The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion
TASK HELP: Spring Challenge 2021
>
25.2 - Janet F's Task: Burgess Shale
date
newest »
newest »
Mod
if anyone is looking for an easy match for this one,
is an easy 115 (128 kindle) pages and fits options 1, 3, 4, and 5
Fly wrote: "if anyone is looking for an easy match for this one, is an easy 115 (128 kindle) pages and fits options 1, 3, 4, and 5"Thanks! Great choice for all those options. It looks interesting so I added it to my 'to read' list.
The Seasonal Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish (other topics)Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish (other topics)
Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History (other topics)
Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History by Stephen Jay Gould was my last book read for the Winter Challenge. I’ve read my share of natural history books but this one really was a challenge! I’d borrowed it from the library and as no other patrons were requesting it went to the bottom of my bookpile. While reading it my mind wandered a bit and I crafted this task in my head.
Choose TWO of the options and read a book for each. REQUIRED: State in your post the options you used.
Option 1: Burgess Shale is the name of the fossil-bearing deposit that is the main focus of the book. Wiwaxia, Opabinia and Hallucigenia are some of the many interesting creatures preserved in the shale. In honor of Burgess Shale:
Read a book with at least 3 of the letter S in the title. Subtitles excluded.
Option 2: I am inspired to read up on more recent paleontological/palaeontological discoveries.
Read a book with a main page genre of Palaeontology (genre spelling used on GR) or Natural History. Genre may be standalone or embedded.
Option 3: I’ve actually wanted to read Gould’s book since it was published in 1989. I added it to my GR to-read list in 2014.
Read a book that was first published between 1989 & 2014, inclusive.
Option 4: One concept that Stephen Jay Gould connects (semi-spoiler alert) with the Burgess Shale findings is that of ‘contingency’. He references some uses of the idea of contingency in literature - for example Tolstoy books. He also described how the concept is important in the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life”.
Read a book by a single author whose first and last initials can be found in WONDERFUL LIFE.
Option 5: Stephen Jay Gould published many books including about 10 that include reprints of his 300+ essays. He passed away from cancer at age 60 in 2002.
Read a book by an author who didn’t live past the age of 60.
REQUIRED: if the author's birth and death years are not included on the GR author bio, provide a link to an outside source establishing these dates.
This list may help you in finding authors:
They Died Too Young