When he wrote this, Earth had twice the number of species of plants and animals that now survive. Human population was 3 billion (up from 750,000 200 years earlier p. 211) (and rising by one billion per 12 years, as it has ever since).
Speed of sound in surface ocean at 0ºC is 1543 m/s; in air at 0ºC, 332 m/s. p. 54.
Reef-forming coral won't grow below about 70ºF. p. 59. [Nor will they survive more than tiny concentrations of atmospheric CO2, which dissolves in seawater, becomes acid, and kills coral.] Polyps range from pinhead- to pea-size. They extend their tentacles only at night. p. 62. When a moray bites it doesn't let go: you have to cut its head off. p. 69. Sea urchins walk at night. p. 70. Probably the greatest hazard of the reef is sunburn. p. 75.
Minimum rainfall for a tropical rainforest is about 80 inches/year. p. 101. Zero to 10 inches/year is desert. Deserts lie in latitudes where winds blow toward the equator. p. 123.
Forest and sea are similar in having sunny high layers, grading down to dark depths, with appropriately-adapted communities of living things at each level.
In northern woods, the mosquitoes biting you are apt to be all of the same kind; while in the rain forest, almost every bite will be from a different species of mosquito, if that is any comfort. p. 105.
The ants poured on in their tens of thousands, swept through our snake pit, and left us with skeletons. p. 110.
Some male moths can locate a female of their species a mile away, and fly directly to her. pp. 177, 186.
To a dog, the silently approaching vampire bat would sound like a boiler factory falling in out of the sky. p. 184.
Look at the human brain as a product, a consequence, of the use of tools, the development of culture. pp. 219-228.
Southeast Asia seems to be the original home of a surprising number of domesticated plants and animals. p. 237-239.
Below the Edge of Darkness, Edith Widder (1951-), 2021, 329 pages, Dewey 551.46092, ISBN 9780525509240. 9.5" x 6.25" x 1.25".
Autobiographical account Below the Edge of Darkness, Edith Widder (1951-), 2021, 329 pages, Dewey 551.46092, ISBN 9780525509240. 9.5" x 6.25" x 1.25".
Autobiographical account of seeking bioluminescent deep-sea creatures.
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The edge of darkness, the ocean depth at which a tiny bit of light can just be detected looking straight up--a bit of dark gray surrounded by black--may be at less than 300 to more than 2000 feet deep on a sunny day, depending on biomass density. pp. 259, 278. The edge of darkness rises as the sun sets. And with it, an entire population of ocean animals rises toward the surface for the night.
Plants can exist only in the upper strata of the ocean, where there's enough sunlight for photosynthesis: roughly the top 650 feet. p. 217. Whether you eat plants, or you eat planteaters, or you eat planteater-eaters, you need to go up to feed. Do it at night, so you won't be seen and eaten.
Bioluminescence is everywhere in the deep ocean. Ocean animals have sophisticated variable-illumination lighting on their undersides, so that their shadows aren't visible from below, against the dim sunlight.
"Before any of the funding agencies would consider financial support, they wanted to know what, exactly, I would discover." p. 184.
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The author's team made videorecordings of live giant squids in the wild. Eyes the size of basketballs. (2012, south of Japan; 2019, Gulf of Mexico.) pp. 245-246, 265-267, 271, 14th-15th photo pages. Here's her TED talk about it: https://www.npr.org/2015/01/09/373978...
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In Humboldt squid fights, size largely determines who's the diner and who's the dinner. p. 281.
The Georges Bank, off the New England coast, was fished out by 1994, when fishing was banned: too late. What came back was not fish but a sea of jellyfish--which eat fish larvae, and which better tolerate sewage and acidic oceans. pp. 288-290.
There are five stages of seasickness: 1 denial 2 nausea 3 feeding the fish 4 you're afraid you're going to die 5 you're afraid you're not going to die. People have had to be physically restrained to keep them from jumping overboard to end their misery. p. 186.
"Many may claim that getting a Ph.D. is as easy as riding a bike … through a desert, with no sleep, while people in black robes try to distract you by setting your hair on fire." Widder, by contrast, loved grad school. p. 64. "According to the rules of credit and blame in research, success is attributed to the supervisory brilliance of the adviser, and failure to the utter incompetence of the grad student or postdoc." p. 127.
"Success in life depends on how well you handle Plan B. Anyone can handle Plan A." --Jim Sullivan. "If you're not failing occasionally, I'll think you aren't reaching far enough." --David Packard. p. 193.
Stephen King on Writing, 2000 25th anniversary edition, 2020 ISBN 9781439193631 316pp.
He says it's not an autobiography, but it is. He's got a page-turniStephen King on Writing, 2000 25th anniversary edition, 2020 ISBN 9781439193631 316pp.
He says it's not an autobiography, but it is. He's got a page-turning life story, and he writes well.
And, he wants to share some advice on how to write well. For example,
Omit needless words. --Strunk & White, /The Elements of Style/. p. 282.
Easy on the adverbs. Not likely always necessarily literally completely actually strictly absolutely totally vanishingly forever, but again shortly really truly only just almost very very very verySexily sparingly. pp. 124-128, 225.
If you don't want to work your ass off, you have no business trying to write well. p. 144. If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others. Read a lot, and write a lot. p. 145.
Description begins in the writer's imagination, but should finish in the reader's. p. 174.
King admits to being to some extent a vulgar lowbrow. p. 188.
He says /The Stand/ is his novel that his longtime readers like the best. p. 201. Writing it he realized that violence as a solution is woven through human nature. p. 205.
Write the first draft fast, so you keep the story in mind. Put it aside 6 weeks. Reread. Ask your friends to read it. "The locals are shooting as many peasants pheasants as they think their families will eat." p. 217. "Leave out the boring parts." --Elmore Leonard. 2nd draft = 1st draft - 10%. p.222. (Paul Krugman said he always had 1500 words to say, and The New York Times Op-Editor made him say it in 800. That gave his columns punch.)
It's the dab of grit that seeps into an oyster's shell that makes the pearl, not pearl-making seminars with other oysters. p. 232. It seems to occur to few of the attendees that if you have a feeling you just can't describe, you might just be, I don't know, my sense of it is, maybe in the wrong fucking class. p. 233.
There are thousands of talented writers at work in America: maybe 5% can support their families and themselves with their work. p. 235. Underpaid writers teach. p. 236. You learn best by reading a lot and writing a lot.
There are people in the publishing world--more than a few, actually--who would steal the pennies off a dead man's eyes. p. 238.
If you can do it for joy, you can do it forever. p. 249. Writing is as much the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So drink. p. 270.
If there's a gun on the mantel in Act I, it must go off in Act III. --old rule of theater.
At the end, he lists a few hundred of the books he's read lately.
When it's hard, push through. p. 307.
Joe Hill is Stephen King's son. Joe Hill: "There's this old Jay Leno joke: "Stephen King says, 'Kids, do you want to hear a bedtime story?' And the kids say, 'NOOOOOOO!'" We loved bedtime stories. My dad doesn't sell fear. Politicians sell fear. My dad's stories sell bravery. Things might get bad, but if you have faith and loyalty and a sense of humor, sometimes you can kick the darkness until it bleeds daylight.
If it's still fun and people still enjoy it, then I want to keep doing it.
Thomas Ray
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