Reviews for Discover Science Teacher's Resource Book

The average rating for Discover Science Teacher's Resource Book based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2017-01-02 00:00:00 Christoph Mollenhauer 2 - 2.5 stars I would classify Richard Jefferies’ _After London_ as part of a somewhat obscure subset of post-apocalyptic fiction I like to call ‘post-apocalyptic pastoral’ along with books like Edgar Pangborn’s Davy, Richard Cowper’s The Road to Corlay, and John Crowley’s Engine Summer. Unlike the norm with post-apocalyptic fiction the world is not dominated by a radioactive wasteland, or rife with twisted mutants or lumbering zombies, and while life may be hard when compared to our own it often does not display the level of nasty and brutish shortness more common in other examples of the genre at large. To be sure our advanced society has fallen and life has reverted to a much simpler mode (usually, as is the case in this volume, one approximating the Middle Ages), but this reversion to simplicity is often seen as an improvement, or at least is not denigrated as a curse. The book itself is divided into two main sections. The first, “The Relapse into Barbarism”, is narrated from the point of view of a scholar of the latter days, and is partially a history of the fall of civilization (though there is so little in the way of information that calling this a history is really a bit of a misnomer), and is in greater part an enumeration of the flora, fauna, and tribes of mankind that have since survived and overrun a newly ruralized England. Given Jefferies’ position as a nature writer, and even perhaps something of an early environmentalist, it is not surprising that his lingering descriptions of the reclamation of the world by nature dominate this section. Indeed the details of what actually prompted the fall of the Victorian era society of ‘the Ancients’ is never fully explained (aside from some tantalizing references to a tradition that a ‘dark body’ passed by the earth, or even implications that climate change and flooding may have prompted it) and in some ways his insistence on the utter destruction of nearly all traces of the old world doesn’t quite mesh with the lack of any known apocalyptic event (even one only vaguely remembered at a great distance). It is not surprising then that I’ve seen it argued that this book isn’t really an example of post-apocalyptic fiction and that the set-up is merely a veneer to which a Victorian adventure story has been applied. Indeed as the main story narrative develops in the second half of the novel, “Wild England”, it begins to seem that the entire apocalyptic set-up does little more than allow the author to set his adventure in a pseudo-medieval world, so one does begin to wonder why he didn’t just set it in the actual Middle Ages instead? Once the second part of the story comes to what might be considered the epicentre of the fall, the site of the lost city of London itself, I think the post-apocalyptic element of the story becomes important for what Jefferies wanted to accomplish and shows itself to be more than simply a veneer. Indeed the title “After London” homes in on what might be considered the underlying conceit of the novel and the entire reason for this to be post-apocalyptic at all. We see here Jefferies’ distaste for the modern city-based civilization of his day and his yearning for a ‘simpler’ life dominated by nature rather than human society (though the latter still looms large in the world and is as fraught with problems and corruption as ever). Indeed while Jefferies presents what he perhaps considers to be a ‘better’ mode of human life in that it is largely agrarian it is far from an idyllic arcadia of man in union with nature. This is a world where man is at odds with both nature and his fellow man, though as always it is in the latter conflict where the greatest evil lies. Our protagonist Felix is a scion of the noble house of Aquila which has fallen on hard times and is out of favour with the court. Restless with the apparent lack of opportunity to improve his prospects due to the oppressive constraints placed on him by his rigid society, Felix decides to leave his home and make a voyage upon the great inland lake that now dominates the centre of England in the hopes of finding his fortune and winning the hand of his great love Aurora. So far so medieval romance, especially as his first adventure puts him in the army camp of a venal prince besieging a nearby town. The camp itself is dominated by the unruly display of posturing knights and degradation of the servant class and Felix’s hopes of advancement are ultimately dashed by the ignorance of those around him. When Felix flees this example of human depravity, even in the midst of what passes for ‘civilization’ in this world, he ends up voyaging into a world much more familiar to readers of post-apocalyptic fiction. Stumbling upon the site of fallen London Felix finds a landscape that is no longer the lush riot of nature that has dominated the world thus far and we see something that reminded me of nothing so much as a post-nuclear wasteland. The earth itself is dead, some portions hard as iron, others crumbling as though made of rotten wood. Emanations from the ground produce a toxic miasma the hangs over everything and we even see human remains whose depiction astonishingly reminded me of the after-images of a nuclear blast. Not strange at all for the genre in general, but quite strange when one recalls that even the inkling of nuclear fallout couldn’t have been anywhere in Jefferies’ mind and this is all simply the result of the decay of the ancient city and its pollutants (exhibiting Jefferies’ distaste for both the physical and moral corruption of urban society). Felix manages to escape from this poisonous wasteland and eventually stumbles upon a society of primitive shepherds to whom his somewhat more advanced knowledge, and especially his ability to ward off their gipsy enemies with the long bow (a weapon unknown to them), win him a place of leadership amongst them that may bring about the realization of all of his hopes and dreams. The story then ends incredibly abruptly as Felix begins his return journey to find his love in the hopes of bringing her back with him and I was left to wonder if Jefferies had died while writing the story (he hadn’t), or planned a direct sequel (no inkling of this that I was able to discover). Ultimately it was a pleasant enough story, though somewhat frustrating and even haphazard in the inconsistencies that appear to exist between the set-up and ultimate execution.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-11-26 00:00:00 Kenneth Porath ‘After London’ has the distinction of being a very early post-apocalyptic novel, written in 1885. This is rather the most interesting thing about it, as although some of the details are striking, the plot is very formulaic. The book begins with a lyrical evocation of England after a mysterious, ill-understood environmental disaster. Said disaster could very well be retconned as climate change upheaval, as it results in a changed sea level and a new, massive inland lake. After this disaster, the population is greatly reduced, for the very prosaic reason that everyone with enough wealth to leave has departed. This results in the return of a prelapsarian natural environment, largely consisting of forest. I very much enjoyed the account of the progress of brambles across the roads and saplings across the fields, the return of dogs, cows, and pigs to a predomestic state. Subsequently the book follows the aptly-named Felix, a very highly strung young man who leaves his home (and much more pragmatic sweetheart Aurora), setting out in a canoe to have adventures. His encounters suggest that parts of England have lapsed into Malory’s Le Morte d' Arthur, whilst others resemble the Old Testament. For the time in which it was written, the book is deeply reactionary. Not only does it glorify an environment unspoiled by man, with lavish descriptions of the wildlife therein, but it vilifies the remains of civilisation. The London of the title is a poisonous wasteland, an area of pollution and death. Nothing lives there and people foolish enough to venture in are lucky to escape alive, as industrialisation has poisoned its air, soil, and water. Few structures or artifacts remain from this tainted past; even technologies of the Middle Ages have been forgotten. On the other hand, the plays of Sophocles have survived and the story includes a performance of Antigone. The author seems to yearn for simpler times, perhaps a return to some mythical Ancient Greek golden age. That said, the society depicted is a deeply flawed one, something that Felix unwisely cannot keep quiet about. There is a strong critique of feudalism to be found here, notably in the ironic fact that most poor people are slaves, yet use of the word slave is taboo. As a novel, ‘After London’ doesn’t have a terrific amount to recommend it. As an early post-apocalyptic vision, it is interesting to compare with Mary Shelley’s The Last Man. And as an ode to radical rewilding, it certainly paints a delightfully vivid picture.