Here are a few reasons: Dinosaurs, mining, Cholera
1. It is general knowledge that the dinosaurs got wiped out by an asteroid.
Is it? Since when?
The evidence?
Read "The Short History Of Nearly Everything".
I read this book before we “googled” to see if there was a story behind this “fact”
Bryson reports a geologist’s comment “I think we’ve found the crater”
This is the most obvious crater on the planet, so it was immediately the obvious suspect. Too bad that it was formed 65,000,000 years after the dinosaurs chilled out, give or take 55,000 years.
Bryson breezes through the story without being asked. The evidence points to Chicxulub ; for another good summary, try : http://www.glencoe.com/sec/computered/col/chapter5/search_engines/yahoo/yahoo_6.html
2. In “A Walk In The Woods” the coverage of the Centralia Coal mine fire made me check out how many mines are on fire, permanently. It does make coal mining appear to be as dangerous as gold or diamond, in spite of coal often being nearer the surface. Mining is high risk, everywhere.
3. “At home”. John Snow was the hero in the struggle in against cholera. He came from the wrong side of the tracks, (this is a post on its own) but for 150 years he has been left off the honours board. Bryson simply restates the evidence – make up your own mind.
Put your feet up !
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