The Call of Cthulu – H.P. Lovecraft
By some horrendous luck, I have managed to live 32 years without having been exposed to H.P. Lovecraft. I can sense the more literary among you castigating me severely, and with what little information I have gathered in the last 10 minutes, I duly deserve it. But apparently that silly "I Write Like" website that's gone viral thinks that I write like Lovecraft. I had vaguely heard of his Cthulu character, most recently in an artwork by a truly amazing artist I initially discovered on Redbubble, David Lange. So I decided to take a glance at Lovecraft's story "The Call of Cthulu." The very first paragraph is absolutely fascinating.
"The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age."
"To the Old Ones" - by David Lange
Developmental Biologists Online
Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origin of Species
Just a couple of quick notes to my fellow developmental biologists out there:
First, due to my recent post, Science Blogging: The Future of Science Communication & Why You Should be a Part of it, I was reminded through my comments at Larry Moran's reaction post at Sandwalk that I haven't met very many developmental biologist bloggers out there.
In fact, there is only one dedicated developmental bio blogger I've found: the superb Hoxful Monsters by Nagraj Sambrani. His blog is written for scientists - and if you care about the nitty gritty details of development and evo-devo, his is a blog you should not miss. (Yes I know PZ of Pharyngula is a developmental biologist and posts on the subject as well - but I think he has "evolved" well beyond being developmental-centered - feel free to disagree)
But there must be at least a few more out there, right? If there are, please let me know.
Second, I recently started listening to Scientific American's "Science Talk" podcasts again on my long drive to work. In the February 28th episode, there's an incredibly fascinating interview with one of the premier evo-devo researchers, Dr. Sean Carroll, in which he talks about his new book, Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origin of Species. This is one book I will definitely be picking up with due haste.
I highly recommned the podcasts as well.