Water, Water Everywhere ...

[jones jones]

With the advent of the Internet and all that went with it, I found that I was reading fewer books than I had before. This bothered me as I have always been an avid reader. As a youngster I read mostly popular fiction but once I grew up ... no let me re-phrase that, once I matured I read mainly non fiction.

So I taught myself speed reading, well my version of it. I am now able to read about twenty lines or half a page in one glance which means that I am able to read a book in quick time.

I am currently reading "A Short History of Nearly Everything." by Bill Bryson. In the book there is one chapter devoted entirely to water. It seems that 97% of our water is in the seas and of that 3% is fresh, most of it in ice sheets. Only 0.036% is in lakes, rivers & reservoirs.

Now most of us figure out at a fairly young age that sea water isn't very good to drink in large quantities. This is because it tastes pretty crappy & also makes you very crappy! One litre of sea water contains about 2.5 teaspoons of common salt plus elements & compounds and minerals and dissolved solids which are also known collectively as salts. Ergo, the sea is salty.

Oddly enough it seems that the salts & minerals in our own tissues are very similar to those found in sea water. Carl Sagan once observed: "We actually sweat & cry sea water." Very strange then that we are unable to tolerate sea water as a drink.

According to Mr Bryson the problem arises because once your body is overloaded with salt, the water molecules in your cells rush off like so many little warriors to dilute the salt. This leaves our cells unable to function normally; we become dehydrated, which leads to unconsciousness, brain damage and expiration ... aka death.

So our overworked blood cells take the salt to our kidneys which eventually become overwhelmed and have to shut down. Without functioning kidneys we usually die which is why it isn't a good idea to drink lots of sea water.

Jeeze and here I was thinking we shouldn't drink sea water because of all the pollution in it!

[along-for-the-ride]

I'm thirsty.

When I am reading a good book, I like to savor it. Speed reading is not for me.

[LarsMac]

I can speed read textbooks and technical manuals, and such. but it takes me days to read a good book.