Minor Assignment 6: Sam Kean's "Caesar's Last Breath: Decoding the Secrets of the Air Around Us"3/18/2018 The first part of Caesar’s Last Breath introduces the concept of air along with its historical use and value. The author, Sam Kean, uses the introductory section of the book to help his audience better understand the atmosphere of the earth and how it changed and developed. The author uses descriptive language and metaphorical examples to make his writing very approachable, more appealing and more readily understood by scientists and non-scientists alike. What I find most fascinating about the writer’s style is how he weaves the idea of air and the history of our atmosphere into world history and evolutionary progress.
While the topic seems, at first, to be more relevant to scientific audiences, I believe that Kean’s audience is likely to be more broad-based and include both those individuals that have in-depth scientific knowledge of the topic as well as those that have little to no scientific background at all. Kean’s decision to use a conversational, story-telling approach helps him to be more effective in getting this point across and keeping his readers engaged, despite their previous knowledge of the concepts he presents. The tone of the book is conversational and even humorous at times, but the underlying message that is presented right from the introduction is that the air we breathe should not be taken for granted. I believe that his purpose in writing the book was to help his audiences better understand the importance of his topic and to make his readers stop and think about the history and processes of the earth. Kean’s ability to very clearly explain complex concepts in a way that is approachable and memorable underscores the effort he put into ensuring that his writing would have a strong and positive impact on his audience. Kean leverages his skill at storytelling and his use of explicit and concrete examples to weave concepts together to help make his topic more relevant to his readers. One of the most intriguing facets of his writing me is how uses these writing techniques to addresses the issue of the “curse of knowledge.” My personal writing style also tends to lean more towards conversational and explanatory examples. I think that by leveraging Kean’s approach and my own style in my final project, I will be able to use details and events to help make his more complex ideas consumable. If I have a chance to ask Sam Kean questions about his writing of this book, I would like to ask him about his writing process. I would start by asking questions such as: What caused you to write the book? Was there a moment when you thought, this is a really great idea and I’m going to write about it using these examples? Or, did you start with a rough idea and figure it out as you went along?
2 Comments
Tory Stoddard
3/18/2018 07:53:29 pm
You showed a great understanding of the book. I also agree that he writes in a very conversational and humorous way and that makes it more enjoyable for the audience to read. I think it is a good idea to try to use Kean's approach because you also write in a conversational way. Good job!
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Zachary Wagner
3/19/2018 10:49:13 am
Colin,
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AuthorHi! I am Collin Barker and I am a Marine Biology Major at Roger Williams University, an avid reader and fish keeper. To learn more about me check out my About page. Archives
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