My Last School Week--Reading Summaries

(Sorry; didn't have time to post anything earlier! This was for last week.)
I've read four different books this week (get the first two free!)--Antiquities of the Jews, by Josephus; Two Years Before the Mast by R.H. Dana; Keeping Food Fresh (lots of different authors here! :D), editor Claude Aubert; and Living Fossils, Evolution the Grand Experiment Vol. 2, by Dr. Carl Werner. Lots of reading, but all VERY interesting! Mum wants me to write 2-3 sentences about each chapter/portion that I read every day, so she can keep tabs on what I'm doing! So here's my thoughts on the books:

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First, I'll have...

Two Years Before the Mast Chapter Notes:

Chapter 1:
The MC (main character) boards the boat he is to sail on. He looks over the ship, and tries to get settled. He is confused with all the activity when they take off from shore.

Chapter 2:
MC begins to learn the ropes. They had a storm. And they saw a ship while they were going.

Chapter 3:
They had fine weather. He learns all about how the crew functions.

Chapter 4:
They passed another ship. They caught their first dolphin. They were threatened by a pirate ship, but were able to escape.

Chapter 5:
They were very close to Cape Horn. They saw SH (southern hemisphere) stars. They had a terrible battling to get around Cape Horn. Very violent weather. Got around Cape Horn safely.

Chapter 6:
They lost a man overboard. They spent most of the day looking for him, all to no avail.

Chapter 7:
They came to the island of Juan Fernandez. It was beautiful. He enjoyed his time there while they refilled water caskets.

Chapter 8:
They caught south-east trade winds, and made good headway toward California. He describes “tarring down”. They crossed the equator for the second time. They landed at Point Conception., then came to anchor in the bay of Santa Barbara.

Chapter 9:
They arrived in California in January (had set sail in August). They were enjoying the beautiful weather. They learned how to beach a boat.

Chapter 10:
A south-east wind blew, and they had a hard time battling it. They were finally able to come into port.

Chapter 11:
They went sailing again, and had a strong blow. Some of the masts were cracking. Some of the sails shredded. They landed safely in Monterey.

Chapter 12:
In Monterey, they traded with the local Mexican population. He learned the Spanish language.

Chapter 13:
They head down the coast again for Santa Barbara. They had another southeasterly. The seamen were discontent. It appears as though they may be at sea for three or four years.

Chapter 14:
The captain showed his ugly side, and flogged two men seemingly for no reason. He made them work very hard without any slacking off. The crew chose to suffer, rather than be branded pirates (if they got rid of the captain) or mutineers (if they refused to obey).

Chapter 15:
Half of the crew were allowed a whole day's freedom on Sunday to go on shore. They enjoyed their day immensely.

Chapter 16:
They took off again, after spending 2-3 weeks at the port (not sure of name). The second mate ran away, because he couldn't stand the pressure any more. They got underway for Santa Barbara.

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Let's see...next up,

Josephus' Antiquities of the Jews Notes:

(Only from Friday, since I didn't have time to take notes earlier in the week)

Friday, September 21, 2012

I read about a character name Joseph (who was famous for the way he taxed people, and he became rich), who had a smart son named Hyrcanus. Hyrcanus was even smarter than his brothers.

HOW JOSEPH GOT RICH:

“And when the day came on which the king was to let the taxes of the cities to farm, and those that were the principal men of dignity in their several countries were to bid for them, the sum of the taxes together, of Celesyria, and Phoenicia, and Judea, with Samaria, [as they were bidden for,] came to eight thousand talents. Hereupon Joseph accused the bidders, as having agreed together to estimate the value of the taxes at too low a rate; and he promised that he would himself give twice as much for them: but for those who did not pay, he would send the king home their whole substance; for this privilege was sold together with the taxes themselves. The king was pleased to hear that offer; and because it augmented his revenues, he said he would confirm the sale of the taxes to him. But when he asked him this question, Whether he had any sureties that would be bound for the payment of the money? he answered very pleasantly, "I will give such security, and those of persons good and responsible, and which you shall have no reason to distrust." And when he bid him name them who they were, he replied, "I give thee no other persons, O king, for my sureties, than thyself, and this thy wife; and you shall be security for both parties." So Ptolemy laughed at the proposal, and granted him the farming of the taxes without any sureties. This procedure was a sore grief to those that came from the cities into Egypt, who were utterly disappointed; and they returned every one to their own country with shame.

“But Joseph took with him two thousand foot soldiers from the king, for he desired he might have some assistance, in order to force such as were refractory in the cities to pay. And borrowing of the king's friends at Alexandria five hundred talents, he made haste back into Syria. And when he was at Askelon, and demanded the taxes of the people of Askelon, they refused to pay any thing, and affronted him also; upon which he seized upon about twenty of the principal men, and slew them, and gathered what they had together, and sent it all to the king, and informed him what he had done. Ptolemy admired the prudent conduct of the man, and commended him for what he had done, and gave him leave to do as he pleased. When the Syrians heard of this, they were astonished; and having before them a sad example in the men of Askelon that were slain, they opened their gates, and willingly admitted Joseph, and paid their taxes. And when the inhabitants of Scythopolis attempted to affront him, and would not pay him those taxes which they formerly used to pay, without disputing about them, he slew also the principal men of that city, and sent their effects to the king. By this means he gathered great wealth together, and made vast gains by this farming of the taxes; and he made use of what estate he had thus gotten, in order to support his authority, as thinking it a piece of prudence to keep what had been the occasion and foundation of his present good fortune; and this he did by the assistance of what he was already possessed of, for he privately sent many presents to the king, and to Cleopatra, and to their friends, and to all that were powerful about the court, and thereby purchased their good-will to himself.”

ABOUT HOW HYRCANUS WAS SMART (basically the whole selection):

"…And when this his [Joseph's] youngest son showed, at thirteen years old, a mind that was both courageous and wise, and was greatly envied by his brethren, as being of a genius much above them, and such a one as they might well envy, Joseph had once a mind to know which of his sons had the best disposition to virtue; and when he sent them severally to those that had then the best reputation for instructing youth, the rest of his children, by reason of their sloth and unwillingness to take pains, returned to him foolish and unlearned. After them he sent out the youngest, Hyrcanus, and gave him three hundred yoke of oxen, and bid him go two days' journey into the wilderness, and sow the land there, and yet kept back privately the yokes of the oxen that coupled them together. When Hyrcanus came to the place, and found he had no yokes with him, he condemned the drivers of the oxen, who advised him to send some to his father, to bring them some yokes; but he thinking that he ought not to lose his time while they should be sent to bring him the yokes, he invented a kind of stratagem, and what suited an age older than his own; for he slew ten yoke of the oxen, and distributed their flesh among the laborers, and cut their hides into several pieces, and made him yokes, and yoked the oxen together with them; by which means he sowed as much land as his father had appointed him to sow, and returned to him. And when he was come back, his father was mightily pleased with his sagacity, and commended the sharpness of his understanding, and his boldness in what he did. And he still loved him the more, as if he were his only genuine son, while his brethren were much troubled at it."

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Let's see...next, I'll do...

Keeping Food Fresh Notes:

Monday, September 17, 2012
I learned how the food industry conflicts with human nourishment now-a-days. How traditional food preservation techniques have slowly been lost as canning (bottling), freezing, and ultra-pasteurizing foods have taken their places. Also, how a lot of the recipes from this book came originally from France.

(If you're wondering why Tuesday isn't here; we went to a writing group that day.)

Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Today, I learned how canning or freezing with only a few exceptions are the only choices to have ready-to-eat fruits and vegetables out of season. And how there ARE different methods of preserving them.

Thursday, September 20, 2012
Now that I've gotten through the introduction from the last two days of reading, I finally got to Chapter 1! And that was; Preserving in the Ground or in a Root Cellar. Today, I got to learn about sixteen different vegetables that can be kept in the ground. Also, about how to do trenching (or heeling in). Basically, you dig trenches, and place the cabbage or lettuce plants in them!

Friday, September 21, 2012
Today, I read about preserving food in silos! I was amazed at all the different types; there are brick silos, dirt silos, trench silos, and washer or steamer silos. Fascinating!

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And now, for the last and my favorite one...

Living Fossils, Evolution the Grand Experiment Vol. 2!

Monday, September 17, 2012
The author begins to tell his story. He was raised a Catholic, and never questioned the teachings of the Bible until he got to his high school years. Then he learned about Ontogeny Recapitulates Phylogeny, a principle created by Dr. Ernst Haeckel in the late 1800s, portraying that human embryos retrace the history of evolution in their embryonic stages. Years later, the author found out that the drawings demonstrating ORP were extremely inaccurate, and shown to be false even in Haeckel's time¹! And they're still in textbooks today—even though they were shown to be false 100 years ago.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Today, I learned about how the author, in the middle of his sophomore year of college, went out for a pizza with a classmate. While there, the classmate asked four important questions that would change his life. A seed of doubt was planted there, and he began researching to see if evolution was really true. From then on, he was on a life long quest to find out what the truth was.

Thursday, September 20, 2012
Today, I started chapter two: How Can You Verify Evolution? There were four evidences for evolution he gave that he believed when he started trying to find out what the truth was. 1) Ontogeny Recapitulates Phylogeny, 2) Most scientists believe it, 3) Ape-men, and 4) Some fossil evidence of animals changing from one animal type into another. Then there were three evidences against Evolution: 1) Too many missing links, 2) The big bang theory does not work, and 3) Life could not begin spontaneously. It's getting VERY interesting!

Friday, September 21, 2012
Today, I read about how he studied everything about evolution he could for the next eighteen years. After that time, he began to start finding out things first-hand, rather than second-hand, as he was getting from books, articles, etc. He began to study living fossils in the “older” layers. And he took a trip out west.

¹Want to see the picture comparing Haeckel's drawings and the real things bigger? Go here. (just scroll down the page a little bit, and you'll see it). I found this study really interesting!