Mark Smith's Animacules and Other Little Subjects

After reading his text, it is certain that Smith has a passion for life. Life on a microscopic level, pets, creatures that lurk in the water, or even humans: give Smith life and he'll ramble on for paragraphs about how much that various life form interests him. Although he cannot justify his fascination with the animalcules, I shall take a shot. I think part if his interest stems from the fact that nature itself is one of the cheapest, most intellectually stimulating, and available forms of entertainment out there in the world today. I think Smith likes to take advantage of nature for this reason because he knows it'll benefit him in the long-run. I think Smith's interest in animalcules mainly stems from his interest in the interconnectedness of natural beings and their environment. I share this interest with Smith. I am a sociology major and love studying how people are connected through groups and how they interact with each other given the division of said groups. I think Smith enjoys analyzing the similarities such as the fact that animalcules and humans are not so different because they're both eating all the time. He likes noticing that organisms all affect one another and are not as different from each other as they think.

I really enjoyed this article. His writing could have gone way over the reader's head if Smith decided to clutter his writing with biological terms and concepts. His decision to use figuration and an extensive amount of anecdotes made the reading interesting and enlightening. The anecdotes, especially, made the reading more like a conversation than a formal, scientific text like most of the other articles in the book were set up as. Smith's insight actually made me take a second look at the world around me, and how every living thing is connected in some way. Life does not just consist of one being; life is a collaborative group of many living things that coexist. Because we all coexist in this vast world, it is important to weigh our decisions accordingly and practice empathy with our fellow life forms.