The Pandas Thumb -- Stephen Jay Gould Essay -- essays research papers

The Panda’s Thumb: More Reflections in Natural History With a touch of humor, geology, evolutionary theory, biology, cartoon characters and even some references to baseball, The Panda’s Thumb definitely makes excellent reading for people with all types of interests. The old clichà ©, â€Å"Don’t judge a book by its cover,† or in this case, title, holds true for The Panda’s Thumb. Theories concerning adaptations of the panda are only a fraction of the many exciting facts held within the pages of this publication. Gould is able to put what he writes about in words that are easy to understand without compromising the quality of the information. Many questions are raised in this book. Some questions that science just can’t answer at the moment. Time is a major theme in some of the essays in The Panda’s Thumb. I found these essays of utmost interest. Stephen Jay Gould writes as if you were sitting in a chair across from him having an insightful conversation. His essays are written in ways that are down-to-earth, entertaining, and easy to understand. Bits of humor are scattered throughout the book. One passage read, â€Å"The history of any one part of the earth, like the life of a soldier, consists of long periods of boredom and short periods of terror.† These little scraps of humor are placed in the just the right locations. After reading one of his essays concerning bipedalism (walking on two feet) I chuckled at the following statement, â€Å"It is now two in the morning and I’m finished...

Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus: Differences in Character Essay

There are a lot of books nowadays about the characters of men and women. One of them isâ€Å"Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus† by John Gray was a bestseller of 2012. I haven’t read this book but I’m going to share with you my thoughts about why men and women are different and why they don’t live on their â€Å"planets†. Firstly, we consider women to be sympathetic and gentle while men fearless and earnest. Women are more likely to take care of children. They give a birth to a child and are always do the best for them. They sympathize with people who hardly keep their body and soul together and show that they are not indifferent. Men on the contrary used to fight on the wars and kill people because of their duty. We can see more women than men in teaching professions while more men than women in works which need physical strength. Even the melody of the word â€Å"Venus† sounds gentle and sweet while the word â€Å"Mars† strict and serious. Moreover, women are more excited and communicative while men are not so emotional and reserved. Even scientists proved that woman use in three times more words during a day than men. Women are more emotional that’s why they are ready to comment on everything what happens with them. Men in most cases use their logic to express their feelings. Women can cope with two or three informational channels while men become nerves when they have to communicate with large number of people. Finally, the men are leaders. They even can be compared with lions, women, in their turn, with lioness. Men have been the getters from the primitive times till now. T he women’s work is to inspire and make it pleasant for men to bring catch to home. Men are hunters while women are tempters. Women are creators of cosiness while men are defenders of it. In conclusion, we can say that men and women are really from different planets because they have different level of fearlessness and sweetness. They have different emotional range and different role in society, but in spite that they came from unlike planets they cannot live there because on Mars there are no women and on Venus there are no men.

Hamlet and The Great Gatsby - 1134 Words

No two human beings that have ever inhabited the earth were, are, or will ever be alike. Every individual possesses his or her own looks, qualities, morals, personality, and much more. Comparing two characters from arguably, two of the greatest stories ever written, is quite a feat to accomplish. One could already relate the two main protagonists of Hamlet and The Great Gatsby just by looking at the titles of the novels! Hamlet and Jay Gatsby are two characters, who can easily be overanalyzed without truly researching into their own stories and unveiling just who these two gentlemen are, for they are enigmas, and can be scrutinized into being more similar than one may think. Hamlet and The Great Gatsby each have stories within stories within stories. Characters in both synopses are somehow related to one another. In Hamlet, when King Hamlet dies, Claudius â€Å"inherits† the throne, because he gets married to Gertrude. He is not just another man involved with the royal court, but rather he is actually related, being King Hamlet’s brother. Another example is when young Fortinbras of Norway should just be considered another king of another nation in Europe and has no relations to Denmark or any rulers, courts, or people in Hamlet. However, young Fortinbras must become involved with Denmark, because after all, it was the late King Hamlet who killed his father, Fortinbras, and so naturally, he feels the need to revenge his father’s death. In The Great Gatsby, the narrator, Nick isShow MoreRelatedThe Great Gatsby vs. Hamlet1514 Words   |  7 Pagesthe novel The Great Gatsby, love is shown between many different characters in different ways. The reader experiences love at its best and worst. We see relationships flourish, rekindle and end between the different characters. The most controversial relationship is the relationship between Daisy and Tom. Through infidelity, and mistrust, tragedy occurs. Other characters become associated with their marital problems, showing different kinds of love and relationships. In the play Hamlet, the readerRead MoreCompare the Great Gatsby and Hamlet2641 Words   |  11 PagesMelody Akinduro ENG4U Ms.Jackson 8th of January 2012. The Journal Of The Great Gatsby JOURNAL ONE The great Gatsby book started with a man telling us his father advised him never to criticize anyone , he said his father told him he should remember that all this people in this world havent had the advantages that youve had and his father thought him how to be reserved. He also have good manners and a well honourable character. Nick just graduated from yale university and heRead MoreTragedy: Shakespeares Hamlet and Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby1007 Words   |  5 PagesIn the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare and the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the objective is to divulge the quintessence of humanity. Although the protagonists in both works of literature have drastically different journeys that lead to climactic endings, the use of plot is to demonstrate that the essence of mankind is ultimately a tragedy if great care is not taken. Both Hamlet and Jay Gatsby are unable to focus on the reality of the situation, and rather waste valuable timeRead MoreEssay on Ha mlet and Gatsby Comparison1114 Words   |  5 PagesIn the novel  The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsbys longing for Daisy Buchanan leads him to his own downfall. Similarly in the novel  Hamlet, Hamlets extreme love for his father and his hatred towards his mother play a major role in his tragedy. In these works, there are a number of motivating factors that contribute to the downfall of the main characters- obsession, hatred, and the wanting to be accepted – but ultimately it is love that leads to the demise of Gatsby and Hamlet. Hamlet loved his fatherRead MoreGatsby and Hamlet Essays2219 Words   |  9 PagesExamining Hamlet and The Great Gatsby 1/9/13 According to Roger Lewis, â€Å"The acquisition of money and love are both part of the same dream, the will to return to the quintessential unity that exists only at birth and at death† (41). In both William Shakespeares play, Hamlet, and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, the protagonists are willing to sacrifice all that they have in order to achieve their unrealistic objectives and ambitions, resulting in their tragic demises. While thereRead More Comparing Fitzgeralds Great Gatsby and Eliots The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock1134 Words   |  5 PagesFitzgeralds Great Gatsby and Eliots The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock   Ã‚   The Roaring Twenties bring to mind a generation of endless partying, which reflected very little of the morals of the generations preceding it. The world, for that generation, was fast-paced and thoroughly material, crowded with bizarre and colorful characters like David Belasco and Arnold Rothstein. Inspired by this eras spiritually exhausted people (Brians), F. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby and T. S. Read MoreHow Is Oedipus A Tragic Hero831 Words   |  4 Pagesstated that â€Å"a man doesn’t become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall,† when describing a tragic hero. Throughout history, there have been many literary tragic heroes: Hamlet from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Romeo from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, and even Jay Gatsby from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Often times, when discussing tragic heroes, the Theban tragedy of Oedipus Rex and his family is brought up. The tragic hero, Oedipus Rex was t he heir to the throne of Thebes who wasRead MoreAnalysis Of F. Scott Fitzgerald s The Great Gatsby 1665 Words   |  7 Pagesmodernism as framework, F. Scott Fitzgerald, T.S. Elliot, and George Bernard Shaw have all created literary works that marked the new and unorthodox ways of viewing and interacting with the world with the beginning of the twentieth century. The Great Gatsby, The Love Song of J. A. Prufrock, The Wasteland, and Pygmalion portrayed the rejection of principles for religion, tradition, and morality in order to progress into their ever changing societies as an unpleasant reaction to the preceding VictorianRead MoreTragic Hero1598 Words   |  7 PagesStrife from Final Fantasy VII †¢ Creon from Antigone by Sophocles †¢ Eddie, from Arthur Miller s A View from the Bridge †¢ Ethan Frome from Edith Wharton s Ethan Frome †¢ Hamlet from Shakespeare s Hamlet †¢ Jack Bauer from the television series 24 †¢ James Gatz (Jay Gatsby) from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald †¢ JC Denton from the PC game Deus Ex †¢ John-117 from the Halo video games †¢ Michael Corleone, from The Godfather books (by Mario Puzo) and filmsRead MoreComparative Essay- the Great Gatsby4190 Words   |  17 PagesBehind every great man lies a great women. In some cases the women herself may not always be good or ideal according to society. Nevertheless it seems to add character to the man,and also influences his actions and maybe even his morals. In Shakespearean literature,Shakespeare tends to use people to develop certain characters throughout the play. In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet is the person with the most influence on Romeo. This influence allows him to develop as a character and also helps develop