Quote:
“I WAS IN A MONASTERY IN NORTHERN NEW MEXICO, high in the mountains near Abiquiu. It was February. Behind the chapel there was an open grave, the red soil mounded up beside it. “Has a brother died?” I asked a monk. “No,” he answered, “but we cannot dig in winter, so we opened this grave ahead of time, just in case.”
An open grave is an open mouth. It disturbs the soil, throwing the wet cold subsoil to the surface. It exhales all the suggestion of the dark. But a grave is also the place where the foul is made fair. It is the way that flesh returns to the generative womb.
The grave seems to interrupt the human story. But the fact is that graves are motherly for the Earth. They wrap up the things of time and deliver them back to the cradle. So that the show goes on. So that nothing will stop the stories from being told.”
Chapter: The Soil of Graves (p. 54) Dirt: The Ecstatic Skin of the Earth by William Bryant Logan
Background:
This was the opening of a chapter that discusses how the dirt of graves are used to give life to various organisms. This is in essence, Logan's main purpose and thesis in writing this book. The underlying message that is in most if not all of his chapters are that dirt is the connection between death and life. Dirt is what completes the circle of life. Things are born, things die, but they all have to do with dirt. Things are born from the soil and when things die, they become part of and fuel the soil. This is Logan's thesis.
When I read this chapter, it occurred to me that this was his thesis. I am not sure why it occurred to me here rather than in any other chapter (as most of them talk about the thesis in one way or another), but it became crystal clear in this chapter. Perhaps it was the fact that it had to do with humans and so I was able to connect to it a little better. Perhaps it was the fact that it reminded me of the grave scene in Hamlet. Perhaps it was just a coincidence, but it was at this chapter that I realized his thesis.
I always agreed that everything decomposed and became part of the soil sooner or later. On a thesis level, I guess I might say that I already knew what Logan was trying to tell me. I did not, however, know all the details and small facts that Logan used to back up his thesis throughout the book. It is these small facts that keeps me interested.
Quote:
"THE TEXTBOOKS WILL TELL YOU that humus is "deeply altered, black organic matter" lying in the top layer of the soil. But I only grasped what humus is about when my friend Pamela Morton showed me a picture of it.
Pamela spends parts of her summers in boreal Canada and has long been fascinated with the forest floor, where bits of blackening twigs, needles, bark, and the carcasses of small creatures decay. Humus is this organic part of the soil, the final residue of those matted leaves and cold bodies, intercalated, lapped, melding, losing their distinctions, dry on top but inside turning the shades of brown and black that we associate with rain-wet wood or a man's study. The deeper you go, the blacker it gets, and the fewer of the bits survive intact. A few inches down, it is pure black acrid matter having a texture like a cross between cotton candy and damp sawdust. This is the stuff from which all life on the land is born."
Chapter: Humus (p. 14) Dirt: The Ecstatic Skin of the Earth by William Bryant Logan
Background:
Before I began reading this book, I looked at the first blog post assignment so that I knew what to think about as I read the book. Afterwords, I put the book reading on pause temporarily so that I may find out more about the author seeing as how this blog post is about his credibility and background.
According to his website, William Bryant Logan is a "certified arborist", the "president of Urban Arborists, Inc., a Brooklyn-based tree company", has won many awards that show feats of masterful writing in environmental subjects, and has other minor achievements. These achievements are impressive and show that Logan is probably capable of writing environmental information in an understandable and entertaining way. If nothing else, it shows that someone was impressed enough to give him an award and make three documentaries for his three books.
To back up his award, this quote shows very well that he is a good author that successfully captivates his audience and immerses them into the environmental world. In his first sentence, he credits his source of information for the chapter, Pamela Morton. He even goes out of his way to give a background on the Pamela. This is an excellent way to show sources which make the author's information seem more creditable as well as bring the author closer to the reader's level which in my opinion makes the book sound more personal as if a friend was giving the reader the information.
As for the information he relays, he uses many adjectives and metaphors which compare what may be unknown or complex terms to average every day objects in order to help people understand concepts in a painless and entertaining manner.
But does he have the authority or experience to speak about this issue?
Well, he isn't a scientist, but he definitely knows some and he credits them with the information which he displays in his writing. He is also a good author as shown in his writing and various awards. I would say he definitely has the experience and authority to speak about this issue. He definitely explains the scientific concepts better than most scientists would have.
What might bias Logan's argument?
I don't think anything would bias Logan's argument that heavily other than the information he has received from other scientists. He has looked to many scientists for the information that he puts in his book and is likely very excited about the topic of dirt if he is willing to make a book about it even though he is not an expert in the field. Therefore, it would not be unreasonable to assume that he would take in some information without question. This might possible cause some bias in his writing, but the large amount of information sources which he is pulling from for his writing would spread out and thin out the overall bias of his book.
