PARTNERS IN CRIME: GUILTY FOR EXCESSIVE DIFFICULTY

                I actually had the same reaction towards the ‘Meet a Mathematician’ talk, both just made the Biology universe much more difficult. I chose Biology mainly based on the fact that it relies on memorization and some analysis of concepts and ideas, no computations and such. Who would’ve thought that even after shifting, math would still haunt me? This book actually summed up what I was starting to realize entering this semester, especially during ecology and genetics. First they were just a few equations and some ratios/patterns. But after reading Stewart’s book and most of my lab manuals, it is clear that the time that math strikes back has come...

                Unlike the previous book, this one proved to be easy to read and very VERY relatable. It is so relatable, that I practically skipped (actually skimmed) the first few chapters. I have read more than a dozen versions each of Chapters 1 to 7 (with a few exceptions). Some were from lectures mostly introductory classes such as the ones we had at the start of the semester. This information can be considered as ‘common sense’ for future biologists. However, I will still add some of my more memorable reactions, since this is supposed to be a “review”.

Well, the first thing that interested me was already in Chapter 3, the one about Noah’s Ark. Before reading this book, Noah’s Ark was just a simple story for religion and enlightenment. And… math just makes it worse, why would I want to know how they fit those animals there? Using math to explain how they fit everything in an ark? The better question is “How did ~8 people gathered that much resources and animals then even build something to carry everything?”. In addition, why would it matter? Most of the scientific revolutions go against traditional religion… it’s like math is conspiring with the enemy.

After this chapter, I began to realize that the book itself jumps from interesting facts to boring basic biology with the occasional math-related interjection. To justify this, chapter 3 goes on about classifications, blah blah blah, been there done that. Most chapters are full of these basic and common biology facts. Overall, I’ll just review those interesting side stories and ideas, since I already have had enough biology from my BIOLOGY subjects.

So the book goes on and on and on about biology, not much about math…until Fibonacci. I have already heard of Fibonacci from high school, but just a little bit, not enough to destroy my brain. Before I would say things like, “look that sunflower’s spiral looks pattern-y”. Now I can’t help but think like a nerd…” blah blah blah Look! That sunflower’s spiral rotates at an angle of blah with the number coinciding with the Fibonacci sequence inclined to an angle of blah blah blah”… I blame it all on “math+biology”, you ruined me. I can’t look at plants the same way ever again… I mean they’re just flowers, why make them constant reminders of MATH… T.T

Then it goes back to boring biology facts, something about patterned rabbit baby-making and plant growth. I think that was part of “Meet a Mathematician” and the plant thing is still about Fibonacci and some other patterns, so I’ll just skip that. As I read further and further, the book delves deeper and deeper into biology eventually leaving me behind. By Chapter 5, it already tackles biology concepts in levels beyond my comprehension. I can still read it, but I can’t maintain the information long enough to fully analyze it. Most of the time, I read the sentences 3 times each to barely grasp their meaning or at least their implication. The Origin of Species, as I know it, is the book of natural selection written by Charles Darwin. Stewart makes it near impossible to completely understand this chapter by repeatedly going from one research to another. In my mind, his discussion should be easy enough to follow but in reality there is just so much information given from different perspectives that I can’t fully synthesize whole meaning (mainly because I don’t recognize many of the names in this Chapter). At least the math in this chapter was minimal, YEY! This “complexity” was carried over for all of the succeeding chapters. Chapters 6 to 10 were still bearable, since I still have stocked knowledge concerning these fields. The succeeding chapters were relatively new, and by extension painful.

At this point my brain is at its limit, normally I can’t finish any book I don’t like and I really don’t like this one. I was wrong in thinking that this was better than the first, in fact I think it’s more evil. Instead of being obviously boring, it starts of easy and fun, but when your guard is down it wrecks your brain with math-bio combos. Chapters 11 to 18 show some more specific application of math on biological concepts. I was from an electrical engineering course, and believe me it was HARD… and this book thinks its fine to just add it to biology!?! Brains are complex enough by themselves and now you want to add voltage, wavelength, etc. Even Ecology is being “mathemathized”. I didn’t even understand how lizards are like rock-paper-scissors. So what if there are three types, they aren’t playing a game, they can’t even choose. And good ol’ Stewey (Stewart) didn’t even bother to finish explaining this nonsense.

The last few chapters were a blur, my mind couldn’t process anymore, it was just too difficult. But I at least remembered the alien thing. I liked that part, didn’t understand it but still liked it. I don’t really believe in aliens but I do agree that we need broader mindsets. We really shouldn’t limit our “imagination”. I mean, maybe life could have emerged from conditions different to ours.

Now that I think about it, the book itself seems to be declining in quality. At first I liked it, it was simple, straightforward, relatable and cohesive. But as it progressed, the information seemed to become more and more disorganized and convoluted. There were just too many things going on. For each topic there were too many insights that weren’t completely explained, which made it harder to see the relationship between ideas. Maybe he got tired like me, hahaha.

To conclude, I think that the math and bio combo overall is beneficial to mankind. But I still it should be limited to those who enjoy math and pain. By themselves, they are already headaches, why would you want to combine them? Maybe inside a lab or within a computer or written in papers, this combinations could flourish, but definitely not in day-to-day life. The world will look so boring and nerdy, everything in numbers and patters, really? I OBJECT!!!