How Are Racial Issues Such As Stereotyping, Centrality and Stacking Related to the Olympics?

There are different examples in the Olympics, which deal with racist issues. Stacking, centrality and stereotyping are just three. Stereotyping is defined as when the athletes are said to be good or bad at certain sports due to their race or ethnicity. An example of the stereotyping is that â€Å"white men can't jump†. Stacking is where players are put into positions and sports based on their ethnic background. An example of stacking is the North Americans in the marathons. A linked theory is called centrality; this is where the dominant group in society does the dominant role in a team or sport, (in the UK and USA this tends to be WASP's (White Anglo Saxon Protestants)). An example of centrality is the Olympic Committee being mostly white. Every race is stereotyped where people label a group of people as all having the same image or characteristics for example people say that black people are faster at sprinting than white people. This isn't a racist comment as it is the truth. Scientists have found that Athletes of West African descent which include most African American, Caribbean and black British athletes have a physique that is suited to explosive events, requiring sprinting and jumping. Such athletes possess what biologists call a mesomorphic physique with bigger, more visible muscles including a larger chest. Their muscles contain a higher proportion of fast-twitch fibres than do whites or East Africans. Athletes of West African descent also possess less body fat, a higher centre of gravity, narrower hips, and higher levels of testosterone in their blood. There are myths that are formed based on this information that isn't true like ‘Black men can't swim'. These myths can lead to putting a person off a certain race from entering the Olympics. They may start the particular sport because of the stereotype. However, there is also the negative stereotype that people will not take up a certain sport as they are channelled towards certain sports due to their ethnic background or race. They also might want to take up a sport that they haven't seen anyone form their racial background competing and therefore will not take up that sport. There is a lot of over representation at the moment but only in specific sports, for example there are lots of Afro-Caribbean's competing in boxing and sprinting, Asians competing in badminton and hockey, and lastly the Far East compete mostly in table tennis and gymnastics. There has always been racism in the Olympics. One of the biggest issues was in 1936 at the Berlin games. Jesse Owens, one of the greatest track and field athletes of all times came to the Games holding two world records. In all four events, Owens either equalled the existing Olympic record or broke world records. He went home with four gold medals. His three other African Americans teammates also won Olympic medals. But Hitler refused to recognize the achievements of Owens and his â€Å"black auxiliaries† as he called them. Hitler walked out of the stadium when the time came to congratulate and present them with their well-won medals. He did not want to shake hands with black people who he considered inferior to his Aryan race. In another case of racism in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, two African American sprinters, Tommy Smith and John Carlos raised a black-gloved fist (the Black power salute) while on the victory stand to protest U.S. racial policies, causing acts of hooliganism and fighting among the Americans in the stadium. Both athletes were expelled from the Games and they were sent home like criminals. Carlos claimed that â€Å"Ours was not a political act; it was a moral act-and that's all right.† Also at these Games was the expulsion of South Africa due to the Apartheid, which has also been a major factor in Olympic history. They were not allowed to compete in the Olympics from 1964 to 1992 due to the discrimination between Black and White races. This showed that strong racist issues such as these were not being tolerated, the Olympics were starting to reflect world union, and everyone is equal. It caused major problems in the Montreal games 1976 because many African nations boycotted the games. They were in protest at New Zealand entering, because the New Zealand rugby team, the ‘All Blacks', had toured South Africa, where apartheid was taking place. Finally though in 1992 South Africa abolished Apartheid and was allowed back into the Barcelona games. As time as gone on roles of black people have changed. Nowadays there are many black role models for example there is Denise Lewis. She encourages young black girls to partake in athletics. More and more people of different origins are taking part in sports that they are expected not to take part in. Stereotyping, centrality and stacking are still happening in the Olympics now. Take the 100m final in the Athens Games; there was not one single white man in that race just black men.

PEST Analysis of China Essay

I.Introduction Nowadays, China has become one of the world’s most attractive locations and China’s risecarries enormous significant for the international business communities. China has a very gooddevelopment in term of legal system, the size of the market, the low cost of labor and China’sgrowth potential together offer unprecedented business opportunities for foreign investor to do business in China.International business have developed very rapidly in China and today, China becomeincreasingly integrated with other parts of the world and opened up to a whole range of cross- border economic activities. Managing an international business in China is not an easy task andthere are some challenges will be occurred. The prime challenge for those interested in doing business in China is achieving their strategic objectives of cost reduction, local differentiationand the strengthening of core competencies in their specific functional areas and businessactivities.China is the formal member of World Trade Organization (WTO) since 2001 and from thedate, China enjoyed all the rights the WTO gives to other members and full participates in WTOactivities. China’s entry will benefit its national economy, as well as encourage global economicgrowth and the improvement of the multilateral trade system. WTO membership opens upChina’s market for more international trade and investment, and opens up the world economy for China’s exports.This report will cover the reason for doing business in China, defines and identify the macroenvironment of China in term of political, economic, social and technology factors in order to do business in China and the impact of China on joining WTO olitical Environment of China The Chinese political system characterized as one-party communist dictatorship makes a great contribution to national stability, enabling the economy keep dynamic and sustainable. Nevertheless, when the economic system was deregulated from the command economy to market economy since 1978, the power of economic management was increasingly decentralized, raising the issue of uncoordinated development of regional economy. Currently, though the central government has made effort to alleviate the gap among different areas in terms of developing standards, provinces tend to give a priority to  local profits rather than considering the integrated advancement of the whole country. Local protectionism exerts detrimental influences upon market expansion of Golden Bridge Company in nationwide and deters the establishment of a comprehensive distribution channel. Since the introduction of economic reforms in 1978, China has become one of the world’s fastest-growing major economies. As of 2013, it is the world’s second-largest economy by both nominal total GDP and purchasing power parity (PPP), and is also the world’s largest exporter and importer of goods. China is a regional power within Asia and has been characterized as a potential superpower by a number of commentators. China allows foreign businesses to enter. However, the government has issued policies that ban console games and certain online games. The restrictions set by the government could be troublesome since Square Enix’s main product line are video games. This would require Square Enix to readjust their main products, which is unrealistic. Economical Environment China is valued as one of the most vibrant countries in terms of economic development among the world. The reform & opening up in 1978 accelerated China’s GDP growth from 362.4 billion RMB to 30 trillion RMB within a 30-year period. Moreover, in 2010, China has been the second largest economy instead of Japan whilst the value of export accounted for 10% of world. Based on these statistics, judgment can be made that manufactures in China including flooring industry may keep an optimistic attitude to their future prospects in some extent. Nonetheless, Chinese economy may suffer unpredictable circumstance in the future. China has the third largest economy in the world and has a continuously growing economy. This allows China to sustain itself and Square Enix will be able to expand into China. The earthquake in Japan has little influence over China. There will be limited trade between China and Japan, however, Japan is China’s top fifth destination for China to export their goods. This may lead to some products, such as clothing and electronic equipment, to not be traded as much. This will also may lead to harming China’s economy. Labor resource is one double-edge sword. Once being an advantage of China, abundant labor resource and economical labor price make a great contribution to progress of those  labor-intensive manufacturing industries. This is also the primary reason that China flooring industry is quite profitable though China is a net importer of timber. Social Environment It is claimed by Su and Littlefied (2001) that China is an extremely high-context country where people prefer to receive implied messages. For establishing a business in China, strong private-relationships with different stakeholders is the key to success. However, this is extremely time-consuming while the maintenance is also expensive. Potential conflicts in interest may easily erode it. Besides the relationship, corruption is another issue in China. According to the Corruption Perceptions Index, China was positioned 72nd among all 179 countries in 2008. However, damages caused by corruption may be far more hazardous than anticipated, particularly to the economic development. Corruption has been treated as a vital barrier for operating in Chinese market due to enormous back-stage expenditures as well as resulted injustice. For Golden Bridge to gain more import quotas and pay less tariff, costs may be made up of not only normal ingredients such as transporting, but also implied expense for ‘smoothing the network. China has a lot of gamers in the country. This allows Square Enix to create products to target these customers since their main focus is on games. Also, since there is a huge population, there is surely to be enough potential customers willing to buy Square Enix’s products. However, because of the ban on console games, Square Enix will have to be able to adapt and understand the culture of online gamers in China. Technological Environment Science and technology in China has in recent decades developed rapidly. The Chinese government has placed emphasis through funding, reform, and societal status on science and technology as a fundamental part of the socio-economic development of the country as well as for national prestige. China wood flooring industry is experiencing a relatively laggard technological standard in its initial stage of development. According to Cheng and Song, the level of timber utilization was 61% in 2004 with a considerable disparity with developed countries, that is nearly 90%. Additionally,  imbalanced technological support aggravates the long-term conflicts between wood supply and demand in Chinese domestic market. China has made rapid advances in areas such as education, infrastructure, high-tech manufacturing, academic publishing, patents, and commercial applications and is now in some areas and by some measures a world leader. China is now increasingly targeting indigenous innovation and aims to reform remaining weaknesses. In 2004, though the total domestic timber supply is 273.6 million cubic meters and exceeded the total consumption of 241.5 million cubic meters, scarcity of raw material still existed in some parts of timber manufacturing industry. China has increasingly encouraged multinational corporations to create R&D centers in China. Chinese critics have argued that foreign owned R&D mainly benefits foreign companies and removes many talented Chinese researchers from indigenous companies and institutions. Chinese supporters have argued that the foreign R&D serves as a role model and encouragement for indigenous companies and creates skilled communities from which labor and knowledge can easily flow to indigenous companies. In 2010 there were 1,200 such R&D centers and 400 out the Fortune 500 corporations had created such R&D centers. Political Environment of China The Chinese political system characterized as one-party communist dictatorship makes a great contribution to national stability, enabling the economy keep dynamic and sustainable. Nevertheless, when the economic system was deregulated from the command economy to market economy since 1978, the power of economic management was increasingly decentralized, raising the issue of uncoordinated development of regional economy. Currently, though the central government has made effort to alleviate the gap among different areas in terms of developing standards, provinces tend to give a priority to local profits rather than considering the integrated advancement of the whole country. Local protectionism exerts detrimental influences upon market expansion of Golden Bridge Company in nationwide and deters the establishment of a comprehensive distribution channel. Since the introduction of economic reforms in 1978, China has become one of the world’s fastest-growing major economies. As of 2013, it is the world’s  second-largest economy by both nominal total GDP and purchasing power parity (PPP), and is also the world’s largest exporter and importer of goods. China is a regional power within Asia and has been characterized as a potential superpower by a number of commentators. China allows foreign businesses to enter. However, the government has issued policies that ban console games and certain online games. The restrictions set by the government could be troublesome since Square Enix’s main product line are video games. This would require Square Enix to readjust their main products, which is unrealistic. Economical Environment China is valued as one of the most vibrant countries in terms of economic development among the world. The reform & opening up in 1978 accelerated China’s GDP growth from 362.4 billion RMB to 30 trillion RMB within a 30-year period. Moreover, in 2010, China has been the second largest economy instead of Japan whilst the value of export accounted for 10% of world. Based on these statistics, judgment can be made that manufactures in China including flooring industry may keep an optimistic attitude to their future prospects in some extent. Nonetheless, Chinese economy may suffer unpredictable circumstance in the future. China has the third largest economy in the world and has a continuously growing economy. This allows China to sustain itself and Square Enix will be able to expand into China. The earthquake in Japan has little influence over China. There will be limited trade between China and Japan, however, Japan is China’s top fifth destination for China to export their goods. This may lead to some products, such as clothing and electronic equipment, to not be traded as much. This will also may lead to harming China’s economy. Labor resource is one double-edge sword. Once being an advantage of China, abundant labor resource and economical labor price make a great contribution to progress of those labor-intensive manufacturing industries. This is also the primary reason that China flooring industry is quite profitable though China is a net importer of timber. Social Environment It is claimed by Su and Littlefied (2001) that China is an extremely  high-context country where people prefer to receive implied messages. For establishing a business in China, strong private-relationships with different stakeholders is the key to success. However, this is extremely time-consuming while the maintenance is also expensive. Potential conflicts in interest may easily erode it. Besides the relationship, corruption is another issue in China. According to the Corruption Perceptions Index, China was positioned 72nd among all 179 countries in 2008. However, damages caused by corruption may be far more hazardous than anticipated, particularly to the economic development. Corruption has been treated as a vital barrier for operating in Chinese market due to enormous back-stage expenditures as well as resulted injustice. For Golden Bridge to gain more import quotas and pay less tariff, costs may be made up of not only normal ingredients such as transporting, but also implied expense for ‘smoothing the network. China has a lot of gamers in the country. This allows Square Enix to create products to target these customers since their main focus is on games. Also, since there is a huge population, there is surely to be enough potential customers willing to buy Square Enix’s products. However, because of the ban on console games, Square Enix will have to be able to adapt and understand the culture of online gamers in China. Technological Environment Science and technology in China has in recent decades developed rapidly. The Chinese government has placed emphasis through funding, reform, and societal status on science and technology as a fundamental part of the socio-economic development of the country as well as for national prestige. China wood flooring industry is experiencing a relatively laggard technological standard in its initial stage of development. According to Cheng and Song, the level of timber utilization was 61% in 2004 with a considerable disparity with developed countries, that is nearly 90%. Additionally, imbalanced technological support aggravates the long-term conflicts between wood supply and demand in Chinese domestic market. China has made rapid advances in areas such as education, infrastructure, high-tech manufacturing, academic publishing, patents, and commercial applications and is now in some areas and by some measures a world leader. China is now increasingly targeting indigenous innovation and aims to reform remaining  weaknesses. In 2004, though the total domestic timber supply is 273.6 million cubic meters and exceeded the total consumption of 241.5 million cubic meters, scarcity of raw material still existed in some parts of timber manufacturing industry. China has increasingly encouraged multinational corporations to create R&D centers in China. Chinese critics have argued that foreign owned R&D mainly benefits foreign companies and removes many talented Chinese researchers from indigenous companies and institutions. Chinese supporters have argued that the foreign R&D serves as a role model and encouragement for indigenous companies and creates skilled communities from which labor and knowledge can easily flow to indigenous companies. In 2010 there were 1,200 such R&D centers and 400 out the Fortune 500 corporations had created such R&D centers.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT AND TESTING Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

ENGLISH LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT AND TESTING - Essay Example The above set is meant for a second generation student. Second generation students are those that are bilingual with English being their second language. As stated earlier, the test serves a core role of introducing the second speakers of English to the core basic principles and comprehension of English as a language used in learning in other various fields. Second language students require tests that serve to introduce them to learning English. The test, like the above one, should not apply jargons or tough vocabularies that may make them fail to understand the meaning of what the examiner requires. It should be simple straightforward and of course with some easily identifiable exam tricks. Existence of sound systems: the above questions can be effectively answered by a student reading the sentences loudly identifying the areas that require fixing of words. For instance, question 18 tests on preposition which is a part of speech (Byram & Morgan 45). Many students get involved in unnecessary practices and behaviors once they step on the university. Reading this sentence aloud allows the student to understand the basic language concept being tested. The student will definitely identify where the mistake is correct by choosing appropriately from the options given. Existence of grammatical systems is another language principle that has been employed in coming up with the above questions (Fotos & Ellis 76). Grammatical systems involve sentence structure with the noun, adjective, verb and adverb arrangement. It ensures logicality and easy comprehension of the sentences compiled. The other principle applied is meaningfulness of language. Language must be meaningful and practi cal in order to understand. Language must portray something that is naturally meaningful and practical in the setting. For instance, it will be grammatically correct for one to state that, the cat killed the lioness. However, the sentence

Ike Turner and Tina Turner Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Ike Turner and Tina Turner - Essay Example Meanwhile, the most famous forms of grave crime might just probably be murder and rape. But the majority of reported crimes involve non-stranger violence, consisting of property and drug crimes. (Koski, 2002) According to Koski (2002), the crimes that arouse the greatest fear in people are violent, personal attacks by strangers. He went on to say that interpersonal crime is deeply damaging seeing as it also causes emotional and financial toll on its victims. Another kind of crime that might apply to the case to be discussed in this paper is predatory crime. Such consists of a "motivated offender" and a "suitable target." However, the most frequent form of crime might just arguably be abuse, in any form. Abuse is often defined as "a corrupt practice or custom or an improper or excessive use or treatment." (Abuse, 2008) This word seriously condemns any unjust physical maltreatment. Koski (2008) said that in such cases of people wanting to discuss the root of some crimes, they would straight away go to the offender for answers. However, stereotypes of such persons do not always match their real characteristics. In order to help people properly understand offenders, he outlined the core characteristics of a criminal offender. First is the age of onset. ... First is the age of onset. According to such a character, a criminal offender might have started on such a path or life trajectory of committing crimes at an early age or early stage of his or her life. Second is childhood environment. With this, Koski (2008) attributes his offending tendencies to having been brought up or raised in an unstable environment. He or she might have experienced "severe physical abuse, emotional trauma, and showed signs of 'hypermasculinity' engendered by the absence of a father." Third is substance abuse. Of course this would entail taking in a lot of alcohol or illegal narcotics, which more often than not, were caused by deeper, darker reasons that caused the future offender to be scarred physically, mentally and emotionally. Fourth is male role model. Such a core characteristic says that certain outlooks, beliefs and practices of potential offenders might have stemmed from being exposed to different kinds of people, especially to people to whom a person can relate to the most. Fifth is psychosocial development. Aside from having different addictions and problems, Koski (2008) said that he might have experienced other "psychosocial maladies." Sixth are predatory inclinations. Koski (2008) in this case says that if a person who has undergone a turbulent childhood baffled by physical abuse, he is more likely to engage in relationships that would have violence integrated in its core, with him or her as the offender and not the victim anymore. And, in order to clearly illustrate the picture of an offender, it is a must that we take on the discussion of the life of Ike Wister Turner, one of the major characters in the case this paper hopes to look into. On November 5, 1931, he was born to

International diversification Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

International diversification - Essay Example The United States and the two European countries i.e. Germany and Poland. If we suppose that an investor from the UK diversifies his portfolio of investments in the stock market of these three international countries. The differences in the statistics shown in the Fig1 propose that the level of risk and return would certainly vary from country to country that will ensure maximum returns for investors.  International portfolio diversification is highly beneficial in a situation where the stock exchanges, economic condition and political environment of international countries are highly different from each other. Syriopoulos also says that â€Å"if returns from investments in different national stock markets are not perfectly correlated and the correlation structure is stable, there are potential gains from international portfolio diversification.† (2004, p1254) It is so because the diversification would not yield the desired results if the conditions and environment in intern ational countries vary in the same manner as in domestic economy. If the international countries included in the portfolio have an economic, political and investment environment that differs from that of the domestic environs, the international portfolio diversification will reap significant benefits.The Capital Asset Pricing Model is an effective tool for portfolio management. Because of the model’s efficiency in pricing assets, it is considered to be useful in evaluating risk and return on various assets in a given portfolio.... rnational portfolio diversification." (2004, p1254) It is so because the diversification would not yield the desired results if the conditions and environment in international countries vary in the same manner as in domestic economy. If the international countries included in the portfolio have an economic, political and investment environment that differs from that of the domestic environs, the international portfolio diversification will reap significant benefits. Question 2: The Capital Asset Pricing Model is an effective tool for portfolio management. Because of the model's efficiency in pricing assets, it is considered to be useful in evaluating risk and return on various assets in a given portfolio. The most significant usefulness of the CAPM in portfolio analysis is its effectiveness in illuminating the risk factor involved in a portfolio investment. Andre explores that "the CAPM tells us that investors pay a price for being undiversified in that they are taking risks for whic h they are not being compensated." (2004, p19) For un-diversifiable or systematic risk, this model uses Beta as a means to identify the rate of risk involved in investment. CAPM can thus be useful for investors in portfolio management by providing relevant information concerning the risk factor involved in a particular investment with respect to the whole market and also lead the investors to improve their portfolio. With the help of the Capital Asset Pricing Model, the investors can easily determine the required rate of return with respect to different assets in the portfolio according to their risk without any efforts to estimate revenues and cash flows. Andre illuminates that in order "to find the expected return of a company's shares, it is thus not necessary to carry out an

Welfare Reform in the US Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Welfare Reform in the US - Essay Example Drug testing for welfare recipients would save money and effectively limit the number of drug abusers collecting money. Each year in the United States, approximately four hundred billion dollars is given to citizens in the form of welfare. The recipients are out of work or do not make enough money to live a healthy, albeit basic, lifestyle. The cash assistance given is used towards housing, bills and utilities, food, and clothing, and the primary focus is ensuring that any children involved are being taken care of. Though many recipients use their money to make sure their families have food in their stomachs and a roof over their heads, roughly twenty percent of recipients use their government aid to fuel their illegal drug use. They may be in the same financial distress as others on welfare, but instead of using their government aid to improve the quality of their lives, they use it to make it increasingly worse. It has been proposed that people who apply for welfare should be drug tested before being allowed to receive cash assistance from the government. By drug testing recipients, the government can weed out the people who have the potential to abuse the system by using their money on illegal substances. ...It almost becomes a case of who is more deserving of government aid. However, a need for it has arisen. Drug testing potential welfare recipients can be monetarily beneficial for the government. If they stop supplying drug addicts with money, that money can be put to other state or national uses. The extra money can also be put towards other families that need financial assistance and will spend the money on necessities. Another possible outcome that could come as a result of drug testing recipients is that by cutting drug abusers from a primary source of money, then the drug users will have less opportunity to obtain drugs. In the end, more money will exist for the people who sincerely need it to improve their lives, and increasingly less money will be available for the drug abusers to feed their addiction.

Compare and contrast at least two types of industrialization strategy Coursework

Compare and contrast at least two types of industrialization strategy - Coursework Example Further more, it will explain the advantages of the strategies and how different countries have used them to ensure that they are doing well economically. At the end of it all, it will give a clear picture to which strategy can work best for countries thus the comparison of the two strategies. Industrialisation is a process that allows people within a society to change their social and economic status. Industrialisation is a great contributor to modernisation of an area. People go through changes like better and stronger buildings, more intensified machines for processing things, better technology, and large scale production of energy like electricity and better communication and transportation channels. It is also a major contributor to cultural changes that is, with industrialisation, many people change how they view and do things. Their attitudes change completely. Industrialisation comes in with the influence of politics, skilled labour and large scale production with low costs. Industrialization is a major contributor to the economic welfare of a country. Thus many economists attribute economic success to good industrialisation processes1. There are two main industrialization strategies that can be discussed and have been used by many countries to uplift their econom ic status. The ISI strategy is also known as the import substitution industrialisation while, the EOI strategy that is also known as export-oriented industrialization1. Import substitution is an economic strategy that involves a country coming up with trade policies. It is the attempt a country makes to ensure that it produces its own materials instead of importing. It tries to copy how other countries are producing certain goods and products thus start its own production within the country. It involves a lot of government spending in producing the goods. It requires acquiring the

Abortion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 10

Abortion - Essay Example For most women, giving birth changes their lives. Women who are working or schooling can find abortion appropriate. Relationships problem and a desire to avoid single motherhood can also make abortion necessary (Finer et. al. Web). Sometimes conditions exist, both physical and mental that endanger the life of a pregnant woman, an abortion can be performed to save the life (WebMD Web). Additionally, abortion can help a raped woman to cope with the trauma that ensues. In a case of teenage pregnancy abortion affords the girl a chance to continue living her life normally. On the other hand, there are various reasons to support an argument against abortion. Life is precious even for the unborn children, but abortion steals the joy to live. If an abortion the procedure is not safely conducted, the woman risks developing health complications that could lead to death. The guilt associated with terminating pregnancy in some cases, causes women to suffer post-traumatic stress disorder (Operation Rescue Web). Practise of abortion help sidestep the real issues that women experience. Raped women should be concerned with rape rather than opting for an abortion. To conclude, abortion is an issue that requires a cautious

Transformative Learning Essay Example for Free

Transformative Learning Essay Transformative learning is defined as â€Å"a process of getting beyond gaining factual knowledge alone to instead become changed by what one learns in some meaningful way.†(Wikipedia).     Michael Tsao, Kasuyo Takahashi, Jamal Olusesi, and Shikha Jain of the University of Georgia, defined transformative learning as, â€Å"learning to purposively question one’s own assumptions, beliefs, feelings, and perspectives in order to grow or mature personally and intellectually (Wikipedia). Transformative learning was introduced by Jack Mezirow in 1978 as an adult education but over the years, Susan Imel noted that it has evolved into a comprehensive and complex description of how learners construe, validate, and reformulate the meaning of their experience. † (Imel as cited by Mark Smith). According to Carrie Paechster, transformative learning does not only focus upon the transmission of existing knowledge but also acknowledges the importance of new knowledge being produced with in workplace communities.† (p8) He noted that â€Å"a role for a theory of instruction as well as the focus on the social processes, relationships, and resources that are needed to support learning.†(p. 68).   Paechter emphasized that â€Å"instruction in this sense involves ensuring that the goals of learning are clear and people are encouraged thinking beyond the immediate circumstances.† (p.68).   Thus, transformative learning has become an important option for individuals to have, and to experience as this could enhance one’s potentiality and the ability to cope with the increasing pressures of the day to day circumstances.   It is quite common that there are circumstances that sometimes difficult to handle especially when encounter engine trouble along the way with no one else to help.   This often poses problem not only in matters of schedule but in physical safety as well. International Association for Continuing Education and Training, Juanita S Stein and Shanan Farmer stated that transformative learning â€Å"opens door to substantial learning experiences that can be cultivated in a life long scope of practice† (p. 199).   They pointed further that transformative learning provides a perspective and can be associated with strategies that will cultivate an approach to reflective practice, cope with change, and create solutions that will be indigenous to the participants† (p.   199). Design and Implementation Since there are not many resources for an established design and implementation of transformative learning in the university context, here is a practical design and implementation of transformative learning in the university context. The university will adopt a non formal yet practical education in basic and practical know-how which offers basic knowledge and skills in the following fields of experience: Car engine trouble shooting, plumbing and basic life saving technique. This course is designed to equip and empower students to handle unexpected problem by them particularly in a situation where help is not possible. This course is a two months program which classes are to be held every afternoon on Saturdays. The concept of this program was derived from an information relates by Fordham University at an international conference in Williamsburg USA in 1967, about a growing â€Å"world educational crises† Non formal Practical education will offer practical education which aim not only theoretically well feed but also practically well rounded. This short-term program has to be adopted by the university as an arm of the university in helping out-of-school youth and adults.   This will be offered free of tuition fee except of miscellaneous expenses.   All applicants of this program must present requirements such as birth certificate, residence certificate, endorsement of the local community officials and good moral character from previous school attended for out-of-school youth.   Those who can complete the program will be given certificates of compliance which he can use in applying for a job and for any purpose it may serve him or her. The classes will be held every Saturday afternoon within the duration of four months during regular classes, and two months during summer classes in which classes are held during Saturdays and Sundays. Critical Discussion of the Design and Outcome Non-formal education is a two-month course designed to provide students a new perspective, a new experience that will help them ‘cope with change and create solutions that will be indigenous to the participants.’ In this course, the experience that the students get will help them realize that they have potentials and they could explore based on this new experience. As they ponder upon their lives, they will come to know themselves in terms of their potentials.   As Jack Mezerow defines transformative learning, â€Å"it is the process by which we transform our taken-for-granted frames of reference† (as cited in Eric Digest).   That is, perspective mindset, habits, and mind to make them more inclusive, discriminating, open, emotionally capable of change, and reflective so that they generate beliefs and opinions that will prove more time or justified to guide actions. By participating in the non-formal practical education, as Nancy Franz stated, â€Å"the goal of transformative learning theory is the empowerment through critical reflection for a more participating learning society; the participants are expected to become socially involved particularly if anyone is need of help.   This non-formal practical education is designed to equip and empower participants with practical know-how.    It means that the participants develop a new meaning or perspective of their experience from a new context derived from triggering events and through conversation with others to assess and justify their own assumptions. Thus, transformative learning has become important thing for every adult individual to have and to experience as this could enhance one’s potentiality. Reflection Most of the students who have undergone non-formal practical education are quite confident and has developed a sense of self-worth knowing that they are not only professional who are experts in office or business related matters.   Confident that in a sense, they knew that within them are the technical skills they have developed out of their new experience. The knowledge that they got from this experience have transformed their minds from a helpless-need help individuals at particular circumstances to-do-it myself attitude.   The transformation of their mindset has enable them to face and to cope up with day to day real life challenges with a sense of pride that they could handle even the worst case scenario. Most of all, the program give the students a hope and an opportunity to gain skills which they can use in order to survive in this world.    Work Cited Franz, Nancy 2007. Adult Education: Theories Informing Cooperative Extension’s Transformation.   Journal of Extention. http://www.joe.org/200/February/a1.shtml. Stein, J Farmer, S. 2004.   Connotative Learning: The Trainer’s Guide to Learning Theories and Their Practical Application to Training and Design. International Association for Continuing Education and Training.   USA: Kendall Hunt    Paechter, Carrie 2001.   Knowledge, Power Learning.   London: Sage Publication    Smith, Mark 2007.   Infed. http://www.infed.org/biblio/b-nonfor.htm ‘Transformative Learning in Adulthood.’ ERIC Digest no. 200. http://www.ericdigests.org/1999-2/adulthood.htm

Going To The Extremes Of The Normal Curve Essay Example for Free

Going To The Extremes Of The Normal Curve Essay In statistical analysis, a normal curve represents the normal or standard distribution of data from a large sample size (Hogg, 2004). A normal curve is generally represented by a symmetrical bell-shaped distribution in a graph. A normal curve or distribution represents a sample population that has a mean of 0 and a standard deviation value of 1 (Mendenhall and Sincich, 2006). These standard scores are also called z-scores, which represent standardized data that have been had the mean value taken away and have been separated by the standard deviation. The distribution observed in a normal curve can be employed to test a hypothesis about a mean. This may be performed sampling the members of a population being studied and extracting the mean itself. By taking samples from this distribution, one may determine whether the sample mean age is different from the real mean age. This test is also referred to as the two-tailed test, wherein the extremes of the normal curve represent the proportion of cases by 0. 0. 5 or less (Hogg, 2005). This means that the scores at the low and high extremes of the normal curve may be different from the established mean of the sample population. This also provides that 95% of the sample population follows the average mean that has been calculated by simple calculation. The normal distribution that is observed in a normal curve follows the assumption that the variable of interest is well-distributed in the population. There are z tests that are considered as parametric tests that assume the setting of normally distributed data. On the other hand, those that do not require an assumption regarding the distribution of data are referred to a non-parametric statistics. References Hogg RV (2004): Introduction to mathematical statistics, 6th ed. New York: Prentice-Hall. 692 pages. Hogg RV (2005): Probability and statistical inference, 7th ed. New York: Prentice-Hall. 752 pages. Mendenhall W and Sincich T (2006): Statistics for engineering and the sciences, 5th ed. New York: Prentice-Hall. 1072 pages.

Empowering Patients With Chronic Illnesses Diabetes Sufferer Nursing Essay

Empowering Patients With Chronic Illnesses Diabetes Sufferer Nursing Essay For this assignment I have chosen to use the diabetes case study. I will abide by NMC code of conduct at all times and remain professional in my approach. Empowerment is a multidimensional construct applicable to individuals, organizations, and neighbourhoods (Rappaport, 1987). It is viewed as a construct rather than a concept because it is not directly observable (Jacox, 1974).The case study indicates that Patrick lacks both self control and will power in his management of his diabetes. Individuals with long-term conditions are challenged by often persistent and disruptive health problems that have cognitive, social and emotional repercussions (Larsen Lubkin, 2009). Established methods of treating people with long-term conditions are based on the assumption that prescriptive instruction by expert health professionals will guide the users behaviour, thereby effectively managing their condition. However, frequent non-adherence to health care advice (Zimmerer et al, 2009) and failure to achieve behaviour change through education programmes alone (Gibson et al, 2001) indicate that this approach is often unsuccessful. Self-management prog rammes typically incorporate development of action plans and training in the skills required to implement such action (Lorig Holman, 2004). Collaboration between the professional and the person with the long-term condition is required to ensure that advice is not only provided but personalised in accordance with the individuals needs and preferences (Bodenheimer et al, 2002). In April 2009 the Department of Health released a guide on Self Management. It detailed the Four Pillar approach,firstly Information, a more informed patient can make better decisions about his or her treatment, secondly skills and training, providing the patient with the skills necessary to take care of their condition better, thirdly tools and devices aiming to equip the person with the means to control their condition, and finally the all important support networks, giving the person a sense of involvement in their care and the ability to communicate any fears around their disease. Whilst on my community placement I was introduced to an initiative that is used within a local PCT in Birmingham. It is called the Diabetes Manual (Burden Burden, Heart of Birmingham PCT). It is a booklet/log book which is given to every newly diagnosed diabetic. It aims to educate and inform patients on their diabetes and how best to control it. It details some/most of the complications/side effects that come with having a long time condition such as diabetes. Its main aim is to educate patients through simplified terms and pictures. The integrated log book is used by patients to write down how they manage their diabetes on a day to day basis. One key area of this booklet is the action planning page. The book also incorporates target/goal setting for Patrick. On initial interview with Patrick we would aim to introduce him to the booklet and discuss with him, firstly the benefit of using this book, allowing him to self manage his condition and to better understand the implications o f a long term condition such as Diabetes. It is important to ensure that Patrick is literate as this plan will not succeed if this is not so. Goal-setting for the first few weeks would be to aim to maintain blood sugars at a mutually agreed safe level. It would be unreasonable to expect too much of Patrick within the first few weeks and although it is important for his health that goals are reached we would aim to gradually introduce more aims as Patrick got used to effectively self managing his condition. This integrated logbook and information guide addresses at least two of the four pillars of Self Management (DoH 2009). Information contained in the book will allow Patrick to read and digest at his own leisure, bombarding a patient with information during an interview can often cause them to disregard and switch off from the information giver. It also acts as a tool or device by which Patrick can write down his day to day life in the knowledge that it may be the key to controlling his blood sugar levels if he keeps an accurate food diary. This initiative relies heavily of the theory of Self Efficacy as detailed by Bandura (1977). He stated that people can be characterised primarily on the basis of their beliefs in their ability to control their lives, because those beliefs powerfully determine the effort they make to adapt to their surroundings. Self-efficacy theory predicts that the more an individual feels capable of predicting and controlling threatening events, the less vulnerable he or she will be to anxiety or stress disorders in response to traumatic experiences . Therefore if Patrick believes he holds the key to controlling his diabetes, he will endeavour to put plans into action to reduce his blood sugar levels, come to terms with his condition and prevent further complications associated with his Diabetes. The self-management approach views the individual as an active agent in treatment. The purpose of self-management is to nurture skills such as behavioural management techniques and to support informed decision making and problem solving, thereby equipping the individual with the necessary expertise to manage their condition. This person-centred approach focuses on personalisation of treatment and facilitation of independence, allowing Patrick to continue day to day routine as normal without any forbearance on his life. It has been described as a patient-centred approach based on respect and compassion and has an emphasis on collaboration with patients (including collaborative goal-setting), self-management skills and psychosocial issues. Nurses would play a pivotal role in providing advice, guidance, education and support to Patrick . Self-management is important as it not only benefits the patient, but also provides wider opportunities for community and specialist nurses to use and develop their clinical and interpersonal skills. It was highlighted in the case study that Patrick has started to develop Retinopathy. Diabetic Retinopathy is a vascular condition in which the retinal capillaries tend to degenerate after a number of years. The condition is characterised by ocular haemorrhages, lipid exudate and the growth of new blood vessels and connective tissue. This has resulted in poor eyesight which could prove problematic if not dealt with soon to prevent blindness. Patrick currently works as a bus driver so his eyesight is very important to him to be able to continue to work and provide financially for his family. Diabetes-related complications can have a major affect on the individual and family members, and are costly to the patient. There are a number of eye conditions specifically associated with diabetes. These include temporary disturbances in lens shape, related to hyperglycaemia and often seen at diagnosis, and cataracts, including the rare sugar cataract only seen in people with diabetes. However, DR is likely to affect most people with diabetes as the duration of their condition increases (Williams and Pickup 1999). DR is one of the long-term micro vascular complications of diabetes mellitus and is the leading cause of blindness in the working population of the UK (BDA 1995). Ninety per cent of people with type 1 diabetes have some degree of DR within 20 years of diagnosis and it has been suggested that it is present at diagnosis in 40 per cent of those with type 2 diabetes (Cummings 2002). A survey has found that blindness was the most well known complication of diabetes (Diabetes UK 2000). However the future for Patrick does not have to as bleak as it sounds. The National Service Framework for Diabetes (DoH 2001) recommends early and regular screening for all diabetics. Developing a plan of action/care for Patrick should begin with a thorough nursing assessment which is essential to ensure that a correct diagnosis regarding diabetic Retinopathy is made. Patrick may complain initially of the signs of vitreous haemorrhage such as floaters, which look like small, black insects, or a lacy curtain across the field of vision. Macular involvement may be revealed by the patients description of a general deterioration in fine and colour vision that is not improved by wearing a range of spectacles. The main aim of screening for diabetic Retinopathy is to identify patients with sight-threatening Retinopathy who may require preventive treatment. Screening and treatment for diabetic Retinopathy will not eliminate all cases of sight loss, but can be important in minimising the number of patients with sight loss as a result of this condition. The aim of a retinal screening programme is to ensure that a yearly examination of all patients in a given area is performe d (Walker and Rodgers 2002). This assessment should be done prior to a direct and rapid referral to an Ophthalmologist to screen and evaluate the degree of Retinopathy. As a preventive strategy, health education should include the best available research evidence to assist patients to make decisions about lifestyle changes and gain control over their condition (Watkinson and Chetram 2005). Micro vascular complications may be prevented or onset delayed with good medical treatment (Kanski 2007). The nurse should involve Patrick and with permission the family to identify areas such as diet and alcohol consumption that can be modified to provide better and tighter glycaemic control. Levels of blood glucose are set at preferably below HbA1c 6.5-7.5% according to the individuals target (NICE 2005). Patricks is 9.9% which puts him in the danger zone for developing complications and increasing his risk of irreversible damage. The target is based on the risk of macro vascular and micro vascular complications. Individuals with type 2 diabetes need to have an ongoing structured evaluation every two to six months, to assess the risk factor. A reduction in the prevalence of diabetic Retinopathy is associated with tighter blood glucose control (Younis et al 2002). By involving the whole family in this change in lifestyle will prove to Patrick he is not on his own and offer him support. Using the initiative I discussed early in this assignment the log book/information guide offers helpful advice for diet and lifestyle change. Setting Patrick some SMART goals/challenges will allow him to maintain his control of his own body and increase compliance. The target is to reduce his HbA1c to within the acceptable target range discussed above. A significant lifestyle change is needed but must be done with concordance with Patrick and his family. It is noted that Patrick is overweight with a BMI of 29.5. This can increase his risk of hypertension, which itself is a factor in Retinopathy as it increases the pressure within the eye. Effective blood pressure management is as significant as blood glucose control in reducing the risk of progression of diabetic Retinopathy in those with type 2 diabetes (UK Prospective Diabetes Study Group 2004). Good blood pre ssure control is considered to be at or below 140/80mmHg (NICE 2005). Adherence to prescribed anti hypertensive treatment is vital as diabetic patients with hypertension have a poor visual prognosis (NICE 2005). A consultation with Patricks GP should be arranged to ascertain if there is any hypertension and if found it has been shown that ACE inhibitors prove very effective in the reduction of high blood pressure in Diabetics.(NICE 2005).There are new schemes devised by the Department of Health to reduce the use of medication in weight loss and to increase exercise in the population. Free weigh loss classes are offered to patients who meet the criteria. Patrick would benefit from these schemes. Medication management and strict concordance with the regime is incredibly important to ensure Patrick maintains a level of the drugs in his body. If it is adhered to it may be that he will not have to take insulin. By providing ongoing psychological support to Patrick and to his family the nurse can help the patient to maintain his or her self-esteem and improve self-management of the condition. Visual impairment in patients with diabetes is often compounded by the loss of self-management skills, which may have psychosocial implications (Hall and Waterman 1997). Reactions to visual loss can also lead to psychological distress such as depression, suicidal thoughts and anxiety (Hall and Waterman 1997). It is therefore the nurses duty to discuss these issues with the patient and relatives and provide appropriate support (Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) 2004). Organisations such as Diabetes UK and the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) can also provide ongoing help and support. Regular screening and repeat follow ups should ensure Patricks Retinopathy does not continue to worsen. Nearly two decades ago Fielding and Llewellyn (1987) pointed out that effective nurse-patient communication was central to the quality of care that patients received, stating rather poignantly that: Communication is both one of the most demanding and difficult aspects of a nurses job, and one which is frequently avoided or done badly although central to the quality of patient care.Encouraging people to change their attitude towards a health issue is an important part of any health education programme, but peoples values can be particularly resistant to change. Even when clients are persuaded to change their attitude (for example towards diet, smoking, safer sex) it is often frustrating for nurses to realise that this may not lead to a change in their behaviour. An understanding of the complex relationship between a persons knowledge, attitude and behaviour can assist health professionals in realising why clients may continue to behave in a certain way, despite health advice to the co ntrary. Persuasive communication theory offers specific techniques that can be used successfully within health promotion. It is important for the nurse to listen to Patricks concerns and endeavour to offer counsel or help. I have attempted to prove in this assignment that communication with Patrick and his family is of the utmost importance to ensure concordance and thus improve his control of his condition. By educating both parties it shows Patrick that he is not alone and he can gain support from his family and other networks accessible to him such as local support groups. It has been mentioned in the case study that Patrick drives a bus and as a result of his poor control of his Diabetes, he has been falling asleep at the wheel. This provides the nurse with a significant ethical dilemma. Bound by the NMC professional code of conduct means nurses are restricted to what information they can release. A disconcerting feature of ethics can be its association with apparently complex theories such as utilitarianism (the moral value of an action is determined by its overall benefit) and de-ontologyy (concerned with adhering to moral rules or moral duty rather than with the consequences of actions) (Beauchamp and Childress 2001). These established theories are important components of ethics and can help to guide decisions. The general principles of Ethics are that of Avoiding Harm and moral obligations and duties. As a nurse we have a moral obligation to notify the DVLA as it is in the public best interest to prevent harm coming to others if Patrick falls asleep at the wheel, thus avoiding harm to others. In this assignment I have endeavoured to show that the key to controlling Patricks Diabetes is through effective communication, self-efficacy/self management and family involvement. By encouraging Patrick to look at his life and analyse his lifestyle he is on the road to effective self management. Change is only possible if Patricks attitude towards his condition alters. By offering him the option of utilising the logbook he can challenge his attitudes with the main aims/challenges of keeping further complications at bay, maintaining tighter glycaemic control and thus lowering his HbA1c.

How Are Suspense and Tension Created in The Red Room? Essay -- English

How Are Suspense and Tension Created in The Red Room? In The Red Room by H.G. Wells a lot of suspense and tension is created. The Red Room fits into the gothic genre because it has some of the requirements for a gothic story in it, like, being set in a castle, an atmosphere of mystery and suspense, a prophecy, the supernatural and high levels of emotion. The story creates tension in lots of ways such as, shadows, noises, charcters and general mystery surrounding the red room. At the beginning of The Red Room the author creates tension by having the narrator straight away in a scene which is unusual to him, he is in a dark old room with old people who are mostly disfigured and slightly other worldly in the way they look and behave. â€Å"†¦ I had scarce expected these grotesque custodians.† He sees them not as ordinary people but as being grotesque so is clearly unhappy being with them. The author also immediately creates tension by talking of ghosts and the supernatural straightaway. â€Å"†¦ It will take a very tangible ghost to frighten me.† So we already have talk of ghosts in only the first line! As the narrator begins his journey to the red room more tension is created. â€Å"†¦ and my candle flared and made the shadows cower a quiver, the echoes rang up and down the spiral staircase†¦Ã¢â‚¬  so we have shadows cowering and quivering which is exactly what people do when they are frightend, the shadows are also being personified which could be a representation of the narrator’s fear. The author uses shadows again to create tension when he is on his way to the red room. â€Å"†¦ and as a shadow came sweeping up after me†¦Ã¢â‚¬  so we feel that the narrator is being chased up the staircase by something perhaps not of this worl... ...king him and this could result in something happening to him. The description also enables him to understand how the rumours in the red room could have started which makes him very nervous. Light and dark are obviously very symbolic, dark represents danger and the unknown whereas light means we are safe because we can see everything around us and it is harder to be fooled by noises or shadows in the light. Tension and suspense were constantly created in The Red Room by H.G. Well’s using various techniques, the writer uses a lot of different techniques to keep the reader wondering and to make sure that tension and suspense are always present in the story. In my opinion there is no one technique which is used to greater effect than any other one. I think that they are all used in equally effective amounts and they all help to create suspense and tension.

Romeo And Juliet :: essays research papers

Over the past four hundred years, the famous play, Romeo and Juliet, has inspired many readers across the globe. The classic play, written by famous playwright William Shakespeare has captured and will continue to capture people’s minds.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The main question that rises is why this play has been read for so long. The story consists of two “ star- crossed '; lovers who fall in love at first sight. One of the main reasons why this play has been so popular is because stories in those times relied more on the life and spirit of the play. For generations people saw in this play a reflection of their own life and experiences.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another reason why this play has been successful is also because the hints of tragedy increased the suspense and irony of the play. For example, when Juliet looks upon Romeo and says;   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  “O God, I have an ill-diving   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  soul!   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Methinks I see them, now   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  thou art below   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As one dead in the bottom   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  of a thumb. '; (Act III, Scene V, lines 54-56) thus pointing out the hints of tragic death.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Romeo and Juliet is also a play which is full of anger, passion, and death. The secrecy of the marriage of Romeo and Juliet pointed out a form of dramatic irony. This is shown by Juliet’s “ double-edged ';phrases when Lady Capulet is denouncing Romeo. For example,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  “Ay madam, from the reach of   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  these my hands:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  would none but I might verge   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  my cousin’s death.'; (Act III, Scene V, line 86) or when Juliet states in an awkward way,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  “indeed I never shall be satisfied with Romeo till I behold him -dead- ';   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  (Act III, Scene V, line 95)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  O there dramatic ironies included when Romeo falls in love with Juliet, Mercutio imagines he is still in love with Rosaline. “Ah that same pale hard-hearted wench, that torments him so that he will sure run mad. '; (Act II, Scene IV, Line 4). All the dramatic ironies caused a very lively presence throughout the play and has caught the eye of many readers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Last but not least, Shakespeare’ s writing style has also hypnotised people.

Geography Coursework

Pickering is a historic market town located in North Yorkshire, between York and the North Yorkshire coast. Pickering has many tourist attractions like, the steam railway, Pickering castle, the market and the countryside. It is the gateway to the North York Moors National Park, with its appealing scenery. We are interested to find out what it is that specifically attracts tourists to that area. This is a map of Pickering along with the attractions of Pickering Two groups took a geography trip to Pickering on two separate days and. Both groups created their own questionnaires and we asked random members of the public these questions. These are some of the questions we asked people while we were in Pickering. Once we had received our results from our questionnaires we compared them with the other group's results 1.Do you live in: A. Pickering B. the area around Pickering C. or are you a tourist 2.What would you say is the main tourist attraction A. The castle B. The steam railway C. The countryside 3. What method of transport did you use to get here today A. Walk B. Car C. Bus D. Other 4. How long did it take you to travel here today A. Less than 15 minutes B. 15 minutes – 1 hour C. 1 hour + 5. If you are local: Do you do most of your shopping in Pickering I Yes ii No 6. If you are a tourist: A Is this your first visit to Pickering I Yes ii No B. Would you visit Pickering again Table A Where people live Wednesday Thursday Pickering 58% 52% Around Pickering 26% 18% Tourists 16% 30% With these results you can clearly see that a majority of the interviewees were mainly from Pickering. This is somewhat unexpected as Pickering relies on tourists to visit the area. I think the groups went at the wrong time of year because if we went during the school holidays then you should see that there would be an increase in the number of tourists because they would have the time off school and work. : Diagram A My first hypothesis is that on the day that I went on the trip to Pickering I thought there were more local people than tourists. I can prove this with my results from Diagram A and Table A from our questionnaires we asked. However if we had visited Pickering on the market day then we would have seen an increase in the number of local people as the market would attract more local people rather than tourists. Table B The main tourist attraction Wednesday Thursday Castle 12% 15% Steam railway 64% 55% Countryside 17% 15% Other 7% 15% Diagram B The results above show that the on both days the steam railway is the favoured tourist attraction with the majority of the percentage. These results are not exactly unexpected for the reason that the steam railway travels through the countryside so people would still catch a glimpse of the countryside, but because they are on the steam railway they would maybe think that the attraction they are seeing is the steam railway when actually they are viewing the countryside as well. This is a picture of the favourite tourist attraction the steam railway. With my second hypothesis I can say that people preferred the steam railway to the other attractions. I can show this with Diagram B and Table B for the reason that my results show that on Wednesday 64% of people preferred the railway and on Thursday 55% of people favoured the steam railway to the other attractions. Table C Transport Wednesday Thursday Walk 20% 30% Car 56.5% 36% Bus 14.5% 18% Steam train 6.5% 10% Other 3% 6% With these figure we have collated you can clearly see that the main method of transport was the car. This isn't surprising seen as people rely too much on cars at present, with the majority of people owning one. This is surprising seen as the main tourist attraction is the steam railway so they must have left their cars in the car park while they travelled on the steam railway. After the car, walking was next on both days. With the groups both going during school time and not in a holiday, there would have been more interviewees that are local to the area of Pickering and would have been able to walk there. My group's results were: Diagram C. For the third hypothesis I can say that the favoured method of transport would be the car. I can back this up with Diagram C and Table C because 56.5% used a car on Wednesday and 36% on Thursday. However on Thursday only 36% travelled by car which maybe suggest that on Thursday there were more local people in Pickering but if you look at my results they show that on Wednesday there were more local people in Pickering. Diagram D Table D Travelling time Wednesday Thursday Less than 15 minutes 48% 42% 15 minutes- 1 hour 31% 36% More than 1 hour 21% 22% On both days it took more people less than 15 minutes to travel into Pickering. The majority of people took less than 15 minutes to travel to Pickering. This is mainly because most of the interviewees were from Pickering and the area around Pickering. This is surprising as Pickering is a tourist town and most of the people we asked were either from Pickering or the area around Pickering and were not actually tourists. My fifth hypothesis is that with the travelling time I can say that a majority of people questioned on both days were from Pickering as it took them less time to travel into Pickering. I can back this up with the results from Table D and Diagram D which both say that the people questioned took 15 minutes or less to travel into Pickering. We also asked people whether they did most o their shopping in Pickering. Our results were; Diagram E These results show that most of the interviewees didn't do most of their shopping in Pickering. This isn't surprising as Pickering doesn't have a major shopping store or any big name stores. So the local people will have to travel out of Pickering to buy all of the luxury items. But the shops that Pickering has are selling the basic goods. With these results they show that a majority of people on both days do their shopping outside of Pickering. Table E Do you do most of your shopping in Pickering? Wednesday Thursday Yes 33% 44% No 67% 56% These results show that most of the interviewees didn't do most of their shopping in Pickering. This isn't surprising as Pickering doesn't have a major shopping store or any big name stores. So the local people will have to travel out of Pickering to buy all of the luxury items. But the shops that Pickering has are selling the basic goods. With these results they show that a majority of people on both days do their shopping outside of Pickering. My sixth hypothesis is that I can say that the people questioned would rather do their shopping outside of Pickering and I can establish this with Table E and Diagram E with both of these showing that people prefer shopping outside of Pickering. Along with only 33% on Wednesday and 44% on Thursday saying they do most of their shopping in Pickering. Table F Is this your first visit to Pickering? Wednesday Thursday Yes 12% 33% No 88% 67% Diagram F Most of the interviewees said that this wasn't their first visit to Pickering. I think with this question we should have asked if they were a tourist or not. That way we would have had a better idea of who were tourists and who were local to the area this way we would have had different results from the people we interviewed. With a lot of people saying that it wasn't their first visit to Pickering shows that if they were tourists then they enjoyed visiting Pickering and they decided to travel there again. For my seventh hypothesis I can say that people the people questioned had visited Pickering before and as a consequence of this they visited Pickering again. I can prove this with my Table F and Diagram F. Table F shows that on both days a majority of people had visited Pickering before. However there were a small number of people who hadn't visited Pickering before. I think that if people said that it was their first visit to Pickering then we should have asked them if they enjoyed their time in Pickering and if they would visit the area again. Diagram G Table G Would you visit Pickering again? Wednesday Thursday Yes 96.5% 82% No 3.5% 18% With these sets of results they show that a lot of the people questioned said that they would visit Pickering again. That shows that Pickering is a pleasant place and is a delightful experience. It seems that on Thursday there were more people that wouldn't visit Pickering so maybe the people on Thursday thought that Pickering wasn't an enjoyable place to visit. Whereas Wednesday's results prove that people visiting Pickering was satisfied with the area. My eighth hypothesis is that I'm able to say that given the chance people would visit Pickering again. I can provide evidence to this with Table G and Diagram G which both say that the majority of people enjoyed their visit to Pickering and would take another trip to the town of Pickering A semi-conclusion would be that a majority of people on both days was fond of Pickering and many of the interviewees had visited Pickering before our visit there and would gladly visit again. Although, there isn't a large shopping centre nearby to attract the tourists or for the locals to do their shopping, people still flock to Pickering for the market on Wednesdays and the steam railway. A lot of people who had travelled to Pickering didn't travel for a lengthy amount of time which suggests that a lot of people who were visiting Pickering were from nearby and didn't have to travel very far. Recently I took a trip with a few of my class-mates to Beverley and asked people there the same questionnaire with a few alterations. We did that so that we could compare the results from Pickering to those of Beverley. We found that a majority of people asked were from the area around Beverley unlike that of people asked in Pickering as most of them were from Pickering itself. Unlike the Pickering survey, were over half the people asked didn't do their shopping in Pickering. The Beverley survey recorded that half of the people in question did their shopping in Beverley. We asked if people would visit the designated town again given the choice and in Pickering there was a few people who said no but in Beverley everybody in question would visit Beverley again. To conclude my study I can say that the reason people are specifically attracted to Pickering is that most people are interested in the steam railway or the market which are both located in Pickering. Where as, in Beverley people were attracted to visiting Beverley because they were visiting or have visited Beverley Minster. A few ways in which I could have improved my study is that I could have included a plan of the shops and businesses of Pickering. Also, I could have written about the shops and businesses and say if they were high, medium or low order businesses. I could have also asked more people the questionnaire which would have made a difference to my results. Also I could have visited Pickering or Beverley on multiple days and then compared the results to see what differences there would be and I could compare each day with one another.

A Short History of Nearly Everything Essay

A Short History of Nearly Everything is a popular science book by American author Bill Bryson that explains some areas of science, using a style of language which aims to be more accessible to the general public than many other books dedicated to the subject. It was one of the bestselling popular science books of 2005 in the UK, selling over 300,000 copies.[1] instead describing general sciences such as chemistry, paleontology, astronomy, and particle physics. In it, he explores time from the Big Bang to the discovery of quantum mechanics, via evolution and geology. Bryson tells the story of science through the stories of the people who made the discoveries, such as Edwin Hubble, Isaac Newton, and Albert Einstein. Background Bill Bryson wrote this book because he was dissatisfied with his scientific knowledge — that was, not much at all. He writes that science was a distant, unexplained subject at school. Textbooks and teachers alike did not ignite the passion for knowledge in him, mainly because they never delved in the whys, hows, and whens. â€Å"It was as if [the textbook writer] wanted to keep the good stuff secret by making all of it soberly unfathomable.† —Bryson, on the state of science books used within his school.[2] [edit] Contents Bryson describes graphically and in layperson’s terms the size of the universe, and that of atoms and subatomic particles. He then explores the history of geology and biology, and traces life from its first appearance to today’s modern humans, placing emphasis on the development of the modern Homo sapiens. Furthermore, he discusses the possibility of the Earth’s being struck by a meteor, and reflects on human capabilities of spotting a meteor before it impacts the Earth, and the extensive damage that such an event would cause. He also focuses on some of the most recent destructive disasters of volcanic origin in the history of our planet, including Krakatoa and Yellowstone National Park. A large part of the book is devoted to relating humorous stories about the scientists behind the research and discoveries and their sometimes eccentric behaviours. Bryson also speaks about modern scientific views on human effects on the Earth’s climate and  livelihood of other species, and the magnitude of natural disasters such as earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, hurricanes, and the mass extinctions caused by some of these events. The book does, however, contain a number of factual errors and inaccuracies.[3] An illustrated edition of the book was released in November 2005.[4] A few editions in Audiobook form are also available, including an abridged version read by the author, and at least three unabridged versions. [edit] Awards and reviews The book received generally favourable reviews, with reviewers citing the book as informative, well written and highly entertaining.[5][6][7] However, some feel that the contents might be uninteresting to an audience with prior knowledge of history or the sciences.[8] In 2004, this book won Bryson the prestigious Aventis Prize for best general science book.[9] Bryson later donated the GBP £10,000 prize to the Great Ormond Street Hospital children’s charity.[10] In 2005, the book won the EU Descartes Prize for science communication.[11] It was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize for the same year. Unremitting scientific effort over the past 300 years has yielded an astonishing amount of information about the world we inhabit. By rights we ought to be very impressed and extremely interested. Unfortunately many of us simply aren’t. Far from attracting the best candidates, science is proving a less and less popular subject in schools. And, with a few notable exceptions, popular books on scientific topics are a rare bird in the bestseller lists. Bill Bryson, the travel-writing phenomenon, thinks he knows what has gone wrong. The anaemic, lifeless prose of standard science textbooks, he argues, smothers at birth our innate curiosity about the natural world. Reading them is a chore rather than a voyage of discovery. Even books written by leading scientists, he complains, are too often clogged up with impenetrable jargon. Just like the alchemists of old, scientists have a regrettable tendency to â€Å"vaile their secrets with mistie speech†. Science, John Keats sulked, â€Å"will clip an Angel’s wings, / Conquer all mysteries by rule and line.† Bryson turns this on its head by blaming the messenger rather than the message. Robbing nature of its mystery is what  he thinks most science books do best. But, unlike Keats, he doesn’t believe that this is at all necessary. We may be living in societies less ready to believe in magic, miracles or afterlives, but the sublime remains. Rather as Richard Dawkins has argued, Bryson insists that the results of scientific study can be wondrous and very often are so. The trick is to write about them in a way that makes them comprehensible without crushing nature’s mystique. Bryson provides a lesson in how it should be done. The prose is just as one would expect – energetic, quirky, familiar and humorous. Bryson’s great skill is that of lightly holding the reader’s hand throughout; building up such trust that topics as recondite as atomic weights, relativity and particle physics are shorn of their terrors. The amount of ground covered is truly impressive. From the furthest reaches of cosmology, we range through time and space until we are looking at the smallest particles. We explore our own planet and get to grips with the ideas, first of Newton and then of Einstein, that allow us to understand the laws that govern it. Then biology holds centre-stage, heralding the emergence of big-brained bipeds and Charles Darwin’s singular notion as to how it all came about. Crucially, this hugely varied terrain is not presented as a series of discrete packages. Bryson made his name writing travelogues and that is what this is. A single, coherent journey, woven together by a master craftsman. The book’s underlying strength lies in the fact that Bryson knows what it’s like to find science dull or inscrutable. Unlike scientists who turn their hand to popular writing, he can claim to have spent the vast majority of his life to date knowing very little about how the universe works. Tutored by many of the leading scientists in each of the dozens of fields he covers, he has brought to the book some of the latest insights together with an amusingly gossipy tone. His technique was to keep going back to the experts until each in turn was happy, in effect, to sign off the account of their work he had put together. In short, he’s done the hard work for us. Bryson enlivens his accounts of difficult concepts with entertaining historical vignettes. We learn, for example, of the Victorian naturalist whose scientific endeavours included serving up mole and spider to his guests; and of the Norwegian palaeontologist who miscounted the number of fingers and toes on one of the most important fossil finds of recent history and wouldn’t let anyone else have a look at  it for more than 48 years. Bryson has called his book a history, and he has the modern historian’s taste for telling it how it was. Scientists, like all tribes, have a predilection for foundation myths. But Bryson isn’t afraid to let the cat out of the bag. The nonsense of Darwin’s supposed â€Å"Eureka!† moment in the Galapagos, when he spotted variations in the size of finch beaks on different islands, is swiftly dealt with. As is the fanciful notion of palaeontologist Charles Doolittle Walcott chancing on the fossil-rich Burgess Shales after his horse slipped on a wet track. So much for clarity and local colour. What about romance? For Bryson this clearly lies in nature’s infinitudes. The sheer improbability of life, the incomprehensible vastness of the cosmos, the ineffable smallness of elementary particles, and the imponderable counter-intuitiveness of quantum mechanics. He tells us, for example, that every living cell contains as many working parts as a Boeing 777, and that prehistoric dragonflies, as big as ravens, flew among giant trees whose roots and trunks were covered with mosses 40 metres in height. It sounds very impressive. Not all readers will consider it sublime, but it’s hard to imagine a better rough guide to science.  · John Waller is research fellow at the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine and author of Fabulous Science: Fact and Fiction in the History of Scientific Discovery (OUP) What has propelled this popular science book to the New York Time’s Best Seller List? The answer is simple. It is superbly written. Author Bill Bryson is not a scientist – far from it. He is a professional writer, and hitherto researching his book was quite ignorant of science by his own admission. â€Å"I didn’t know what a proton was, or a protein, didn’t know a quark from a quasar, didn’t understand how geologists could look at a layer of rock on a canyon wall and tell you how old it was, didn’t know anything really,† he tells us in the Introduction. But Bryson got curious about these and many other things: â€Å"Suddenly, I had a powerful, uncharacteristic urge to  know something about these matters and to understand how people figure them out.† All of us should be lucky to be so curious. Young children are. That’s why they’re called â€Å"little scientists.† New to the world and without inhibitions, they relentlessly ask questions about it. And Bill Bryson’s curiosity led him to some good questions too: â€Å"How does anybody know how much the Earth weighs or how old its rocks are or what really is way down there in the center? How can they [scientists] know how and when the Universe started and what it was like when it did? How do they know what goes on inside an atom?† The Introduction also tells us that the greatest amazements for Bryson are how scientists worked out such things. His book is a direct result of addressing these issues. It is superbly written. Popular science writers should study this book.| A Short History of Nearly Everything serves a great purpose for those who know little about science. The deep questions may not necessarily be explicitly presented but many of the answers are. The reader gets to journey along the paths that led scientists to some amazing discoveries – all this in an extremely simple and enjoyable book. The prose is extraordinarily well written with lively, entertaining thoughts and many clever and witty lines. Consider, for example, Chapter 23 on â€Å"The Richness of Being.† It begins: â€Å"Here and there in the Natural History Museum in London, built into recesses along the underlit corridors or standing between glass cases of minerals and ostrich eggs and a century or so of other productive clutter, are secret doors – at least secret in the sense that there is nothing about them to attract the visitor’s notice.† This opening sentence really captures the atmosphere of a natural history museum. It is full of vivid descriptions and contains the cleverly constructed, paradoxical phrase â€Å"productive clutter.† The next paragraph begins to make the point: â€Å"The Natural History Museum contains some seventy million objects from every realm of life and every corner of the planet, with another hundred thousand or so added to the collection each year, but it is really only behind the scenes that you get a sense of what a treasure house this is. In cupboards and cabinets and long rooms full of close-packed shelves are kept tens of thousands of pickled animals in bottles, millions of insects pinned to squares of card, drawers of shiny mollusks, bones of dinosaurs, skulls of early humans, endless folders of neatly pressed plants. It is a little like wandering through Darwin’s brain.† And later: â€Å"We wandered through a confusion of departments where people sat at large tables doing intent, investigative things with arthropods and palm fronds and boxes of yellowed bones. Everything there was an air of unhurried thoroughness, of people being engaged in a gigantic endeavor that could never be completed and mustn’t be rushed. In 1967, I had read, the museum issued its report on the John Murray Expedition, an Indian Ocean survey, forty-five years after the expedition had concluded. This is a world where things move at their own pace, including the tiny lift Fortey and I shared with a scholarly looking elderly man with whom Fortey chatted genially and familiarly as we proceeded upwards at about the rate that sediments are laid down.† Often Bryson ends a paragraph with an amusing line. You find very few popular science books so well written. With the exception of Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman, it is hard to think of even one that is witty. Popular science writers should study this book. â€Å"I [Bryson] didn’t know a quark from a quasar . . . â€Å"| Sometimes even quoting writers rather than scientists and original sources, Bryson draws extensively from other books. For example, most of Chapter 21, whose focus is largely on the Burgess Shale fossils and the Cambrian explosion, is taken from Stephen Jay Gould’s Wonderful Life. And much of the rest of Chapter 21 is based on works by Richard Fortey and Gould’s other books. The author does not hide this. Titles are cited in the text, chapter notes provide quotes from books, and there is a lengthy bibliography. Given that Bryson in not a scientist, it is surprising how few errors there are in A Short History of Nearly Everything. Here are a couple that the staff at Jupiter Scientific uncovered: On what would happen if an asteroid struck Earth, Bryson writes, â€Å"Radiating outward at almost the speed of light would be the initial shock wave, sweeping everything before it.† In reality, the shock wave would travel only at about 10 kilometers per second, which, alt hough very fast, is considerably less than the speed of light of 300,000 kilometers per second. Shortly thereafter, one reads â€Å"Within an hour, a cloud of blackness would cover the planet . . . â€Å" It would take a few weeks for this to occur. The book gives the number of cells in the human body as ten-thousand trillion, but the best estimates are considerably less – about  50 trillion. Here’s how one might determine the number. A typical man and a typical cell in the human body respectively weigh 80 kilograms and 4 Ãâ€"10-9 grams. So there are about (80,000 grams per human)/(4 Ãâ€"10-9 grams per cell) = 2 Ãâ€"1013 cells per human, or twenty-trillion cells. By the way, since the number of microbes in or on the human body has been estimated to be one-hundred trillion, people probably have more foreign living organisms in them then cells! In the Chapter â€Å"The Mighty Atom†, it is written, â€Å"They [atoms] are also fantastically durable. Because they are so long lived, atoms really get around. Every atom you possess has almost certainly passed through several stars and been part of millions of organisms on its way to becoming you. We are each so atomically numerous and so vigorously recycled at death that a significant number of our atoms – up to a billion for each us, it has been suggested – probably once belonged to Shakespeare.† Most of this paragraph is correct, but because atoms are stripped of there electrons in stars, Bryson should have said, â€Å". . . the nuclei of every atom you possess has most likely passed through several stars . . . † One might be shocked that each of the 6 trillion or so humans on Earth have so many of Shakespeare’s atoms in them. However, Jupiter Scientific has done an analysis of this problem and the figure in Bryon’s book is probably low: It is likely that each of us has about 200 billion atoms that were once in Shakespeare’s body. Bryson also exaggerates the portrayals of some scientists: Ernest Rutherford is said to be an overpowering force, Fred Hoyle a complete weirdo, Fritz Zwicky an utterly abrasive astronomer, and Newton a total paranoiac. Surely the descriptions of these and other scientists are distorted. From a scientific point of view, most topics are treated superficially. This renders the book of little interest to a scientist.| Here are some examples of witty lines that finish paragraphs: The concluding remarks on Big Bang Nucleosynthesis go: â€Å"In three minutes, 98 percent of all the matter there is or will ever be has been produced. We have a universe. It is a place of the most wondrous and gratifying possibility, and beautiful, too. And it was all done in about the time it takes to make a sandwich.† On the Superconducting Supercollider, the huge particle accelerator that was to be built in Texas, Bill Bryson notes, â€Å"In perhaps the finest example in history of pouring money into a hole in the ground, Congress spent $2 billion on the project, then canceled it in 1993  after fourteen miles of tunnel had been dug. So Texas now boasts the most expensive hole in the universe.† Chapter 16 discusses some of the health benefits of certain elements. For example, cobalt is necessary for the production of vitamin B12 and a minute amount of sodium is good for your nerves. Bryson ends one paragraph with â€Å"Zinc – bless it – oxidizes alcohol.† (Zinc plays an important role in allowing alcohol to be digested.) On Earth’s atmosphere, the author notes that the troposphere, that part of the lower atmosphere that contains the air we breathe, is between 6 and 10 miles thick. He concludes, â€Å"There really isn’t much between you and oblivion.† In talking about the possibility of a sizeable asteroid striking Earth, Bryson at one point writes, â€Å"As if to underline just un-novel the idea had become by this time, in 1979, a Hollywood studio actually produced a movie called Meteor (â€Å"It’s five miles wide . . . It’s coming at 30,000 m.p.h. – and there’s no place to hide!) starring Henry Fonda, Natalie Wood, Karl Malden, and a very large rock.† From a scientific point of view, most topics are treated superficially. This renders the book of little interest to a scientist, but has certain advantages for the layperson. In some cases, emphasis is not given to the most important issue. Bryson simply lacks the insight and judgement of a trained scientist. Chapter One on the Big Bang is particularly difficult for the author. There is too much discussion on inflation and on the many-universe theory. Inflation, which is the idea that the space underwent a tremendous stretching at a tiny fraction of a second after â€Å"the beginning†, is consistent with astronomical observations, is theoretically attractive but has no confirming evidence yet. The multi-universe theory, which proposes that our universe is only one of many and disconnected from the others, is complete speculation. On the other hand, Bryson neglects events that have been observationally established. Big Bang Nucleosynthesis, in which the nuclei of the three lightest elements were made, is glossed over in one paragraph. Recombination, the process of electrons combining with nuclei to form atoms, is not covered – an unfortunate omission because it is the source of the cosmic microwave background radiation (When nuclei capture electrons, radiation is given off). Bryson simply refers to the cosmic microwave background radiation as something â€Å"left over from the Big Bang†, a description lacking true insight. As another example of misplaced emphasis, much of the chapter entitled  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Welcome to the Solar System,† is on Pluto and its discovery and on how school charts poorly convey the vast distances between planets. Although the Sun is not even treated, Bryson ends the discussion with â€Å"So that’s your solar system.† Here is another example in which Bryson’s lack of scientific training hurts the content of the book. In Chapter 27 entitled â€Å"Ice Time, he discusses as through it happened with certainty the â€Å"Snowball Earth.† It, however, is a very controversial proposal in which the entire planet was engulfed in ice at the end of the Proterozoic Era. The book says, â€Å"Temperatures plunged by as much as 80 degrees Fahrenheit. The entire surface of the planet may have frozen solid, with ocean ice up to a half mile thick at high latitudes and tens of yards thick even in the tropics.† While it is true that this period was the most severe ice age ever to transpire on Earth, it is unlikely that the weather became so cold as to create the conditions described in the above quote. Then the chapter on hominid development does the opposite by presenting the situation as highly unknown and debatable. It is true that the fossil record for the transition from apes to Homo sapiens is quite fragmentary and that anthropologists are dividerd over certain important issues such as how to draw the lines between species to create the family tree, how Homo sapiens spread over the globe and what caused brain size to i ncrease. However, the overall pattern of homonid evolution is understood. The reader gets to journey along the paths that led scientists to some amazing discoveries – all this in an extremely simple and enjoyable book.| Bryson has a nice way of summarizing atoms: â€Å"The way it was explained to me is that protons give an atom its identity, electrons its personality.† The number of protons in the nucleus of an atom, also known as the atomic number, determines the element type. Hydrogen has one proton, helium two, lithium three and so on. The electrons of an atom, or more precisely the outermost or valence electrons, determine how the atom binds to other atoms. The binding properties of an atom determines how it behaves chemically. Every important topic in A Short History of Nearly Everything can be found in Jupiter Scientific’s book The Bible According to Einstein, which presents science in the language and format of the Bible. Jupiter Scientific has made available onlin e many sections of this book. This review, which has been produced by Ian Johnston of Malaspina University-College, is in the public domain, and may be used by anyone, in whole or in part, without permission and without charge, provided the source is acknowledged–released October 2004. For comments or questions please contact Ian Johnston. A Short History of Nearly Everything The first thing one notices about a new Bill Bryson book in recent years is the disproportionately large size of the author’s name on the cover—bigger  than the title by a few orders of magnitude. That’s appropriate, I suppose, for an author who has emerged as North America’s most popular writer of non-fiction, with legions of fans around the world, perhaps even something of a cult figure, who can sell anything on the strength of his name alone. Bryson’s recently published book, A Short History of Nearly Everything, is certainly a departure from what he has written so far. It’s a bold and ambitious attempt to tell the story of our earth and of everything on it. Initially motivated by the most admirable of scientific feelings, intense curiosity about something he admits he knew virtually nothing about, Bryson spent three years immersing himself in scientific literature, talking to working scientists, and travelling to places where science is carried on, so that he might â€Å"know a little about these matters and . . . understand how people figured them out† and then produce a book which makes it â€Å"possible to understand and appreciate—marvel at, enjoy even—the wonder and accomplishments of science at a level that isn’t too technical or demanding, but isn’t entirely superficial either.† The result is a big volume recapitulating the greatest story ever told, from the beginnings of the universe, to the physical history of the Earth, to the development and evolution of life here—an attempt to provide, as the title indicates, an all-encompassing and continuous narrative, crammed with information on everything from particle physics to plate tectonics, from cloud formations to bacteria. For all the obvious natural clarity and organization within science, writing well about the subject is not as easy as it may appear. It demands that the writer select an audience and then deliver what he or she has to say in a style appropriate to that readership, in the process risking the loss of other potential readers. Bryson has clearly thought about this point and introduces into writing about science a style very different from, say, the brisk omniscience of Isaac Asimov, the trenchant polemics of Richard Dawson, the engaged contextual scholarship of Stephen Jay Gould, or the leisured and fascinating historical excursions of Simon Winchester (to cite some recent masters of the genre). He brings to bear on science his impressive talents as a folksy, amusing, self-deprecating spinner of yarns, assuming considerable ignorance in his readers and inviting them to share his newly discovered excitement at all the things he has learned, obviously trying with an atmosphere of cozy intimacy and friendship to ease any fears  they may bring to a book about so many unfamiliar things. This feature will almost certainly irritate a great many people who already know a good deal about science (who may feel they are being patronized) and charm many of those who do not. The information is presented here in an often off-beat and amusing and certainly non-intimidating way. Bryson sticks to his resolve not to confront the reader with numbers and equations and much complex terminology. So he relies heavily on familiar analogies to illustrate scientific theories, and these are extremely effective—inventive and illuminating. There is a wealth of interesting and frequently surprising facts about everything from mites to meteorites, conveyed with a continuing sense of wonder and enjoyment. Bryson delivers well on his promise to provide an account of what we know and (equally important to him) of the enormous amount we still do not know. Bryson is not all that interested, however, in the second part of his announced intention, to explore how we know what we know. He pays little to no attention to science as a developing system of knowledge, to its philosophical underpinnings (hence, perhaps, the omission of any treatment of mathematics) or to the way in which certain achievements in science are important not merely for the â€Å"facts† they confirm or reveal but for the way in which they transform our understanding of what science is and how it should be carried out. So for him â€Å"how we know† is simply a matter of accounting for those who came up something that turned out to be of lasting value (no wonder he is somewhat baffled by Darwin’s delay in publishing his theory of natural selection—the notion that Darwin’s theory may have presented some important methodological difficulties of which Darwin was painfully aware does not seem nearly as important as Darwin’s mysterious illness). Bryson is at his very best when he can anchor what he has to say on a particular place and on conversations with particular working scientists there. Here his considerable talents as a travel writer and story teller take over, and the result is an often amusing, surprising, insightful, and always informative glimpse into science as a particular activity carried on by interesting individuals in all sorts of different places. The sections on Yellowstone Park, the Burgess Shale, and the Natural History Museum in London, for example, are exceptionally fine, mainly because we are put in imaginative touch with science in action, we hear directly from the scientists themselves, and our understanding of  science is transformed from the knowledge of facts into a much fuller and more satisfying appreciation for a wonderfully human enterprise taking place all around us. Here Bryson provides us with a refreshingly new style in writing about science. Indeed, these passages are so striking in co mparison with other parts of the book that one suspects that Bryson’s imagination is far more stimulated by scientists at work than by the results their work produces. This impression is reinforced by Bryson’s habit of plundering the history of science for amusing anecdotes about interesting characters, obviously something which he finds imaginatively exciting. He’s prepared to interrupt the flow of his main narrative in order to deliver a good story, and routinely moves into a new section with a narrative hook based on a memorable character, a dramatic clash of personalities, or an unexpected location. Many of these stories and characters will be familiar enough to people who know a bit about science already (e.g., the eccentricities of Henry Cavendish, William Buckland, or Robert FitzRoy, the arguments between Gould and Dawkins, the adventures of Watson and Crick, and so on), but Bryson handles these quick narrative passages so well that the familiar stories are still worth re-reading, and there are enough new nuggets to keep reminding the more knowledgeable readers just how fascinating the history of science can be. Not that Bryson is very much interested in linking developments in science to any continuing attention to historical context. He’s happy enough to refer repeatedly to the context if there’s a good yarn to be had—if not, he’s ready to skim over it or ignore it altogether. This gives his account of developments a distinctly Whiggish flavour, a characteristic which will no doubt upset historians of science. At times, too, this habit of frequent quick raids into the past encourages a tendency to flippant snap judgments for the sake of a jest or some human drama. But given the audience Bryson is writing for and his desire to keep the narrative full of brio, these criticisms are easy enough to overlook. And speaking from my own limited experience in writing about the history of science, I can attest to the fact that once one begins scratching away at the lives of the scientists themselves, the impulse to draw on the wonderful range of the extraordinary characters one discovers is almost irresistible. Bryson’s narrative gets into more serious difficulties, however, when he cannot write from his strengths, that is, when he cannot link what the  subject demands to particular people and places. Here the prose often tends to get bogged down in summaries of what he has been reading lately or inadequate condensations of subjects too complex for his rapid pace. Thus, for example, the parts where his prose has to cope with systems of classifications (for example, of clouds, or bacteria, or early forms of life) the sense of excitement disappears and we are left to wade through a dense array of facts, without much sense of purpose. At such times, Bryson seems to sense the problem and often cranks up the â€Å"golly gee† element in his style in an attempt to inject some energy into his account, but without much success. And not surprisingly, the world of particle physics defeats his best attempts to render it familiar and comfortable to the reader, as Bryson concedes in an unexpectedly limp and apologetic admission: â€Å"Almost certainly this is an area that will see further developments of thought, and almost certainly these thoughts will again be beyond most of us.† It’s very curious that Bryson makes no attempt to assist the reader through such passages with any illustrative material, which would certainly have enabled him to convey organized information in a much clearer, more succinct, and less tedious manner. Early on, he lays some of the blame for his ignorance about science on boring school text books, so perhaps his decision to eschew visual aids has something to do with his desire not to produce anything like a school text (although, as I recall, diagrams, charts, and photographs were often the most exciting things about such books). Or perhaps he’s simply supremely confident that his prose is more than enough to carry the load. Whatever the reason, the cost of that decision is unnecessarily high. I suspect reactions to this book will vary widely. Bryson fans will, no doubt, be delighted to hear the master’s voice again and will forgive the lapses in energy and imaginative excitement here and there in the story. By contrast, many scientists and historians of science will find the tone and the treatment of the past not particularly to their liking. I’ll value the book as a source of useful anecdotes and some excellent writing about scientists at work, but turn to less prolix and better organized accounts to enrich my understanding of our scientific knowledge of the world and its inhabitants. But then again, if my grandchildren in the next few years begin to display some real interest in learning about science, I’ll certainly put this book in front of them.