Book Progress #26

I think I have finally reached the point where all of my arguments about whale evolution are finally in place. It has taken a long time to get to this point, particularly since every time I thought I had constructed a solid foundation I discovered some new fact or observation that was too exciting to be left out, but I should soon have a presentable first draft. As I learned during a quick clean-up of the first 12 pages, though, editing is going to be a difficult task. I am far too-attached to "however," "although," "while," etc. I have overused them and I don't want my argument to suffer because of my addiction to certain conjunctions.

I also held some reservations about the historical section that makes up the first 1/3 of the chapter. In each section I'm trying to use an interesting historical hook to draw the reader in, using the interesting story to introduce them to what is presently known about the evolution of each group (a blend of science and the history of science). The problem facing the whale chapter is that the historical opener has two main parts, the first chronologically coming after the second. I tried to think of some other way to tackle the problem, a way to do things in "proper" order, but it didn't make sense for the kind of narrative I wanted (it would relegate a fascinating story into little more than a footnote). I asked my wife to look over the first 12 pages and tell me what she thought. She replied that what I had done made sense, and I was glad to hear that I wouldn't have to eviscerate the historical introduction.

After I polish off the whale chapter I'm going to dive back into the one on dinosaurs and birds. It is going to require a lot of work, especially in light of what I have learned since I first started writing it, but my familiarity with the topic should make it easier to write about. I'm fairly confident that I'll be able to get that chapter prepared before the end of the summer, too, but I doubt that I will have the time to finish a third one. For a time I thought that the chapter on horses would be a good candidate for the materials I wanted to include in my proposal but now I am not so sure. The human evolution chapter is probably a better candidate, primarily because it will have more potential to speak to the reader than a chapter on horses.

The chapter covering our own evolution has been one of the most difficult to write. Not only is there a staggering amount of literature on the subject but the study of human origins is highly contentious. The amount of papers published about the beginnings of bipedalism alone would be enough to bury me. The subject really requires a separate book, and while I momentarily considered leaving the summary of human evolution out I quickly decided against such an omission. What good will the rest of the chapters be if the reader doesn't come away with the understanding that not only is evolution real, but that it also applies to their own ancestry? We can argue all we want about transitional whales, three-toed horses, and feathered dinosaurs, but the whole reason that the subject of evolution has been so controversial is because it connects us to the rest of the natural world. I would be foolish to ignore that connection, and I will have to craft the chapter on our own evolutionary history with the utmost care.

Here's the latest "whales wordle";

title="Wordle: Latest whale chapter"> src="http://wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/129797/Latest_whale_chapter"
style="padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd">