Surprising Worlds

Science books.  They are fun reading too!  Today I read Hidden Worlds: Looking Through a Scientist's Microscope.  It was written by Stephen Kramer and follows scientist Dennis Kuunkel's career — how he got started and the various things he does with microscopes.

I have to admit that sounds kinda dull, but the photos in the book and the descriptions accompanying them were actually quite interesting.  No lie.

The most interesting series of photos were of a mosquito of all things.  First there is the, yeah that is a mosquito, picture taken of what they look like through a loupe.  A simple lens you can carry around everywhere.  Then the microscopes get more and more complicated... a compound microscope, electron microscope, scanning electron microscope, and finally transmission electron microscopic pictures of a mosquito.  The most interesting to me were taken by the electron microscope.  The wings became intricate things of beauty.  Really there are different layers and they look like delicate lace and feathers.  Amazing.

Here is an electron microscope picture of a mosquito's wing taken by Tim Messick since you don't have the book in hand.  That way you can get the idea.

Anyway, the book isn't just about the mosquito pictures I wrote about, but about how the pictures are taken and what you can learn about how the world works by using microscopes and your curiosity.

"A scientist who studies birds often sees and hears birds that other people never even notice.  A scientist who studies plants will observe things about trees and flowers that other people miss.  Years of looking through microscopes has given Dennis a good sense of where to look for the curious and beautiful hidden worlds in nature.  He sees things that most people walk right past.  One of the best ways to learn how to see the hidden worlds of nature is to take a hike with Dennis."  page 46
AR level 7.0 : 1.0 point

Aloha Moloka'i

Back to book blogging.  I thought it was fun to blog about what I was reading, but I didn't realize how easy it is to get out of the habit of doing it.  So this is my return to good habits and a place for my students to read about some of the books on the shelves in our school.

Right now I'm reading Moloka'i by Alan Brennert.  He has written another book about Hawaii, but I haven't seen or read that book yet.  Perhaps it is the arctic chill in the air last night when my heat went out... but I was thinking it would be a warm breeze of a book.  I was wrong.  It is a beautiful book, but it is also about the pain and loneliness leprosy,"the sickness that tears apart families," brought to a little girl that was only seven. 34  The book isn't all sorrow and tears... a lot of it is about being a teen with lots of rules that are annoying.  It isn't AR but it is a very good read.

Tribute to Trivia

I just read Olivia Bean the Trivia Queen by Donna Gephart.  It is a fun book about a girl obsessed with Jeopardy who is trying to figure out her life.  Her mom and dad had divorced and when she talks to her dad on the phone, he doesn't sound interested or like he loves her anymore.  Her mom has a live-in boyfriend who tries to be friendly, but mainly annoys her (the girl, not the mom).  The story is about her trying to get on Jeopardy and what she learns about her family and friends along the way.  It is a fun read mainly because the characters feel real and there is humor sprinkled throughout.  For example, her younger brother Aurthur likes trivia too, but he focuses his fact-finding to the gross, "Did you know that the average human being makes twenty-five thousand quarts of spit in a lifetime, enough to fill two swimming pools?" 276 or "A cockroach can live without its head for a week." 265
Dig in, the book is in the hall.  :)

Flying Books

Watch The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr.Morris Lessmore by William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg it is among the Academy Award nominees this year for animated shorts.

What do you think?

Narcissus

It was either "Narcissus" or "Reflections on Reflection" and since the myth of Narcissus is about a guy lost in his own reflection it seemed a fitting title.  I got this book quite a while ago, and I read it then and liked it (but now I can't remember so I'm re-reading it).  The book is called Reflection in the Writing Classroom by Kathleen Blake Yancey.

I think it is important to return to books that have important ideas that may connect in stronger ways during different times in your life.  I chose to return to this book since I do remember one quote I had in a journal from it, "The ability to reflect on what is being written seems to be the essence of the difference between able and not so able writers from their initial experience onward."4 So the ability to pause, think about and make changes according to those thoughts is the key to writers who are able, and aren't all writers able to some degree?

Past Midnight

 

The Midnight Disease: The Drive to Write, Writer's Block and the Creative Brain by Alice W. Flauherty  This is embarrassing, the third entry on the same book.  I did say it was a slow read... well somewhere between Kipnuk and Newtok it got shelved, literally, and I finally finished reading it so this will be the last post on that book.  First off I love this quote: "In both students and professional writers, the act of writing both intensified positive emotions and blunted negative ones."206 This was part of a study where researchers were looking at the anxiety people feel writing... it was surprising that the act of writing makes people feel better.  It is like a friend who listens and doesn't interrupt, but lets you finish your thoughts.  In short writing will make you feel better.  Smile.  This is what makes writing teachers happy.  

The next part of the book was about how metaphor helps people think and make meaning out of their life.  "By giving abstract concepts tastes, colors, smells, and emotional resonance, metaphors fix them in our minds and make us feel we can understand them."230 

The book closes by discussing the writer's muse... or inspiration.  When writers feel inspired the words flow, time becomes meaningless it is just easy.  "Some writers, though, may truly write without ever getting lost in their work, without ever feeling as if it just flows out of them, let alone flows into them from some external source."238 This is sad, but I guess true.  I don't really think there are muses so to speak, but I do think there may be some divine inspiration sometimes.  Mostly it seems times like that for me, especially when I made pottery,  time drops away when things are going right.  I am enjoying the moment so much, I don't notice time.  It is meaningless.  (That sometimes happens when things are going smoothly in class, while quilting, reading a good book... you get the idea.)  I think everyone should find a job that time drops away from them when doing that work.  It is a sign you are doing the right thing.

Please comment on what you do that you enjoy so much you lose track of time.

50 Plus Miles From Kipnuk

Fifty Miles From Tomorrow: A Memoir of Alaska and the Real People by William L. Iggiagruk Hensley is a great read. Hensley shares his perspective on the changes he has seen in Alaska in his time and about his part in some of the defining moments in Alaska history such as the development of the Alaska Native Land Claims Act.

Now I have gone and made his great book seem dry. It is not. His description of his early memories are clear and full of detail. I laughed out loud (really!) when he described what he thought of the food he ate downstates compared to his native foods. I have heard similar comments from my students throughout the years. He is also philosophical. When you read it you can picture this young man growing up and going through all of these changes, adapting and also pushing back against all the changes. It is amazing when you think about all of the changes that have happened in Alaska in just the last fifty years. Makes me feel old since almost all of that happened in just my lifetime.

I like to use a quote that I liked a lot from the book that I think says something about the theme, or purpose the author wrote the book. I think Hensley would agree with my choice of his words:

"To me, the beauty of what became known as Inupiat Ilitqusiat—Inupiat Values— was the fact that they were not material. They were deeply entrenched in the mind and heart and spirit, and entirely transportable. You can be anywhere in the world and retain your Inupiaq identity and values. You can pursue the highest academic credentials and become as wealthy as Bill Gates and still be the Inupiaq of whom your forefathers would be proud." pg 220

This is a great read and I would recommend it to anyone who has any interest in Alaska's history. Oh, and that should be everyone.

By the way, I am enjoying my new home in Newtok, Alaska.