I'm just starting on Stephen Jay Gould's The Structure of Evolutionary Theory. No, I'm not reading this for a class. I'm reading this on my own and hopefully I will be done with it by Wednesday (that's when I have to return it to the library). Yes, this is a crazy timetable considering Gould's book is over a thousand pages long, but I read fast. I've never taken an evolution class per se so I'm learning a whole bunch of stuff (or rather the nuts and bolts of something that I've only been generally acquainted with) that would make creationists' brains shrink in fear.
Also, I just finished a biography on Rosalind Franklin that I'm planning to write more about tomorrow. I found it depressing. One reason was that it made me feel like a really lazy and frivolous graduate student. Franklin disapproved of the fact that one of her colleagues was an aspiring playwright. She didn't like music much. But she liked climbing dangerous mountains. I think she would have liked some of the students I know who are also hard core hikers. Me, she probably would have dismissed for not having much intellect, like one of her technicians who wanted a week off to apply for some higher education.
And I've decided to check up on how many books I've read so far this year: 17. If I keep up this pace, maybe I'll be able to finish 50 before the year is out (I failed dismally in that goal last year).
