Coping Strategy

Thursday, January 12, 2023

I spent most of yesterday reading a mystery novel for a book club because I plan to attend its next meeting. Ordinarily, mysteries aren’t my favorite reads, because resolving fictional mysteries usually adds sudden artificial plot twists. This novel, THE GUIDE, by Peter Heller, began slowly and was interesting enough. Later, Heller heated the mystery by speeding up its action and the plot became difficult to follow. I considered the story’s ending contrived, an abrupt drop-off.

I’m glad for taking the time to read that novel and am interested in what other readers think about it. After finishing it, I felt happier for the freedom to turn my attention to another book, THE MAN WHO MISTOOK HIS WIFE FOR A HAT, by Oliver Sacks. This will be my first in a five-book exploration of the history and evolvement of modern science, as recommended by The Economist.

Even knowing little about the evolution of science, the topic fascinates me. It took eons for humans to gain intelligence and gather into social units. While humans created significant inventions, scientific progression occurred slowly. Until the mid-1800s when the Industrial Revolution began. Afterward, came one significant invention after another, but still more slowly than later, in the 1960s and 1970s. Once electronics were introduced, changes occurred rapidly and science became overwhelming.

I hope to thread the needle by gaining a sense of how slow progress evolved into rapid changes. Science has so affected production, populations, and cultures. The real story is more compelling than any contrived mystery yarn.

Dear Friends: Reading in wintertime, a great offset to challenging weather. Diana