Reading Response (from 5-27, just now posting it)

(So here is my response from last time I read. I am referring to some notes I took then but forming the written response as I go.

I have an idea. If we have random questions that come up while we are typing our responses or reading the book or whatever, go ahead and include them in your post, just as randomly as they come up. Label yours "JQ1" for "Julia's Question #1" and so forth, and I'll label mine LQ1...

One "question" can actually be a series of questions, that are just grouped together because they all kind of have to do with the same topic. Or, if you want, you can break them up into smaller pieces. Whatever you feel like.

Then if either of us feels like answering our own questions or the other person's questions, we can post answers to them at any point if we feel like Googling the information, researching it, asking around, or whatever. And be sure to put "JQ1" or whatever as labels for the post so Blogger can group all comments related to that topic together.

Just an idea. You don't have to do it if you don't want to! I probably will because I have nothing else going on in my life right now so I have plenty of time to waste! But it's cool if you don't)

The way this author writes is I think the most frustrating part about reading this book. He has a know-it-all attitude where he seems to think that he is doing society a huge favor by contributing his bits of wisdom into an easy-to-read format. Really, it's just annoying because his writing style lacks a professionalism which makes you question the credibility of what he is saying. There's got to be a better way to write a non-fiction book for kids without sounding tacky!

Van Loon seems very sold on anything Darwin ever had to say. He presents evolution as a simple fact and you can also tell he believes strongly in the "survival of the fittest" principle as he seems to reinforce it as he explains why certain civilizations lasted over others. It's a valid principle I think when you are looking at the big picture of the history of man I suppose, but I don't think human life can be as simplified as he tends to make it.

LQ1
When did Darwin first publish his ideas and theories? Was his "survival of the fittest" observation published along with his evolution ideas? Were these popular in the day of Van Loon? Pretty widely-accepted or not? Was there in general a more conservative, Biblically-based view on world beginnings in the 20s? I'm guessing Van Loon's book was thought well-enough of to have an award (the very first of the award, no less) given to him. I'm surprised it was not more of a controversial subject at the time. Anything published on this?

I'm very amused at the beginning of the book how he glides over the creation of man as developed from a cell. I've always thought that evolution sounded a little silly, but how much sillier it sounds when you have to strip away all of the technical science terms! A cell all of the sudden appears (we are not to ask where from or how it got there or why it came when it did), and after millions of years of drifting, somehow forms into a man-like creature, who is of course our very ancestor! I love it.

I think the thing I have been most disgruntled by so far is the picture entitled "The Indo-European or Aryan Races and Their Neighbors" on page 46 in my book. I am shocked at the way he has decided to color-code this. Well I guess not color. Pattern-code. Every group has its nice little cute pattern for its corresponding region, and then look what is "blacked" out - Africa. Of little importance or concern I guess. I find it very interesting that some of Africa is in the "History of Man" - parts near the Mediterranean and Egypt with the Nile would of course not be blacked out with the rest - these are much too important and if we are going to segregate, at least let us claim the well-developed parts of Africa that are well-known for the pyramids and other famous historical accomplishments!

I think Van Loon must be somehow saying, "The blacked-out region is for a completely different history book, which I would entitle, The Story of Another Mankind (That is not fully 'Mankind' but more of a Sub-Human Race)".

Notice how Australia is also blacked out. The same pattern-code for a completely different region. Is this because there are Aborigines there? I'm not sure I understand his line of thinking...

Words I've learned so far:
sexton - person who looks after a church
venerable - enticed to respect on account of character or age
dissensions - differences of opinion

Other questions I've had:

LQ2
Who was John Newbery? Why is there an award named after him? Who chose to give the award to Van Loon? More history on the ALA? Is it a voting process every year? How exactly is one nominated and what kinds of requirements must an author meet to be eligible for this award? I wonder if they receive anything, or if it's just the title itself.

LQ3
Who was this Van Loon guy? What other things was he known for? He seems to have been known for his historical works for children. I wonder if they actually used these as sort of a textbook-type resource in that time?

LQ4
What was children's literature like in the 20s? What about 1922 specifically? Was it pretty common for non-fiction books to be popular? Did children use libraries quite often then, or were books more of something they received as a special gift or possibly only used in school?

So I took a picture of my shirt and used Photoshop to crop the seahorse from it. Felt like making a color scheme based off of it for the blog but it can change today or tomorrow or whenever we feel like it. I was just bored and felt like playing around with it today. I'm not even sure if this is the right color yellow for you - maybe it has a tad more orange color to it than you usually would pick?