His Dark Materials

[juldea]

karlean7 got me started on a new book trilogy, His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. I read it during the 30-45 minutes/day I work out on the treadmill or elliptical machine. It makes the time go by super-fast. I've managed to finish the first book already and am on the second. I have a few bones to pick about the plot (some things are too obvious, some others aren't obvious enough, etc) but generally they're enjoyable books, and have some good quotes. One of which is the reason I bring this up.

This quote is spoken from a father to a child, who asks that Adam and Eve aren't real, they're just fairy tales, right?

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"...think of Adam and Eve like an imaginary number, like the square root of minus one: you can never see any concrete proof that it exists, but if you include it in your equations, you can calculate all manner of things that couldn't be imagined without it."

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Not going to sway me over to any religious beliefs, but a very interesting idea nonetheless.

Comments

[oddharmonic.livejournal.com]

I love love love the His Dark Materials trilogy. If you want a cheap laugh, read the reviews for any of the books at Amazon.com and sort by rating; the low ones are all basically "This is EVIL anti-Christian heresy!!!!". Hysterically funny.

I keep hoping he'll write more because I really dug Lyra, but the only non-trilogy book outi s a little hardcover called Lyra's Oxford that features a short story set a few years after the trilogy and some ephemera from Lyra's world.

[xlost-girlx.livejournal.com]

that made me think.
im personally really not a christian, but i do believe that maybe there was a Jesus, and that he was a great philosopher and someone who had the gift of making people see how to be nice to each other.
scientifically speaking, there had to be an adam and eve, the first homo sapiens (or whichever species one considers to be "humans") to propagate the race. new mutations are generally recessive so two animals of the same new species would need to reproduce to create a population, and it has been proven through mitochondrial dna (sorry i get techy when i drink) that all humans evolved from a common female ancestor.
its funny how although science and religion clash so much, they are also so linked.
is "his dark materials" fantasy? sounds it. i always read fantasy when i actually make it to the gym.

[siderea]

Um, I don't want to be spoilerish about it, but the person who says that -- and that is the most quoted line on the series -- is not wholly a good guy, and it turns out to matter.™

[ratbastrd.livejournal.com]

VERY cool series. Some really interestig ideas.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Did you know there's a movie in the works? At least according to a major fansite, http://www.darkmaterials.com/ ...

Mmm, evil anti-Christian heresy. :)

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Yeah I'm not Christian either, and while I'll give that there might've been a Jesus I don't really believe the Bible (since it was written by men, and has been changed so many times over these thousands of years) and mostly I disagree with what type or morality it desires to inflict, too.

I like the tech talk. ;) Please tell me more about the DNA proof... I'm very curious.

"His Dark Materials" is indeed fantasy. The author is Philip Pullman and the name of the first book is "The Golden Compass". Check it out. :)

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, I'm fully aware that the speaker isn't a good guy. Just because he's bad, however, doesn't mean that his quote isn't thought-provoking. It's an interesting way to look at things. But like I said, it doesn't sway me.

I am not sure yet about how it turns out to Matter; I guess I should just read and see. :)

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Just got to where they tie in dark matter... I'm intruiged.

[xlost-girlx.livejournal.com]

theres two types of dna that we know of, one kind is stored in the mitochondria of the cell (they mainly create energy from glucose) and it has been proven that this type of dna is transferred only from mother to child, the father's genes do not influence it. they have found that this type of dna is very much the same in humans all around the world, and almost identical between close decendants such as mother, grandmother, great grandmother, etc.
heres a link
http://www.actionbioscience.org/evolution/ingman.html#Primer
genetics and microbi are my main areas of interest, hoping to make it to a phd one day.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Very neat. I learned something new today! :)