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Hustvedt’s characters have spiraling out-of-control lives; neither their lives nor the book has an ending. Hustvedt is still alive so she has no ending either. Dennett is still alive and his book was a continuation of Darwin’s as well as others’ thoughts in addition to a compilation of Dennett’s postulations. Darwin and Whitman though dead in the flesh continue to live through their stories and their stories continue to live throughout history. The theory of evolution, like the authors and their works, is a continuous loop… a steady stream of information moving slowly, waiting to be observed – summarized – reobserved – resummarized and so on.   

These readings have given me a greater appreciation for Darwin’s theory of evolution and a newfound realization that his theory is not limited to science but can be applied to all things.