Ghost Map 109-188

I thought that it was interesting, the whole miasma theory. No one today would ever even consider believing that smell causes disease. But that is what i found interesting, when we look back at old medicine practices we laugh because of how ridiculous they are or how ignorant they were, but whose to say that we know much better than they did. Medicine has come a long way but it does bring you to question how many things modern medicine may be wrong about. In a hundred years people may laugh at the fact that we thought that skin cancer came from too much sun or that you could get lung cancer from second hand smoke. It will be interesting to see what science and medicine discover down the road.

This chapter also discusses Whitehead’s interaction with the people. It is almost like Holmes is a combination of these two, Snow and Whitehead, in that Snow has the book knowledge and whitehead has the street knowledge. Holmes is like a super character that can do it all, but there are a lot of similarities between the three.

Ghost Map 57-109 Victor C.

As the cholera continues to spread we are introduced to a doctor named John Snow. Snow is a man that discovered one of the first anesthetics: ether. The cholera epidemic intrigued him so he decided to try to find out what exactly was causing the spread once and for all. At the time, it was widely accepted that the desease was being spread through the air, not by bacteria like most of us would think but rather, but rather by the bad smell of the cities.

The problem that Snow had with this was that it were caused by smell and was in the air, then that wouldn’t explain why it affected some areas but completely skipped over other parts. There really wasn’t an even spread of the disease like there would have been if it were truly being spread through the air. This lead to further investigation which lead Snow to believe that it was actually caused by contaminated water that people were drinking.

I think this might have been the era where the term “Don’t shit where you eat” may have come from, because workers in this time did just that. Most of us would gag at the thought of actually doing that, but this was common place for people back then. It really isn’t much of a surprise that the disease broke out.

Ghost Map 1-57 Victor C.

In this book we are introduced to Victorian London. It is amazing (and terrifying) to hear about how terrible the conditions were living in that age. With things like Human feces piling up in the streets it is really no wonder at all how the disease spread so quickly. I cant even imagine what London must have smelt like back then. It seems weird that the whole book is about how cities are needed and Johnson even later argues that they are much better as far as energy conservation and living in general, yet he begins the book with how terrible this city was. and how these people living in these close quarters with such terrible health conditions lead to the demise of countless innocent people.

Ghost Map Victor C.

I thought that it was interesting the way that they go about doing their research. Today people just read medical journals or research things on the internet, but back then they had to do a lot more primary research before they could draw any conclussions. I also think that it is interesting that Snow, while the physician, is still working with the poor. I also thought that it was impressive that Snow was doing some of the testing on himself

Transformation Victor C.

I thought that the picture was very representative of the book and movie. You can see from the picture that he is obviously in pain while making the transformation and that is described in both the book and the movie. What i think is the most interesting part of the  picture is how it portrays both characters.  Jekyll stands tall and looks very much like a gentlemen, an upstanding person from the upper class.  Hyde on the other hand looks like a troll almost. He looks scary and is very representative of the the dangerous creature he is. He is hunched over and looks like a deranged man. I think that this picture is a good representation of the transformation and shows the difference in the two characters not only emotionally but physically as well.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

I thought that both the book and movie were very boring. I did like the idea that the book had; that you dont know that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are the same person until the end. I love stories with a twist. The movie didnt have that aspect. I’m not sure if it was because so many people already knew the twist and so they decided that it wouldnt be much of a twist for the audience. I mean today everyone knows the basic story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, even if they have never read the story they have heard the basic plot outline. So if a movie were made no one would be fooled by the twist they would just find it boring and obvious. So I wonder if that is the reason that the decided to omit that aspect from the story.

I also thought the the added aspect of the women was great. I think that it would have added a lot to the book version as well. The two women are sort of representatives of Dr. Jekyll’s inner struggle but in an external setting. These to women are not the same person but it is clear that the more romantic upstanding woman is representative of the high class Dr. Jekyll while the other woman is the antithesis of  her and represents Jekyll’s wild inner self that is Mr. Hyde.

I loved the idea and basic plot of the stories but I just thought that the way they were told was very boring and could not hold my attention. It did get me thinking about how great of a twist it would be to find out that in “The Devil in the White City” the Burnham and Holmes were the same person.

Worlds Fair

I thought that after hearing about the world fair and seeing the video it would certainly be something i would be interested in seeing. Espically considering the time that it took place in Chicago. I  mean what else are you going to do at that day and age? The most exciting thing there was the amount of lights that were present. And compared to todays standards isnt much more than what you would see on a normal city block. However some of the things that the video talked about from Edison would even today be pretty magnificent to see. I can see why this was such a popular event at the time.

Devil in the White City

I am really starting to like this book. Its different than a lot of other books I have read before, just in the way that the story is told, for a non-fiction book that is. I think it is a pretty fast read also which is good. The way that he is able to describe things with such detail that you feel like your there while at the same time avoiding the route that Steven King takes and describing everything in such detail that you are simply bored and cant wait to put the book down. This story keeps you turning the pages. I didn’t get that kind of feel from “The Years or Rice and Salt”. I like the way that it discribes Chicago at the time it takes place, it is very easy to imagine. I also find it interesting that women are starting to get more jobs. Its is neat to see how the world is starting to make that transition.

Master and Commander

I really liked this movie. I think that the books would be interesting to read but I also feel that they would get boring at parts. The movie was quite long and thats why i get the feeling that the book might drag at times. Other than that I thought the movie was very entertaining. I really liked the ending, the little twist that the French captain was not actually dead. I also liked how much the success of the ship and voyage was based on the participation of the crew. All of the crew members had specific jobs that they could do better than anyone else, thus making them essential to the voyage. Today if you know how to flip a few switches and press a few buttons you can  sail a cruise liner by yourself. Back then everyone had to work together and do their job so that thing went smoothly. All in all i thought it was a great movie.

Book 4 The Alchemist

This book is about a man named Khalid who is indeed an alchemist. Unlike most alchemist he fakes his results and claims to have turned lead into gold. This as we know is impossible and upon further investigation we find that he has faked what he did. He is later sentenced to death because of this. He is not killed however, he simply has one of his hands removed, not to down play losing a hand, but in comparison to death its not too bad. He then has to do something that historically has happened to a lot of scientists. He is forced to develop weapons for the military. They also start to conduct science in the way that it is done today, by experimentation.