Larvatus Prodeo

Lately, I’ve been reading Neal Stephenson’s fantastic book Quicksilver (it’s kept me up past 3am a few nights, and I’m still rationing it in the confident knowledge that there are still two books in the trilogy still to go, but at the same time, thinking “only two books”). Stephenson has the almost alchemical skill of bringing dead bones to life, of fleshing out the history of an era, of a past that only resides for many of us perhaps in half remembered fragments of dusty old school texts. So it’s appropriate that the friend who recommended Quicksilver to me also pointed me to this brilliantly written post by P. Z. Myers on bones, reverence and memories. It also reminded me of my great enthusiasm for science as a school student, oh, so many years ago. Perhaps I was badly taught, but by Grade Ten my passion had sapped away. Or maybe that’s the nature of youthful passions. My interests developed in a humanistic direction. But Stephenson, and Myers, both remind me so powerfully of how wrong C. P. Snow was in thinking there are “two cultures” and how much we could gain by recovering the spirit of natural philosophy. Perhaps, Snow was right in observing a sociological fact, but how much have we lost by the severing of knowledge along these two paths? Go, and read P. Z. Myers, and look on in wonder.

Elsewhere: John Quiggin posted on Quicksilver back in 04, cross-posted at Crooked Timber (for a taste of a different comments thread). Jason Soon also has a post dating from last year on Neal Stephenson’s work.