How it ends or how it doesn't?

I know some people, all men, actually, who are entranced by physics. They just marvel at the purity of physical laws and are enraptured by the what-ifs of string theory. Unfortunately, I can't quite wrap my head around physics, especially when we're talking about numbers and concepts so far out there as the universe and alternate life forms. So, I skipped through the last few chapters of this book. However, I do believe it is worth your time. Everyone needs to read this sort of humbling stuff from time to time.

Chris Impey's How it ends: from you to the universe is truly absorbing and lightly written. I enjoyed the concepts presented in the chapters from that began at the beginning of life. Life is amazing, but on the level of human life, we know it ends. Or does it? Our body is just a bunch of borrowed atoms. And our bodies host zillions of microbes. Impey extends this about where "it" comes from and where "it" goes from the human level, to the planetary level, to the solar system, and beyond. Beyond the solar system I had trouble wrapping my head around it, but still ...

The take away message is that our lives are part of a continuum. We are just a smudge of atoms in some tiny and remote spot in the universe. We should get over ourselves and our "Save the Planet" talk because life will not be obliterated and to see ourselves as the center of it all is more than naive. Life lives and we are probably Martians. Read the book.

It's now one I would have picked up, but it was recommended to me by one of the guys at New Quarter and I always try to take a look at their recommendations. Our staff includes retirees who were a doctor, engineer, manufacturer, and head custodian. A former employee was a lapsed Jesuit priest. They are a bookish bunch and our conversations are wonderful. Today is the annual Christmas potluck lunch at the park and I'm off to it now. Here's our group picture from last year. Happy Holidays from New Quarter Park!