Seeing the World with a Sense of Wonder

The fact that this section exists is somewhat of an accident. It turns out, as I found out a couple of months ago, books are printed in multiples of 8 pages. I brought a book with 148 pages to the printer and so needed to find a way to add 4 pages. Furthermore it had to done by a (self-imposed) deadline and at a time in the altogether-too-long development of this book when it seemed as if my creativity was pretty much used up. I increased the length of the credits and acknowledgments section by a page using the simple device of increasing the font size. I replaced a blank page at the beginning with a note to the readers of the book and then I needed only two more pages. Thus, despite the fact that I don't really have that much more to say (hoping the book speaks for itself), I am now adding a "preface" for adults. It's at the end of the book because, after all, this is primarily a book for children. (Also, I didn't want to spend the extra time that would have been required renumbering the pages!) In addition, I'm adding one more activity, which by sheer coincidence, is the 100th activity in the book.

Well, maybe I do have a little bit to say to adults that might be helpful, or at least of interest. One thing is the fact that I have not tried to make this book, despite the modern trend, accessible to all children. Or rather, I should say that, while all children should be able to find at least parts of the book interesting, many children will also find parts of the book very difficult to understand. Not only because of the content, but also because I expect them to actually read carefully, even the directions for the activities. From my long experience of teaching math and science, I know that, for many children in this new world of over-exposure to multimedia, this is a major expectation.

I'm not sure that this was the right thing to do. But I also have the secret hope that the lack of "dumbing down" in this book may lead to more parental (or grand-parental) involvement in the book, both with the ideas and with the activities. Most children, maybe even teenagers, if given the chance and the right atmosphere, love to be read to. So, at least as an experiment, try reading sections of the book to them or with them. Maybe they will have a greater interest and a greater maturity in thinking about the ideas or in trying the more difficult activities than the "dumber-downers" in the educational businesses would expect. (And please let me know what happens if you try this - you can email me at Peter@WhaleyLakeHomePress.com)

My interest in the ideas that, by very circuitous routes, led to this book, started about fourteen or fifteen years ago. Because of a change in the science curriculum at the Dwight-Englewood School, I had to teach earth science to eighth graders, a field about which I knew very little. That had its difficulties (staying a day or two ahead of the students), but it also had its advantages: since not a lot was expected of me I was free to experiment in the course. I was especially able to do this in a small honors class of about ten students that I was lucky enough to be teaching. During the astronomy section (traditionally part of an earth science curriculum), since the book only showed the relative sizes of the planets, we decided to make a true scale model of the solar system. We did the math, reducing the size of the solar system by a factor of about 10 billion. The Sun became a little larger than a softball, Jupiter the size of a marble, and the smaller planets, including the Earth, had to be represented by the head of a pin. We set the model up on Dwight-Englewood's campus, putting the Sun near one end. Then the pinhead representing Earth was about 50 feet away, Jupiter about five times as far away as that, and Neptune (the farthest planet at that time) on the other side of the campus, about 1400 feet away.

If you try to imagine that, you can well understand how astounded we all were by the vast amount of space compared to our tiny, tiny planet. As a final kicker, we calculated the distance to the nearest star, Proxima Centauri, and it was all the way to California in our model. And nothing but empty space in between!

From then on, for the next few years, I got very interested in the scale of things in the world. Somehow it had never really come up in my own education, or at least it never struck me. Not only the larger scale of the universe, but the equally astounding micro-worlds: atoms, molecules and cells. For several years I added sections to my ninth grade physical science classes where the students tried to visualize the atomic world. This not only corresponded to my interest, but was a very helpful preparation for the students' tenth grade biology course.

In my personal life this interest continued for a number of years, corresponding to my additional interest in the traditional methods of self-development, especially the ideas of G.I. Gurdjieff, Krishnamurti, and Zen Buddhism. Professionally, my work with these ideas ended when a major change in the math and science curriculums at Dwight-Englewood didn't leave really enough room for it in the curriculum. That change coincided with my sabbatical year at Dwight-Englewood. After the sabbatical year, I took a "break" from teaching for five years. And during those five years, the idea and beginnings of this book emerged.

Well, like all histories, the above makes my life seem a lot more intentional that it actually was or is. Nevertheless, despite all the ups and downs that enter into a project like this, the book is finally finished and I hope you and your children or grandchildren or students enjoy it.