"Just Listen" entry #8

author: Sarah Dessen; published: 2006

This passage is noteworthy because it's of Annabel telling the truth- exactly as it happened that night.

"As I stepped over the threshold into the dark, I had my first prickling sense that something wasn't right. It was just how the room felt, like the entire space around my was unsettled. I stepped back, reaching for the knob, but I couldn't find it, my fingers only touching the wall. 'Nick?' I said. Then, suddenly, I felt something bumb up against my left side. Not furniture, or an object, but something alive. Someone. It's Nick, I told myself. He's drunk. But at the same time I started moving my hand behind me, faster now, searching for the light switch or doorknob. Finally, I felt the knob. Just as I was twisting it, though, I felt my fingers closing over my wrist. 'Hey,' I said, and even though I was trying to act casual, my voice sounded scared. 'What's--?'

'Shhhh, Annabel,' the voice said, and then the fingers were moving up my arm, over my skin, and I felt another hand on my right shoulder. 'It's just me.'

It wasn't Nick. This voice was deeper, and not slurring at all, each syllable enunciated perfectly. As I realized this, I panicked, my hand gripping tighter around the water bottle in my hand. The top popped off, and suddenly I felt cold water seeping into my shirt, only my skin. 'Don't,' I said.

'Shhh,' the voice said again, and then the hands were off me. A second later, they covered my eyes.

I jerked forward, trying to pull away. The water bottle, now half empty, fell from my hands, hitting the carpet with a dull thud, and his hands grabbed my by the shoulders, hard. I kept wriggling, trying to get loose and turn around, toward the door, but my hands were flailing in empty air. It was like the walls had slid back, out of reach; there was nothing to hold on to.

I could hear myself gasping, my breath beginning to sputter as he lock an elbow around my neck, pulling me up against him. My legs came up off the ground and I started kicking them, making contact with the door once- bang!- before he dragged me backwards a couple of steps. Then his other hand was moving around to my stomach, pushing aside my shirt, and thrusting down my jeans."

This is the moment in the book just before and just as Annabel is getting raped. The whole book is about this one, important event that happened in Annabel's life- leading to how she is before she meets Owen- quiet and unable to speak her mind. Because if she speaks her mind then she admits to something horrible, wrong- that she was raped, and that she didn't consent to her then best friend Sophie's boyfriend, Will, to doing this to her. Annabel didn't consent to Will violating her in this way. It's the ultimate part of this book because it's what Annabel tries to hold in the whole time- no body has any idea that Annabel was raped, let alone that Sophie thinks that Annabel willing did this with Will. No body knows anything that Annabel is going through let alone what she's holding in this entire time.

"Just Listen" entry #7

author: Sarah Dessen; published: 2006

I think Dessen's intended audience is teens or young adults- well not only because I found this book in the young adult section of the library but also because I when I looked up Sarah Dessen I found that she was a famous author who had written a lot of books for young adults. I also figure that the intended audience is young adults because the main character of this book, Annabel is also a young adult- she's a teenager in high school which makes her story easy to relate to seeing as how I'm in still in high school too. I guess the question then becomes- why did Dessen want to write a book that young adults could relate to? What was Dessen's reason? My reasoning is that Dessen wrote a book that young adults could relate to because she had either experienced something similar to what Annabel goes through in this story or she knew someone who did go through something like Annabel. Either that or Dessen just has a really wild imagination.

Dessen overall seems to have a very personal, open relationship with the audience through her main character- Annabel. Eventually Annabel tells you everything that could ever matter about herself- how she can't speak her mind openly about a lot of things, her personality, being raped, dealing with a sister who has an eating disorder- things that you wouldn't normally learn about someone unless you sat down with them and they told you their story. So often you learn things about people from somebody else- say you're all in class but someone is sitting next to you and they're talking about somebody you know- well do you sit there and listen to something you've never heard about this person you know, effectively eavesdropping etc. just learn something about someone you don't really know all that well to begin with?

"Just Listen" entry #6

author: Sarah Dessen; published: 2006

The author has done a lot to engage me, the reader into this book. Mostly though, Dessen engages the reader by writing in first person. Because Dessen writes the story in first person it makes it easier to relate to what Annabel is going through in the story even though Annabel's story is unusual. But I guess the smaller things about Annabel can make it easier to relate to her- like that she doesn't speak up all that much about what she wants or that her ex-best friend is really mean to her now. Everybody can goes through those kind of things- say your friend moves away and you guys don't talk that much anymore, well if you guys do talk again, it's very easy for some misunderstanding to be born from not seeing someone in awhile. On another note though, because Dessen writes from first person (Annabel's perspective), the story itself becomes more personal and therefore easier to understand and relate to.

Dessen doesn't really make the reason why she wrote this book plain. In fact, Dessen doesn't say why she wrote this book at all. So I guess the reason why Dessen wrote this book is more implicit than anything else. My guess is that the reason why Dessen wrote a story like Annabel's is because she most likely either experienced or saw something like Annabel's story in her own life. I guess that because Dessen could maybe relate to Annabel was going through in this story then the author figured it would make it easier for teens to relate to.

"Just Listen" entry #5

author: Sarah Dessen; published: 2006

The author wrote this book from a Annabel's perspective. It was almost like I was sitting in a room with Annabel and she was sitting there with me telling me the story. Because Dessen tells the story this way it makes it more personal and easier to relate to. You know how when say you're talking to one of your friends and they had just experienced something you've never experienced before- say their father died or they got to travel the world? Well, if that friend is willing to sit with you for awhile and try to explain how they feel and what they were thinking- it makes it easier for you to try and understand what they are going through. That's the way it is with this book- the story line is unusual in it's self because it's about a girl who is a model and is learning to speak her mind more, but not only that her two sisters were models too!! Because the story line itself is unusual- you think that you wouldn't be able to relate to the story at all, let alone understand what Annabel is going through. But because Dessen writes the story so that it's from Annabel's perspective aka first person perspective, it makes it slightly easier to understand. I mean, here's Annabel who has been raped (although you don't learn this until later in the story), she was friends with the most popular girl who school who is constantly mean to her now (although you don't find out why until later in the book), she's dealing with a sister who has an eating disorder and her mother who still wants Annabel to be a model even though Annabel doesn't want to let alone have the guts to say so out loud.

"Just Listen" entry #4

author: Sarah Dessen; published: 2006

I chose this book, "Just Listen" because I have read other books by Sarah Dessen before and liked them, so I figured I would like this book too. My expectations were that it would have a little bit of everything in it. That "Just Listen" would have romance, comedy, truth, lies, and all of the in-between. Most of Dessen's books are about teens discovering something about themselves that they had never thought of before or had avoided because they were afraid to face the truth. It's when the teens in Dessen's books face their truths, that they change- usually for the better. Usually the teens or subjects of Dessen's books are going through tough times- parents divorcing, the death of a loved one, a close loved one is sick- the kind of life changing events that especially effect you at that age when you're still living at home. Dessen lived up to my expectations- even surpassed them. After you read several books by one author, you usually get a feel for what the author might right but if they are an especially good writer, they tend to surprise you with unexpected twists and turns. Dessen did this in her book, and even surpassed what I had expected. I guess you could say she's one of those classic authors (or getting there) that I really enjoy- kind of like the type of author most people enjoy including people like Jack London, J.K. Rowling, Stephenie Meyer or J.R.R. Tolkien. Personally, I'm adding Sarah Dessen to my "classic authors/books list", the kind that gets read over and over again.

"Just Listen" entry #3

author: Sarah Dessen; published: 2006

So far as plot, not much happens within the next 75 pages- except that Annabel goes with Rolly and Owen to breakfast for the first time. Here, Annabel becomes slightly amazed that she is spending time with Owen like this, so natural and relaxed and although she doesn't realize it yet- she starts to fall for him. Owen drives Annabel back to her house, and then leaves just as Annabel realizes that Owen left his jacket with her (the breakfast restaurant had been cold) and she would have returned it to him when school started up again on Monday or Tuesday but she realized that Owen also left his ipod with her. Curious, Annabel turns on the ipod to find a playlist on the ipod with her name on it- slightly intrigued she starts playing the list and as she scrolls she finds that every song that she has ever talked about with Owen is on this playlist that has her name on it. Annabel thinks about how she had always wondered what Owen was listening to all the time (he's the type that always has the ipod earbuds in his ears almost 24/7, playing something all the time), and what he was thinking about as he listened to his ipod but "who would have ever guessed that it might have been me (Dessen 203)?", Annabel finds herself thinking. Its when Annabel goes to take the ipod back to Owen that she finds her sister trying to make dinner in the kitchen. At first Annabel makes a move to leave her sister alone (the sister that had the eating disorder), in the kitchen trying to make herself dinner, but then Annabel realizes it must be very difficult for her sister Whitney, seeing that "[...] Whitney hardly ever cooked for herself. My mother monitored all her meals, fixed her snacks and sandwiches, even the cereal she ate for breakfast. I realized that if this was weird for me to watch, it had to be really strange for her to do. Especially alone (Dessen 204)." So for the first time, Annabel cooks dinner with her middle sister, Whitney, and then leaves shortly after to take the ipod and jacket back to Owen. When she arrives at Owen's house, she finds his sister Mallory having a sleep over and playing model/dress-up and taking tons of pictures. Mallory shows Annabel her room- which is covered with pictures of models in all sorts of attire, including pictures of Annabel. Here Annabel discovers that Owen sees her as different from what they can see in the pictures and later that night they kiss for the first time. As Annabel heads home from the photo op, Mallory hands a stack of pictures to Annabel to take home and shortly after Annabel leaves with a lot on her mind. When Owen tried to explain to Annabel exactly what she was to him at his house, she doesn't really get it but then, "I wanted to ask him to explain further, to say what I was to him, exactly. But then I realized maybe he just had. I already knew he thought of me as honest, direct, even funny- all things I had never thought about myself. Who knew what else I could be, what kind of potential there was in the differences between that girl and the one he saw now. So many possibilities (Dessen 217)." Here, its a major turning point for Annabel: she starts to realize who she had been and the differences between who she is now and who she had been and that's changing, and that the girl who Owen sees her as isn't necessarily the girl who she "thinks" she is. All of this is a major turning point in thinking for Annabel.

"Just Listen" entry #2

author: Sarah Dessen; published: 2006

Well, probably the most amazing thing at this point in the book is that Annabel meets Owen- or more like the way she met him. At first they would both sit at or on the wall at lunch- because they both didn't really have friends to sit with at school by that point. Annabel was constantly being confronted by Sophie, her ex-best friend who's convinced, we later find out- that Annabel purposefully slept with her boyfriend, Will. Annabel hates confrontations- and every time they happen, Annabel gets sick and starts throwing up. It's after one of these confrontations with Sophie, that Owen spies Annabel throwing up behind the bushes at school and goes to help her. Owen doing this helps to create a lasting relationship. Before they know it- they're catching each other walking home after school just to give the other a ride & then they start talking about music, Owen's obsession. Shortly after Annabel gets her first ride home with Owen, she meets Owen's little sister- Mallory, a girl who's obssessed with fashion and therefore Annabel Green who's a model. Mallory is also like a hyper-active puppy that seems to get into everything. It's when Annabel gets her first ride home with Owen, that she learns about Owen's radio show and one of his good friends, Rolly, who's extremely forgetful but also obsessed (in love with he says) with some girl that we meet later in the book. Here Annabel listens to Owen's radio show for the first time and we also get a feel for Annabel's relationship with Sophie before the fall out. It doesn't look so good- apparently Sophie's one of those moody, self-absorbed, jealous types & even more so because she goes with Will- who constantly has sex with and goes to other places with girls. Then Annabel gives a ride home to Owen- and meets his sister again, but this time while getting a feel of Owen's life and his neighborhood.

"Just Listen" entry #1

author: Sarah Dessen; published: 2006

So far this book is different from London's "Call of the Wild" where everything is pure fantasy and not necessarily the truth. In "Just Listen" though, things come off differently. You get the feeling as you're reading, that you're reading something akin to a diary or something- that it's the truth and nothing but the truth, or else the truth from how the author views it. Thing is, I don't think the author of this book is Dessen, at least I don't think she wrote it from her point of view so to speak (meaning it's her voice writing or its her diary that I'm reading). Dessen writes this book as if she's the actual main character of the book, Annabel. So far this is what's happened... Annabel has two sisters- both older but completely opposite of each other and she's still in high school, so she still lives her with parents. Supposedly her family is perfect- but then again, not everything is what it seems and that's what Annabel tells the reader, indirectly of course. At first she tells of how her mom acted when her mom found out her mother died- and how although Annabel didn't know it at the time (she was too young to realize what was going on), her mother was depressed and acted so. At times, Annabel's mother wouldn't even get out of the bed and would stay in bed all day, hardly eating anything. She tells of how the whole family tried to act as if everything was ok, fine, perfect and move to take over the things that Annabel's mother left undone. Next Annabel tells of her sister- Whitney of her relationship with their other sister, Kirsten. Mostly they have a rocky relationship because they're complete opposites- Whitney is calm and quiet while Kirsten is loud, talkative and bubbly. When Whitney follows Kirsten to New York to try their luck with modeling (which they've been doing since they were young), things go from bad to worse. For awhile though, the rest of the family don't realize that something is wrong with Whitney, and that she has an eating disorder. Unfortunately though, they won't realize something is terribly wrong with Whitney until Annabel finds her collapsed on the floor of the bathroom early one morning, which then ends up with Whitney in the hospital and everyone acting as they did when Annabel's mother was "sick" that everything is fine- perfectly normal and nothing is wrong.

"The Call of the Wild" entry #3

author: Jack London; published: 1903 & 2002

When Buck meets John Thornton, his life starts to change completely. London states in relation to Buck that, "[...] Love, genuine passionate love, was his for the first time. This he had never experienced at Judge Miller's down in the sun-kissed Santa Clara Valley. With the Judge's sons, hunting and tramping, it had been a working partnership; with the Judge's grandsons, a sort of pompous guardianship; and with the Judge himself, a stately and dignified friendship. But love that was feverish and burning, that was adoration, that was madness, it had taken John Thornton to arouse (London 140-141)." After stating such, London continues the story with ways that Buck was of service or proved his love to John Thornton. Buck did this in many ways in that he would playfully "bite" John Thornton's hand or in several instances, Buck saved his master's life. Buck saved Thornton's life once by jumping in a river pull him back to shore, or attacking a man that once hit Thornton. It was the last and only time though that Thornton was threatened that Buck wasn't able to save his master. Towards the end of the book, Buck was frequently going on hunting trips on his own into the wild, constantly being drawn to the wild's call. One day when Buck went on one such trip to hunt a huge moose, he came back to the camp in which Thornton had been hunting gold- to find Thornton dead. When Buck found his master dead, he went wild. What happened was that Thornton, his other two dogs and his two friends were attacked at their camp by a tribe of Indians called the Yeehats. The Yeehats killed Thornton and company and as a result, Buck killed many of them. When Buck did killed many of these humans (the Yeehats), it was a huge revelation to him. It was like he was defying the very essence of the law of club & fang. In other words, Buck was stronger than a man- he defeated and killed many men and therefore was stronger than them. The book ends with Buck joining a wolf pack after Thornton dies. In a way, Buck becomes a legend among the Yeehats- for being an evil spirit. True-fully though I don't think Buck was an evil spirit- he was just once again expressing his passionate love for a man (John Thornton) who was killed by the Yeehats- it was just unfortunate that the Yeehats were on the negative, receiving end of that expression of Buck's love.

"The Call of the Wild" entry #2

Author: Jack London; Published: 1903 & 2002

So far in "The Call of the Wild" we've had an introduction to the main character of the book, Buck. The book starts out with Buck still in his home, in Santa Clara Valley and Buck's view on life there to his life starting out in the North and his transition to becoming accustomed to life there. When Buck starts life out in the North, he doesn't know what hit him- he's starved from food and water for two days before he reaches his final destination, where he's beaten half-to-death by a man with a club and wearing a red sweater. Buck remembers him much farther on into the book- but its here that Buck learns the law of club and fang. After a time Buck is sold from the man in the red sweater to Perrault and Francois. Both men where fair and taught Buck well the law of the land- but its here that Buck becomes the master of the law of club and fang. He learns it well, to the point where after a time, Buck fights the lead dog of the team, Spitz for the leadership of the team. Buck wins- and as all fights that follow the law of club and fang, Spitz dies and Buck becomes the unannounced leader of the sled dog team. Of course Perrault and Francois don't realize this, they only know that Spitz is missing and Buck is trying to take Spitz's place in the traces as lead dog in the front of the line. After awhile (and after being humiliated quite a bit by being able to catch or hit Buck to put him in his proper place in the line) - they grudgingly acknowledge Buck as the leader of the sled dog team and he leads the sled dog team from that point onward. After a time, Buck and his team are sold again- this time to a bunch of mail carriers. Buck is worked hard with these masters and during a short period of time runs over 2,500 miles. When Buck and his team are all tuckered out, they are sold yet again- this time to two men named Hal and Charles and one woman named Mercedes. These two men and one woman know nothing about living on the trail, let alone living in the wilds of Alaska. They are so disorganized that at best they barely make 10 miles a day, which was less than a quarter of what Buck and his team were capable of doing at their best. Of course by this point in time they are worn out and are over-loaded with a top heavy sled, but for some mysterious reason Hal, Charles and Mercedes won't listen to other people's advice and go ahead when the pack ice starts thawing and becoming bad ice to sled on. At one point, Buck lays in this middle of the trail- refusing to get up and its here that Buck meets John Thornton, a kind man that he comes to love for saving his life.

"The Call of the Wild" entry #1

author: Jack London; published: 1903 & 2002

On one note, I stopped reading Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything" because it just proved to be uninteresting to me. I could never get into the book, and several times while reading it in fact (I am ashamed to admit) I feel asleep. Indeed, it's a very difficult book for me to get into. I don't know why, but his other book "A Walk in the Woods" proved much more interesting to me and hilarious. This might be because I've had personal experience hiking in the woods and found it exhausting, memorable, and amazing all in wrapped into one package.

On a different note, I decided to read "The Call of the Wild" as my classic book, which I hope will be ok since it is a fiction book. One thing that I'm noting is that London changes his point of view that he's writing from when writing about the main character of this book, Buck. At first he writes this book from the third person, as if someone is watching the events occur and then is making notes of them as they occur. Then London seems to change his point of view that he's writing from somewhere in the first 75 pages, at first its disconcerting but at the same time it makes it exciting- almost as if you're with Buck himself and experiencing the same things he's experiencing. Mostly the reason why this type of writing is disconcerting is because London switches back and forth between first person and second person- making it difficult to follow at times. Then again, when I think about it- I couldn't see writing about this topic working in any other fashion and making the plot line flow quite as smoothly.

"A Short History of Nearly Everything" entry #4

pauthor: Bill Bryson; published: 2003 & 2004

Question being considered: what was the point of this book?

The plausible reasons why Bryson wrote this book are many and varied. One of the obvious reasons that Bryson wrote this book is because he must have an interest in science. Well, he must have either an interest in science or the history behind the development of science. This is just me but personally I find the history part more interesting but science?? I know its a huge part of our world today and all- but seriously. Another part I might consider is the psychology part behind it- Bryson's make-up behind it all. Not only would I consider that Bryson might've written this book out of interest in science and history in science but also because he must've had a curiosity in it all. This curiosity drove him to write a book about science and the history of science. Yet another possibility I'm considering is that some part of Bryson's personal history might've sparked Bryson's interest in writing this book- possibly some event that occurred between him and his dad or his mother. Perhaps something in Bryson's recent history caused him to write this book- maybe something with his wife or children (if he has them), an event that caused him to hark back to his days as a child when he used to read his science book just for the fun of it, to find out the scientific history of the world in which he lived. All of these possibilities as possible but perhaps even more possible, as from speaking from personal experience- lately whenever I go online I always see articles about various events occurring all over the world from the latest gossip about tv stars to scientific discoveries. Mostly, perhaps the only time science is even remotely interesting to the point where I'm driven madly curious by it, is when its in these articles (that and a tv show called "Mythbusters"). If my personal experience is like this then its a possibility that Bryson's experience could be similar- after all I check my e-mail on yahoo, which is where I often read such articles. Considering such numerous possibilities, I conclude that Bryson was driven to write this book through his curiosity of science and the history of science through some event his personal life, whether it be recent or have occurred some time during his childhood. This event drove him to write this book.

"A Short History of Nearly Everything" entry #3

author: Bill Bryson; published: 2003& 2004

The book has strangely become ever more interesting and comical. Well, comical in a kind of dark way. This section is mostly about the workings of the earth, including chemistry. Probably one of the most horrific things described in this section is about a guy named Thomas Midgley, Jr. who discovered that lead could be used to stop the "knocking" of an engine. Unfortunately, he also helped to discover the many other uses of lead including sealing cans, water storage tanks, fruit pesticide, and even part of packaging in toothpaste tubes. It's unfortunate that he discovered these things let alone that it became widely used. Also the company that produced lead for consumer usage, tried everything within their power to keep people unaware of the poisoning effects of lead. Also in this section, Bryson goes into detail about the discovery of the building blocks of matter. Personally it was kind of boring until he started to talk about how scientists thought there might be other dimensions and how on the atomic level, all of the general rules of matter that we know about the bigger world are completely different on this level. Bryson also talks about astroid and their effects that they have and have had on the planet. Probably more comically, he also talks about how most geologists avoided a theory were originally there was land mass (also known as pangea) and that many times throughout history the continents have moved and spinned around almost like a top, and so to avoid this theory geologists came up with land-bridges to explain how ancient fossils of animals ended up across an ocean, or across an ocean but on the other side of the continent facing away from the continent that also contain the ancient fossil. Wow, this is probably the funniest part in that none of the geologists could prove that these land-bridges existed. Bryson also talks about how scientists tried to understand what could have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. Scientists guessed that it was caused by a giant meteor and as a result looked for a crater that would have proven to be massive enough to wipe out most of the dinosaurs. Also Bryson talked about the earth and the discovery of tectonic plates, and the layers of the earth. I assume that this topic is probably more interesting to most scientists because scientist have yet to find out exactly what is in the center of the earth or how the different mantles interact.

On a different note about the topic of the book, I am finding it difficult to answer any of the suggested topic questions from the packet- mainly because my book doesn't have a main plot line nor does it have any main characters. The only time it follows any form of a story is when Bryson talks about how a certain scientist discovered something, how and the story behind how the scientist made the discovery. I think I should've come up with better questions on my own.

"A Short History of Nearly Everything" entry #2

author: Bill Bryson, published: 2003 & 2004

Surprisingly, the pace of the book picked up quite a bit- or maybe its just that because the topic changed, it became a whole lot more interesting. The topic change was that Bryson started talking about more recent scientific undertakings, things that have occurred in the last 200 years or so. Overall, probably the most fascinating thing to me is the more recent history like when Bryson starts talking about how the atom was discovered and Einstein's theories. Besides those things, Bryson also talked about the discovery and naming of dinosaurs, how certain scientists interacted, the founding of chemistry, the modernization of chemistry, radiology, several different discoveries, and radioactivity among several other things. Overall I'm finding, Bryson's audience is probably people that are interested in science and its history, although I'm not too sure about this. I am not sure about this because there are times when he gets really detailed into explaining things, but there are also times that he simplifies things quite a bit to make it easier to understand, which implies that either the people reading this have a good bit of education in science or that they like science a lot but do not necessarily have a good education in science nor do the understand the basic principles of science. Bryson does write though as if he was sitting your living room, talking with you and telling you about the history of science and various funny stories that are related to science in some way or another. Because Bryson writes like this, it draws the reader into the text more.

"A Short History of Nearly Everything" entry #1

author: Bill Bryson, published: 2003 and 2004

I chose this book because I have read a book by Bill Bryson before, "A Walk in the Woods" and found it utterly amusing and I was under the assumption that this book would be funny too. I expected the book to be slightly more brief and not so dry- but this book is proving to be sleep inducing despite the varying topics that have the possibility of being interesting. Some of the topics that Bryson talks about in themselves are interesting but overall he takes far too long to explain himself and therefore you forget the point that he's trying to make by the end of a chapter because he takes so long just to get to a point. Also what makes his writing even more confusing is that he doesn't always tell you the time period when he's talking about the topic of interest so as to give you an idea of the historical period. On the positive side though, Bryson writes the book in a perspective that makes you feel like as if you are there, and witnessing things as they occur (and that's when his points or his topics prove to be interesting) or that he knew the people that he talks about really well (when you know that he couldn't have known them- because they lived hundreds of years ago).

So far Bryson has been talking about various scientific topics such as stars, how they are formed, the circumference of our planet, the weight of our planet, the possibility of life, the contributions of various scientists throughout the lifetimes, the size of our solar system, the size of our galaxy, the topics that Bryson mentions are endless as well as extremely detailed. Whenever Bryson mentions a new topic, he always goes into detail about that topic no matter how trivial that topic maybe, true fully it's mind-boggling. Bryson does a good job though explaining and simplifying scientific topics extremely well, so I am under the assumption that Bryson is writing to an audience that doesn't normally read scientific texts or journals that go into the topic of interest extensively. Because Bryson writes this way, the topic of interest makes sense in that you know what he's talking about but because he sometimes goes into too much detail, you don't always realize or understand the point he's trying to make.