Curiosity: The Story of a Mars Rover

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A great book for kids who are interested in space exploration, and full of simplistic images with lots of character! Ulysses, like the other souls in Dante’s Hell, suffers a punishment that he himself has fashioned during his own limited course of his relations with his Maker. In Dante’s imagination, we, not God, are responsible for our actions and for their consequences. Dante’s world is not the world of Homer, where whimsical gods play with our human destinies for their entertainment or private purpose. God, Dante believes, has given each of us certain abilities and possibilities, but also the gift of free will, which allows us to make our own choices and assume the consequences of those choices. Even the quality of the punishment itself is, according to Dante, determined by our transgression. Ulysses is condemned to burn invisibly in the forked flame because his sin, counseling others to practise fraud, is furtive, and since he has committed it through speech, through his tongue, it is in tongues of flame that he is eternally tortured. In Dante’s hell, every punishment has a reason. OK, sure, fine – but here’s a question you might suddenly be curious about: what’s the point? What does understanding the archetypes of curiosity actually do for us – how can this knowledge be applied? As interdisciplinary scholars, Bassett and Zurn both argue that education should be “de-disciplined”, meaning learners should be encouraged to drift between fields. The twins question how curriculums are decided and canons of knowledge are crafted, and reference the 20th-century education reformer Abraham Flexner, who advocated “the usefulness of useless knowledge”. Flexner questioned narrow approaches that forced academics to answer utilitarian questions, rather than sail into unknown waters. The capacity to think across and beyond established frames of knowledge can be heavily disparaged, depending on who you are and where your curiosity takes you,” the twins write, before citing the work of the indigenous botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer, the disability theorist Alison Kafer, the feminist Gloria Anzaldúa, and the Native American philosopher Shay Welch, all of whom experienced being shot down by academic advisers early in their careers. Forage like a fox hog. “T-shaped knowledge” deep skills in a specialty (vertical axis of the T) and a broad understanding of other disciplines (horizontal axis, big ideas).

Psychologists have come to realize that curiosity is not a monolithic trait. George Mason University’s Todd B. Kashdan, David J. Disabato, and Fallon R. Goodman, along with linguist and educational scientist Carl Naughton, break it down into five distinct dimensions: deprivation sensitivity, joyous exploration, social curiosity, stress tolerance, and thrill seeking. They explore which dimensions lead to the best outcomes and generate particular benefits in work and life. From Curious to Competent The author combines the results of research with anecdotes to provide an illuminating volume on why curiosity is so important to lifelong learning and our advancement as a global society. He examines the risks inherent in some current technological trends, such as smart phones and internet searches, and how to overcome them. He looks at what arouses curiosity and what quenches it. I would recommend this book to parents or educators who would like to refresh some common sense reflections on why we work daily to create an environment of inquiry, and how we can keep it alive as adults as well. Curiosity can be trained, and nurtured, or stifled, depending on how much we work on it and feed it. That day my curiosity was satisfied, with unforeseen consequences. I learned the hard way how hot a light bulb can get, how delicate my skin was and how not everything is as it seems. Sometimes, the protective glass ends but the fun display keeps going. And, don’t use your finger, use a tool! What piqued your curiosity about this post? Oh, the guilt will never go away, and ten years have passed since then. But I haven't learned anything from it either. The other day, while I was reading this book and taking notes, my 10-year-old daughter came in and asked me something. My horrible answer:

Professor Astro Cat's Frontiers of Space

PERSONAL TAKEAWAY:__ _Ask questions._ As technologies like Google make answers increasingly easier to access, success is no longer measured by controlling information (having answers). Instead, success is going to be gained by those individuals who ask the right questions. Fortunately, I am not shy about asking questions which is probably a symptom (and a cause) of my curiosity. When it comes to enhancing epistemic rather than diversive curiosity, nothing beats reading interesting books, and my children know I will always gladly answer their literary questions, at least. And ask some valid questions myself: Curiosity is recursive. It builds upon itself. If you want to become a more curious person, you need to start somewhere, slowly, and recognize that the more curiosities you pursue, the more curious you will become over time. Curiosity is a book that is both entertaining and informative. Written with a passion and pace that will keep the reader both entertained and engaged throughout. If you ever wondered why you know longer wonder, if you think you have it all figured out but can’t shake that sneaky feeling that perhaps you don’t or if you are just fed up with being told that it is not your job to ask questions this book is worthy of a gander.

Curiosity goes in and out of vogue. Clearly the author of _Curious_ argues that curiosity is a good thing, with a few exceptions. This has not always been the case and is not consistent across cultures. The ancient Chinese dynasties, for instance, favored _exploitation_ over _exploration_. Whereas the Europeans embarked on long voyages and embraced (kind of) new cultures, the Chinese chose instead to remain a closed society. The Chinese are still catching up.And so on. After counting 17 "Why"-questions in a row during one session, I was exhausted and lost my patience, yelling: Given its wide scope, I think the best way to convey the book’s great appeal is with quotes. These were chosen almost at random, as every paragraph is beautifully measured, thought-provoking, and erudite.

Do you remember when you were young and put everything you touched in your mouth? Endlessly annoyed the living hell out of every adult within earshot with a barrage of ‘but whys’? And flat out just refused to accept, ‘because I said so”, as a suitable or worthy response. Well Ian Leslie, the author of Curious - The Desire to Know and Why Your Future Depends On It, is hoping you have not left that precocious and inquisitive little bugger behind. There is interesting contrarian discussion arguing against Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Sir Ken Robinson about schools killing creativity. The more ideas (facts) we have in our head, the more opportunity for combining them into new creative patterns. This is something I can agree with. There is a sadness to reading ‘Curiosity’, as it is quite possibly Manguel’s final such book. He is my favourite author of books-about-books, as his writing is thoughtful, profound, humane, and informed by a lifetime of reading. Here, Manguel talks about suffering a stroke and his intuition that he will not live much longer, something he has made peace with. Nonetheless, this is not an inherently unhappy book. Rather, it is tribute to the curiosity of humanity about the world, each other, and ourselves throughout history. To lend structure to this incredibly broad topic, Manguel uses Dante’s La Divina Commedia. His love of La Divina Commedia has convinced me to read it; ‘Curiosity’ is a very effective book recommendation as well as a social history and philosophical enquiry. It was, however, in the last chapter that I felt myself on the verge of unsettling an idea I have had shelved since my teens - that I will need to have interesting experiences to write interesting things. It’s just so important to be open about how the mind can move,” Bassett says. Curious Minds also keenly explores whose curiosity is encouraged and whose is policed – the twins examine marginalisation, power and privilege throughout the book. One compelling passage notes that not everyone is celebrated for having the same qualities as Leonardo da Vinci, who went “about his days compulsively note-taking and sketching” and flitted between maths, science, technology, music and art.I like it when a book teaches me new things. I really like it when it expands my sense of possibility, and whets my appetite to go deeper (epistemic-me). I love it when a book can unsettle me enough to allow for growth to happen. The transformative power of attention to bring life to seemingly mundane things gave me more than a pause, it opened a sense of possibility into discovering the enigma of ennui, while uncovering the novelty inherent in normal. Staying curious allows us to never be bored again. Curiosity, under Leslie’s careful examination, is revealed in a way that makes the reader, well, more curious. The book travels into the realms of the philosophical, historical, social and economical. It places curiosity at the crossroads where necessity and danger meet. It is an exploration that leaves the reader feeling like a cold war spy, bound to their dangerous duty to be curious yet cautious about how they reveal their motives.