Experimental Blog #38

Comments on "The Ptarmigan's Dilema" - An Exploration into How Life Organizes and Supports Itself by John Theberge and Mary Theberge

It is possible that there is a common opinion among scientists and interested non-professionals that Charles Darwin's most serious and least forgivable mistake was to replace his original concept, in the first publication of "Origin of the Species", of "Natural Selection", ten years later, in the fourth edition, with Herbert Spencer's concept of "The Survival of the Fittest."
Today, "Natural Selection" seems more purely scientific, and maybe, even beautiful; while "The Survival of the Fittest" became very distorted in an assortment of political uses, none of them very beautiful.
Charles Darwin's own explanations for preferring Herbert Spencer's term are not very clear or understandable today.
This book by the husband and wife team, John and Mary Theberge, describes some of the amazing developements in contemporary Biology and Ecology, which was a science that did not exist until long after the death of Charles Darwin. It might be said that entirely new dimensions of knowledge and understanding, never known to Charles Darwin, are being discovered by these sciences.

Experimental Blog #37

Comments on "Anything Goes - A Biography of the Roaring Twenties" by Lucy Moore

Some of the most memorable developements and events of the 1920s, which seems to be the "birth of Modern America", are; the spectacular developement of motion pictures with sound in Hollywood and the lives of its equally spectacular stars, both male and female; African-American cultural developement in Harlem and Jazz in other cities as well; the widespread growth and activity of the Ku Klux Klan; the flourishing gangster activity, especially in Chicago, thanks to prohibition; the trials, and execution, of the anarchist-communists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti; the Scopes trial, about the teaching of Darwinian evolution versus the Bible, with its charismatic lawyers Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan; the building of America's first giant skyscrapers in New York; and Charles Lindbergh's transatlantic flight.
Some of the specific representative people of the era were; Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Warren and Florence Harding, Al Capone, Charlie Chaplin, and Jack Dempsey.
The author also writes a lot about Harry and Caresse Crosby, but how many people today know who they were?

Experimental Blog #36

Comments on "Civil War Wives" - The Lives and Times of Angelina Grimke' Weld, Varina Howell Davis and Julia Dent Grant by Carol Berkin

In the acknowledgments to this book the author, Carol Berkin, writes that her "home state" is Alabama. However, she received her college degrees at the very "Yankee" schools of Barnard College and Columbia University of New York.
On the back of the book there are 8 very respectable recommendations, and the writing is very thorough and informative in all three parts.
The first part, about Agelina Grimke' Weld, is especially interesting for its relation of the conflicts and splintering within the counter-cultural abolitionist movement, among various other things about Angelina's life.
The second account, about Varina Howell Davis, is very descriptive about the "lost cause" of the American Civil War from a more Southern point of view. It seems that, except for the first several months, the war became an increasing disaster that lasted about 4 years for the Confederate States. Varina's long, vigorous, but tragic, life was very interesting to learn about.
In the third account, about Julia Dent Grant, the author sounds somewhat dismissive, maybe even ridiculing at times, about Julia and even her autobiography in some ways. However, she recognizes that Julia's book was not published until 1975. Carol Berkin also writes that Ulysses S. Grant was five feet and eight inches tall. Others say that he was at least 4 inches shorter.

Experimental Blog #35

Comments on 2 books: "The Story of My Life" - The Restored Classic by Helen Keller, Anne Sullivan, and John Macy and with the editors Roger Shattuck and Dorothy Herrmann;
and "Helen Keller" - A Life by Dorothy Herrmann

Helen Keller met her first president, Grover Cleveland, when she was 8 years old. In a few years she would become one of the world's most well known people, and she would meet every American President through Franklin Roosevelt at least. She would also meet and correspond with many other of the world's well known or famous people. Even beyond 70 years of age, Helen Keller would repeatedly travel to Europe and Asia and, perhaps, other countries.
Although criticized by a few people, Helen Keller's self-confessed ability to "see through other people's eyes" and to "hear with other people's ears", together with her phenomenal memory, caused some people to call her "the 8th Wonder of the World."
Helen Keller's famous teacher, Anne Sullivan, was considered by a few people to be the "true genius." However, except for Anne Sullivan's reports about her work with her pupil, and her not particularly unusual letters, and, of course, her virtually countless performances as Helen Keller's interpreter, Anne Sullivan does not seem to give much evidence for such an evaluation.
It is very interesting to read the reports that deaf and blind people do not really "live in darkness," and that they possess their own complete sense of identity, and that, at least eventually, they become so accustomed that they have little or no feeling of deficiency or deprivation.