Went to Borders to take advantage of the 20% discount for teachers. Today was the last day out of 2 days. Saw Uncle Herman and the kids there. Found out from him that Cosmos by Carl Sagan was Britanny's required reading for her gifted programme, can you imagine that (she's in Sec. 1 by the way).
Used my discount to purchase 2 books for Uncle Herman-- one by Richard Dawkins and one by Stephen Jay Gould; hmmm, it would be great to discuss evolution and Science with him!
Me, I only bought a CD-- Verve Remixed 2. Used my discount to purchase a book by Sherpa Tenzing Norgay's son about his father's life for Grace too.
Just finished this great book from the Science section of Orchard Library: 'Strangers in the Night' A Brief History of Life on Other Worlds - David E Fisher & Marshall Jon Fisher.
It charts the progress of humankind's search for life other than on Earth-- the voyages to Mars, study of the oceans of Europa (a moon of Jupiter), radio astronomy to detect messages from the far reaches of the universe, the studies of the formation of planets around stars... the whole account of how Man has tried to prove that life exists out there (not just intelligent beings but microbes) and the Science behind all these is simply mind-boggling.
Having watched the movie Contact and read the novel, this book is an even more meaningful read for me. I can imagine that writing Contact must have been a sort of catharsis for Carl Sagan, since radio astronomy has YET to receive any signal or broadcast from all those alien civilizations out there that are thought to exist.
The book ends with this poem which it says is known by almost everyone involved in the search for life 'out there':
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
- T.S. Eliot
Used my discount to purchase 2 books for Uncle Herman-- one by Richard Dawkins and one by Stephen Jay Gould; hmmm, it would be great to discuss evolution and Science with him!
Me, I only bought a CD-- Verve Remixed 2. Used my discount to purchase a book by Sherpa Tenzing Norgay's son about his father's life for Grace too.
Just finished this great book from the Science section of Orchard Library: 'Strangers in the Night' A Brief History of Life on Other Worlds - David E Fisher & Marshall Jon Fisher.
It charts the progress of humankind's search for life other than on Earth-- the voyages to Mars, study of the oceans of Europa (a moon of Jupiter), radio astronomy to detect messages from the far reaches of the universe, the studies of the formation of planets around stars... the whole account of how Man has tried to prove that life exists out there (not just intelligent beings but microbes) and the Science behind all these is simply mind-boggling.
Having watched the movie Contact and read the novel, this book is an even more meaningful read for me. I can imagine that writing Contact must have been a sort of catharsis for Carl Sagan, since radio astronomy has YET to receive any signal or broadcast from all those alien civilizations out there that are thought to exist.
The book ends with this poem which it says is known by almost everyone involved in the search for life 'out there':
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
- T.S. Eliot
