way of undergoing that task you are more likely to successfully complete it. In regards to values, it is essential to consider what really is important to the outcome of the task, for example if you as a leader are generous to your crew by providing them with a less stressful and hectic environment, although still staying stern, your crew will more likely be cooperative with your demands, thus making the state of your crew/underlings an important value, and making values themselves essential. While deployed my dad deemed the state of his crew important, with this value in mind he utilized resources within his department to make his crew’s experience more positive, all of course, without questioning his ethics. This is only one example of the result of Machiavelli’s work.

Post Conversation

After reading the book I was astounded by the extensive amount of highly detailed information contained in a mere 106 pages. Niccolò Machiavelli was so thorough with the contents of his piece that it made me ponder things that I have never thought to ponder before, for example in the book Machiavelli wrote “I say that a prince must have want to have a reputation for compassion rather than for cruelty: none the less, he must be careful that he does not make bad use of compassion,” this quote and the chapter it was written in made me think about how I as a leader can be effectively compassionate without posing my compassion as a weakness. In my conversation with my dad, I explained to him how, while I was reading this giant fortune cookie, I was very appreciative of the examples Niccolò Machiavelli providing within the book, he referred to past historical events and decisions that would ultimately prove his points. I appreciated these examples for two reasons, one, it made his messages easier to understand, and two it gave “tidbits” of historical information that is just cool to know. Overall I found this book to be awesome, and in the future I will be sure to refer to, and utilize information from this book.

1. Lorenzo de Medici was part of the Medici Family whom ended the Flourentine Republic in which Niccolo was the secretary of.

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne [Honors English]

Louis’ Impression

Louis T recommended this book to me insisting that I would enjoy reading it. In the departing year Louis was a student who took honors English, and very much enjoyed the skills and lessons learned through the class. Throughout the book Louis found an attraction to the themes conveyed in the story. When Louis and I conversed, Louis reluctantly told me about the story “A puritan colony deems love between a married woman and an unknown man taboo. Because of this taboo, there were many times were I had to question if their love was worth it.” After saying this he continued to explain how the main character was ridiculed, and portrayed as pariah to the other colonists. Due to the depiction Louis described, Louis recognized the theme of the book to be about society’s role in the life of the main character. From there Louis explained how the theme could connect to issues modern people experiences daily; Clarifying how many of us seek companionship with others although due to society’s opinions, and thoughts are restricted from doing so. My conversation with Louis was both informative and enjoyable; I would like to express my thanks toward Louis for his cooperation in my assignment.

My Impression

With Louis’ strong avocations for the book I immersed my self into the world of Hester Prynne (The Main Character) with no hesitation. Whilst reading, my first impression of this classic novel was the language, an American writer named Nathaniel Hawthorne first wrote the book in the early 1800s, and although in his era his “Old English” writing was of the most modern of text, I found the slang, and vocabulary to be somewhat of a challenge. In relations to the story I found the intricacies of the storyline to be of the most interest.

This Puritan based story took place in Boston beginning with a certain Hester Prynne, (convicted of the crime of adultery) being forced to stand upon a scaffold as but one of the punishments for her sin, the other punishment being the scarlet letter itself. Hester Prynne was a beautiful young woman who prior to being doomed to wearing the scarlet letter (An “A” used to symbolize the word adultery) for a lifetime, was married to an older man who in Boston identified himself with the name of Roger Chillingworth (His real name was never mentioned). Roger had prior to the situation in Boston had sent Hester ahead of him to America while he settled affairs in Europe, although Roger never showed up. The reason for his nonattendance to Boston was that, whilst traveling, was captured by Indians, resulting in the delay of arrival to Hester; the total time away summing to many years of absence. Due to Roger’s extended absence Hester unfortunately was led into a relationship with a clergyman named Mr. Dimmisdale whom you later find out is the father of Pearl; the infant Hester carried on the scaffold. Mr Dimmisdale was a Minister within the puritan colony who gave very sermons explaining Godly morals to the citizen; the reason for his more than exceptional sermons was his familiarity with sin itself (the love child conceived with Hester), as a repercussion of his sin, Dimmisdale found it appropriate to beat himself physically and mentally when nobody was within his presence. As earlier mentioned Roger Chillingworth was Hester’s first husband, whom you find out has the ultimate goal of seeking revenge for the man who impregnated his Ex-wife. Roger being a well-educated man with his college degree, and study of Indian remedies, grew a reputation of a gift sent from the creator himself, although that reputation changes when he and the Clergyman Dimmisdale begin to continuously “Hang,” as Chillingworth is portrayed as a bad influence on the Godly Clergyman. With the Rogers own goal in mind, he finds out that the clergyman was Hester’s lover, and commits to the torture of Dimmisdale’s life.

A character I failed to mention in more detail is Pearl, who as mentioned earlier was the daughter of Hester and Mr. Dimmisdale. Pearl was a child whom was conveyed as a little off, she continuously proved this by acting similar to that of an “Imp.” You would find her always dancing around, scaring other children away, and at times leading Hester to believe she was evil. To Hester Pearl was everything, within the book Pearl was nearly taken from Hester do to the thought that Hester wasn’t a good mother, although due to the demanding efforts of Hester she was able to keep her child.

The end of the book contained the ultimate exposure of Dimmisdale and Hester’s sin. Prior to the exposure Dimmisdale and Hester spoke to each other, whilst conversing they came to the conclusion run away together confessing they’re love for each other. Dimmisdale chooses to expose his secret so he can repent before his what is now portrayed as imminent death (knowing he was going to die because of beating himself). On the day of the revelation Dimmisdale gave the greatest sermon he ever gave, and immediately following the speech he exposed his chest which contained an A similar that of Hester’s scarlet letter, revealing the townspeople who the other sinner within Hester’s trial was. Although the book did not end there, after the exposure of the lover of Hester, Dimmisdale abruptly died on the scaffold (annoying) due to the weakness of his physical strength, on top Chillingworth soon died because his one goal in life had been to wreak revenge on Dimmesdale, and now that Dimmesdale is dead, he no longer had a purpose in life. Later the book explains how Hester died and was buried next to Dimmesdale although not to near. They would share a plaque with the Scarlet “A” on it.

I really enjoyed reading this book because on top of it being a great story, it made me reflect upon myself, and think about the type person I want to be. In the book Hester was a pariah, although she never denied nor did she fight the other colonist, instead she was neighborly by attending other peoples deathbeds, helping the poor, and being kind to others. When Hester was emotionally slapped she turned her cheek and loved the hand that slapped her, and as result of her actions the A in which she doomed to wear symbolized the word Able with a more positive connotation. I give this an A…for awesome.