If your house was on fire...

By American guest blogger John Romano. John is head of science at an independent school in the US where he teaches evolution and comparative anatomy and biology. He channels his overzealous love for the natural world into positive endeavors like sustainable urban gardening and documentary-making, and says the HMS Beagle Project is "one of the most important ventures of our time." Thanks, John!


So, if your house was on fire and you could only grab one thing...

….what would it be? I never had an answer for this.  People and animals aside, the question was always about a material possession. So what was it?  

This:

I realized today that these books would be the one thing I carried out.  Not because of what’s written in them; I can find that information anywhere now.  No, for a very different reason.

I've been trying to organize my life more, so I decided to tackle my basement... There amidst the cardboard boxes was the milk crate containing my “Ocean World of Jacques Cousteau” set.  Peeking out ever so slightly was a very faded scrap of paper diligently holding a place in one of Jacques's books for the last 25 years. I became intrigued: it was put there by an 8-year-old me and had never been removed, indicating something I found to be of great importance.  So I picked up the book and flipped to the marked page…

Curious, now, aren't you? Read more at John's blog...