"Welcome. And congratulations. I am delighted that you could make it. Getting here wasn’t easy, I know. In fact, I suspect it was a little tougher than you realize. To begin with, for you to be here now trillions of drifting atoms had somehow to assemble in an intricate and curiously obliging manner to create you. It’s an arrangement so specialized and particular that it has never been tri
ed before and will only exist this once. For the next many years (we hope) these tiny particles will uncomplainingly engage in all the billions of deft, co-operative efforts necessary to keep you intact and let you experience the supremely agreeable but generally underappreciated state known as existence.
Why atoms take this trouble is a bit of a puzzle. Being you is not a gratifying experience at the atomic level. For all their devoted attention, your atoms don’t actually care about you – indeed, don’t even know that you are there. They don’t even know that they are there. They are mindless particles, after all, and not even themselves alive. (It is a slightly arresting notion that if you were to pick yourself a part with tweezers, one atom at a time, you would produce a mound of fine atomic dust, none of which had ever been alive but all of which had once been you). Yet somehow for the period of your existence they will answer to a single rigid impulse: to keep you you."
ed before and will only exist this once. For the next many years (we hope) these tiny particles will uncomplainingly engage in all the billions of deft, co-operative efforts necessary to keep you intact and let you experience the supremely agreeable but generally underappreciated state known as existence.Why atoms take this trouble is a bit of a puzzle. Being you is not a gratifying experience at the atomic level. For all their devoted attention, your atoms don’t actually care about you – indeed, don’t even know that you are there. They don’t even know that they are there. They are mindless particles, after all, and not even themselves alive. (It is a slightly arresting notion that if you were to pick yourself a part with tweezers, one atom at a time, you would produce a mound of fine atomic dust, none of which had ever been alive but all of which had once been you). Yet somehow for the period of your existence they will answer to a single rigid impulse: to keep you you."
Read more at:
A short history of nearly everything by Bill Bryson
Shelved in the Main Shelves on level 2: 500 BRY
A short history of nearly everything by Bill Bryson
Shelved in the Main Shelves on level 2: 500 BRY
How do you survive if you find yourself adrift in the water without a visible shoreline?
1. Keep swimming to stay awake
2. Cross your arms and ankles and draw your knees up to your chest as you drift
3. Remove your shoes and outer layers of clothing as you drift
1. Keep swimming to stay awake
2. Cross your arms and ankles and draw your knees up to your chest as you drift
3. Remove your shoes and outer layers of clothing as you drift
Find out at:
The grab bag book: your ultimate guide to liferaft survival by F. Howorth and M. Howorth
Shelved in the Leisure and Hobbies section on level 1: 613.69 HOW
The grab bag book: your ultimate guide to liferaft survival by F. Howorth and M. Howorth
Shelved in the Leisure and Hobbies section on level 1: 613.69 HOW
When you are old
When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;
And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.
~ W.B. Yeats
When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;
And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.
~ W.B. Yeats
Read more at:
Classic favourite poems edited by Charles Osborne
Shelved in the Main Shelves on level 2: 821.008 OSB
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