A Theory of Everything Else
Essays
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
That elusive Holy Grail of modern physics, A Theory of Everything (ToE), would explain the universe in a single set of equations. Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking tackled the problem during their lifetimes and the quest continues today in laboratories around the world.
Leaving string theory, galaxy clusters, and supersymmetry to the Quantum Computer and Hadron Collider crowd, Pedersen has taken up the rest—that is, A Theory of Everything Else (ToEE), based on her own groundbreaking experiences as a dog walker, camp counselor, and Bingo caller. Pedersen’s essays are a series of colorful helium balloons that entertain as well as affirm and uplift. Why, she ponders in one essay, are thousands perishing as a result of assault weapons, carbon emissions, forest fires, pesticides, and processed foods—and yet how lawn darts were banned in the 1980s after two people died? In A Theory of Everything Else, Pedersen vividly demonstrates how life can appear to grind us down while it’s actually polishing us up—and why everyone wants to live a long time but no one wants to grow old.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Pedersen (Wanda's Better Way), a playwright and children's author, serves up a spirited and observant collection of musings on her past and on modern American culture. Taking her tongue-in-cheek title from physics' elusive "theory of everything," she opens with a section entitled "Quadrupeds," a curious selection of pet-centric essays whose appeal will depend on the reader's tolerance for doggie humor. But as the book moves onto "Bipeds," Pedersen addresses more serious subjects, particularly her Catholic upbringing in working-class Buffalo, N.Y., with a touch of irreverent humor (for today's kids, "a cell phone is like a parole ankle bracelet"). Pedersen hits her stride when she moves to women, or "Estrogen-Americans" (a biological framing of gender some readers will object to), and the collection grows ever stronger from there. Religion, which plays a significant role throughout, is considered here in terms of the role women play in church life and whether there "are advantages to thinking God is watching." In the last section, "Human Kind," standouts include a perceptive essay on the "tsunami of choice" of modern consumer culture, a moving piece on 9/11, and musings on cooperating for the common good. Both thoughtful and irreverent, Pedersen's writings shine an illuminating light on the complexities of human (and animal) nature. (Self-published)
