Questions for Active Reading p.371

1. Using an active reading technique from Chapter 2, read the first and the last paragraphs of this article. Now that you have read the entire article, would you say that technique gave you a good preview?

Yes, I would say that I got a good prewiev by reading the first and the last paragraph, before reading the entire text.

2. Why is it important to know that Lightman is a scientist? would an artist or a social worker write about this subject in this way?

Is important that Lightman is a scientist because then we know that he has been studying things like this and that he has a lot of knowledge of the subject. We can believe that he's trying to prove something and that he's trying to tell the truth.
I think an artist would would write a lot more easier to understand, because Lightman is writing a lot of facts that can be hard to understand and take in.

3. Where is Lightman using a lighthearted tone? Identify some phrases that show this. Where is he serious? Identify some phrases that show this. What is the effect of these tones?

Lightman is using a lighthearted tone when he's writing about his own experiences, what he believes in, and what he wants.
Example is this paragraph: "Someday soon, I'm going to catch the Earth's shadow in a lunar eclipse, or go to sea in clear air, and find out for sure if the Earth is round or flat. Actually, the Earth is reported to flatten at the poles, because it rotates. But that's another story."
He is more serious when he's writing down all the facts that he know about.
Example is this paragraph: "For at least 600 years educated people have believed that Earth is round. At nearly any medieval University, the quadrivium was standard fare, consisting of artihmegtic, geometry, music, and astronomy. The astronomy portion was based on the Tractatus de Sphaera, a popular textbook first published at Ferarra, Italy, in 1472 and written by a 13th century, Oxford-educated astronomer and mathematican, Johannes de Sacrobosco."
By being serious when he tells us all the facts, we believe that what he tells us is true and that he's a good scientist whit a lot of knowledge, and that he takes his job seriously. By writing lighthearted sometimes, he makes us feel like he is one of us and that he is a human with human thoughts, just like anybody else.