This section consists of rabbit holes I delved into throughout the book. I felt a lot like Alice in Wonderland. Feel free to try to follow my train of thought and where my subsequent research led me!
- pg. xi: Determinism- What is it?
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- Sorry Professor Puestol, I guess I did not pay enough attention in your philosophy course last semester and could not, for the life of me, remember what determinism is. A quick Google search jogged my memory: the belief that all events are predetermined. This can go further into the idea that humans do not have free will, but that is dependent on the philosopher.
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- pg. 12: Cave walls in Lascaux, France
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- I am mad at everyone for never telling me that these exist.
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- pg. 24: What is a Tehuacan diet?
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- The Tehuacan region of Mexico is adjacent to Veracruz and Hidalgo; in the southeastern portion of the country. The ‘Tehuacan diet’ consists of maize, alfalfa, wheat, beans, and select cattle. It’s one of the earliest Spanish settlements which makes sense in the context that Harris introduces it.
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- pg. 39: What is the maximum number of offspring born to one female and of one male?
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- I know we talked about this in class, but I am pretty sure I was so shocked that I blacked it out of my mind. Mr. Moulay Ismail ibn Sharif of Morocco had approximately 1171 children. Mr. and Mrs. Vassilyev of Russia are said to have given birth to 69 children; 67 of them survived infancy. In the 1700s. There are tears on my keyboard. I am horrified. Rocked to my core.
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- pg. 71: Mumis, the Siuai, and Solomon Islands
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- The Solomon Islands (which Harris brings up often) are off of the cost of Papua New Guinea. The Siuai people live on one southwestern island, there are 992 small islands that comprise the country. As Harris says, a Mumi is synonymous with the ‘big men’ that he spends his seventh chapter dissecting.
- I also found a fun tupperware and packaging company by the name of Mumi, but I am assuming this is not the type of Mumi that Harris refers to.
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- pg. 88: How much annual rainfall is required for a forest to be considered a rainforest?
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- 75 inches annually – that’s 6’3, which is the height of Donald Trump or the Hemsworth brothers. Who else is surprised that Trump is that tall? Instead of thinking about Trump, enjoy the beautiful Hemsworths and thank their parents for creating such beautiful children.
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- pg. 92: What led to the collapse of the Mayans?
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- According to the History Channel, it is very contested! I feel better about not knowing, because nobody really knows. Leading theories are that they ‘exhausted their environment’ or constant warfare between nearby towns and cities destroyed their traditional social structure and eventually their society.
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- pg. 94: What does a chinampa look like?
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- It reminds me of a water bungalow that you would see in Bora Bora or Fiji.
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- pg. 131: Harris talks about how pigs could have been banned from many religions because of how energetically costly it is to raise them, and that they do not provide any milking or transportation benefits like other animals do. That made me wonder: is the pig the most tasty protein, and could this be because it is so energetically costly?
- First, I surfed the web. The website ‘Classora’ had a handy questionnaire on what the most delicious meat is. Pork won by over 100 votes.
- Next, I had to soul search. It was helpful that I was very hungry while I pondered the question. I came to the conclusion that yes, pork is the most tasty meat in my opinion. Bacon, ribs, pork tenderloin, ham, pork belly, and most salami all hail from the humble pig.
- While I may not have come to a scientific conclusion, I have conjured up quite an appetite and deep appreciation for pork. Unfortunately, I cannot fathom an objective way to relate taste to energetic costliness.
- pg. 171: Is there any current measure of female infanticide?
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- Obviously this is a rough estimate since female infanticide is not a very visible act, but the UN Populations Fund suggests that over 170 million girls have gone missing in Asia as of 2016. The report was not clear if this is annually or over a certain period of time. Liechtenstein has the highest disparity of 126/100 males to females, trailed by China, Armenia, India, and Azerbaijan. This is very frightening and heartbreaking.
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- pg. 185: Harris explained what a foundling hospital is, but I want to know more!
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- Thomas Coram created foundling hospitals in the 1700s as an idea to help shelterless children with illnesses and to provide education, housing, and sustenance. Essentially, it was an orphanage. They ended up being pretty poorly run because of overcrowding and lack of funding and ended in 1951. If you guessed it by the British sounding name, it was created in the UK.
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