An Outline for a Book Report: A Short History of Nearly Everything

We are only a brief second in the long history of the universe; many things have preceded us to make us the most complex creatures that ever walked the Earth. We are a “new level of complexity” which makes us different from all other creatures that have come before us. Our species has only been around for 250,000 years, a short time compared to the formation of the Earth at 4.5 billion years ago and the creation of the Universe at 13.7 billion years ago, but the time we have had on this Earth has greatly affected the outcome of history. In an attempt to provide an overview of human history in his book This Fleeting World, David Christian introduces it in the context of the history of the universe and then systematically breaks it down

This Fleeting World is a small summary of ‘big history’. David Christian’s book is a mere 92 pages long with an included 9-page prequel (on topics during the first years without humans such as Earth’s creation and more) and 16-page appendix on the book’s use in school, historical periodization, and a 4-page list of sources. With around 120 pages, this short book seems to be the perfect size to represent how our species’ history is only miniscule fraction compared to the history of that around us. In a world that has been around for over four and a half billion years old (6) in a universe that is 13.8 billion years old (1), homo sapiens have been around for only approximately 250,000 of those years (9). It seems impossible, though, to fit those hundreds of thousands of years into the modest text. However, Christian does the impossible and makes a well written short ‘big history’. Where many other historians before him have failed at making one, Christian’s book, This Fleeting World, summarizes history from the big-bang all

In reading a Little History of the World by E.H. Gombrich you realize that history seems so much less complicated when you are the one standing back and reflecting on the past. You realize how easy it is to often forget that every single new idea, religion and war was a struggle that lasted generations upon generations. History is more than just a page or a story, its our account of the world. That goes to show how short life and history is, you realize that history is always repeating, war after war, peace then war. There are good and bad periods in history and its up to us to learn from them. In a way history is much like a human being it goes through stages, learns about life, and has inner struggles or wars about their ideas and their beliefs.

In History: A Very Short Introduction, Arnold weaves together various anecdotes including a 14th century murder, an epic regarding the corybantic slaughter of cats in France, the varying accounts of a Sojourner Truth speech, and many more stories to emphasize why history matters and the problems inherent in its recording. Throughout his novel, he contests the stance taken by Thucydides, a notable Greek historian. Thucydides lived from 460 BCE to 400 BCE and was famous for his work, The History of the Peloponnesian War, which recounted the conflict between Athens and Sparta. Thucydides firmly believed that history was meant to solely record the stories of politics, the state and great men — a belief that John Arnold throughly opposes. With his beliefs and narratives, he created a precedent that negatively influenced historiography for many years to come, for historians chose to disregard the lives and stories of the common man. It was this precedent that the historian Arnaldo Momigliano referred to as Thucydides’ Tower. “Arnaldo Momigliano (a modern author) remarked that having shut himself up in this tower of political history, Thucydides wanted to confine all of us there too” (34). The idea of Thucydides’ Tower itself refers to a metaphorical prison out of which historians could only see politics, war and the actions of great men; Looking out from the tower, their vision was far too narrow to see the lives and stories of the everyday man. Indeed, if Arnold wished to have a

Students are often uninterested in learning about history because the history presented in class only represent a partial account of events. All history, including America’s history, is dotted progress and accomplishments but also with immense violence and actions that call into question the morality of human nature. With this in mind, the American History taught in high school is vaguely reminiscent of the events that actually transpired. Positive events are emphasized while the negative aspects are often downplayed or even dismissed in order to preserve the good image that society so desperately wants to retain and such actions promote ethnocentrism. Books often ignore the flaws of historic figures to preserve the integrity of their image and take a non-confrontational stance on events tainted with

Aside from his deep interests in education and nature, Carver was deep in his faith with God. Dr. Carver stated that the Lord reveals his creation to us, and it is a way to “commune with Him” (Rogers & Raymond, 1992). Carver claimed that the earth is “our home and place of beauty and mystery and God's handiwork” (Rogers & Raymond, 1992).

How accurately does this statement reflect the view of discovery explored in Rainbows End and in the Rabbit Proof Fence?

“The best among [the scientists] move deep into a wilderness region where they know almost nothing, where the very tools and techniques needed to clear the wilderness, to bring order to it, do not exist” (25-29). By referencing the need “to clear the wilderness”, Barry conjures an image of a lumberjack, who heroically conquers the wilderness to nurture the advent of civilization. In a similar manner, he claims that scientists wield axes to chop away the foliage that obscure scientific discoveries opening the gateways for unparalleled growth and innovation. Moreover, Barry continues his claim by asserting that“If the researcher succeeds, a flood of colleagues will pave roads over the path laid, and those roads will be orderly and straight, taking an investigator in minutes to a place the pioneer spent months or years looking for” (Barry 49-53). Following the back-breaking labor of clearing forests, Barry muses how the “flood” of subsequent scientists lay down the bricks to form a continuous road that civilizes and tames the unknown. In addition, Barry channels the immense power of “floods” and bestows it upon scientists; this evokes the notion that scientists possess power of equal magnitude, when well-harnessed, can transform and innovate scientific research. Thus, by utilizing metaphors as a vessel to grant powers to

Closing, the writer is successful in making his opinion and perspective towards scientific research through the use of logos, pathos, and ethos. The overall analysis brought me to the conclusion that the John M. Barry portray scientific research as the chief ingredient to putting together answers and information. Yet still, doesn’t deny the complexity of scientific research and that’s its not straightforward as a scientist wishes it could be. Nevertheless, the benefits scientific research has brought along we see them everyday because of our overall advancement as a world. Didn’t I say knowledge is our most powerful weapon? Well observe, for it has destroyed the slow and premature society humans once used to live in and created a beautiful, diverse, and intelligent culture

Barry identifies the obstacles a scientist must conquer in this passage. When describing the movement of a scientist throughout their field, he uses the words “forcefully and aggressively”. The use of this diction persuades the reader of the difficult work of scientific research and the strength of scientists. The phrases “grunt work” and “tedious work” in line 37 describe the strenuous workload of a scientist. The field of scientific research can be viewed as a frontier but the author takes this comparison further. In lines 25 to 29, the scientific field is likened to the wilderness. This descriptive diction highlights the uncertainty mentioned throughout the account and emphasizes the depth of scientific research. Throughout the passage, diction is used as a tool to persuade the reader that scientific research is

In the two essays being discussed we learn that science has a vast range of definitions. Science is the effort to understand (or to understand better), the history of the natural world and how the natural world works with observable physical evidence as the base of understanding. Science is about how the hypothesis is developed and how well it is defended.

D. it symbolized the fusion of Roman, German, and Christian elements which would make up medieval civilization in Europe.

September 11, 2001 was a milestone in the history of the United States, which experienced a collective shock and trauma that has never been forgotten. In the United States most of all, the entire airline and tourist industry was driven to the edge of bankruptcy and would not have survived at all without a major bailout by the federal government. It was already in poor condition for many years after deregulation in 1978, the September 11th attacks were a Near Death Experience. After that time, the airlines decided that they could never permit another attack like this or they would be driven out of business. As it was, their stock prices collapsed and passenger schedules did not return to pre-September 11th levels for four years. All previous security plans were judged to be useless and inadequate, and were taken out of the hands of private security contractors and turned over to the federal government. New and more restrictive laws like the Patriot Act came into being, and the U.S. launched an all-out war on Al Qaeda that has continued for eleven long years.

2. Natives worked on the plantations. Slaves from Africa were brought over to Brazil when the native workers died. Eighty-two percent of the population in Brazil trace their ancestry back to the days of slavery.

This video is about a 5th-grade social studies teacher named Miss Kelsey’s personal experience with the method of inquiry and her reason on why the inquiry method was a great way to help her students learn Canadian history. In the video, Miss Kelsey demonstrates the positive effects of historical inquiry in her 5th-grade class by describing how it not only sparked the interests of her students, but also herself and not only that but both her and her students learned something. Not mention the fact that Miss Kelsey had also helped spark the interests of her students even more by creating a scenario where they had to present the information that each of her students found in their assigned important figures to her where she will decide which