The Explanation for Everything Read Online Free PDF

remained essentially mysterious to him, even after he cut them open and looked inside their brains. Four years and hundreds of mice and thousands of dollars and simple questions of behavior could not be solved, so how on earth did this girl want to solve the origins of life?
    Or, to put it another way: how to explain to a girl like this the difference between that which could be quantified and that which could be taken only on faith?
    Andy looked down at the glossy black lab table, saw his face reflected back. He was forty for a few more months, and looked exactly forty, exactly average, except for what might be thicker-than-average sandy-colored hair. He had blurry bags under his eyes. He no longer slept very well. He was haunted by a ghost.
    â€œMelissa, I’m an advocate of student inquiry, I really am,” he said, hearing himself retreat to pedantry, irritating even himself. “And if you’d like to inquire into the nature of God, I’m sure you can find a religion professor—”
    â€œI don’t want to inquire into the nature of God. That’s what I do at church, not at school.”
    â€œExactly.”
    â€œI want to study the origin of life, and that’s something you study in the biology department.”
    â€œI suppose so,” Andy said. “But I think it depends on the way you undertake the study.”
    â€œSo you’re saying you won’t support my research,” the girl said. Her voice was matter-of-fact, but she was slumping.
    â€œMelissa,” Andy said, “the thing about intelligent design is that there’s no way to put the theory through the scientific method, so there’s no way to say whether or not it’s right or wrong. I can’t support your research because there’s no real research that can be performed on the subject. No way to apply the scientific method toward questions of intentionality in the design of the planet.”
    â€œSo you won’t sponsor me?”
    The black-rimmed clock above his lab table clicked loudly toward 3:55. It would take him thirty minutes minimum to get to Rachel’s practice, and he still had a few papers to file upstairs. Still, the look on this girl’s face, disappointed, maybe even disgusted. Well. It was the first day of the semester. Would it kill him to try to be a little generous? To try to recapture just a bit of the optimism with which he’d arrived this morning?
    â€œLet’s brainstorm for a minute, Melissa. I bet we could come up with something else. Something we could try out in the lab—maybe we could even do a little experiment with the mice. Would that work for you?”
    â€œNo,” she said.
    Andy forced himself not to sigh. The clock ticked again, as was its irregular habit.
    â€œIntelligent design,” said the girl, “or nothing,” and first Andy wanted to punch her, but then, regarding her stubborn expression, felt curiously and briefly cheered. A determined student! Well, good on her. Also he thought, fuck this, he had to get out of there, he needed to prep for tomorrow’s undergraduate onslaught, and he wanted to see his daughter’s practice, but Melissa looked so grim, so enormous with steely grimness, that despite himself he pulled out the stool from behind his lab table and with a chivalrous hand gesture invited her to sit down.
    â€œThere are so many issues concerning evolution that scientists haven’t even begun to fathom, Melissa. I feel certain there’s something you’d find interesting if you just agreed to look.”
    She shook her potato-shaped head. “I have a question for you, Professor Waite.”
    He noted that her eyes were surprisingly light, a greenish gray.
    â€œThere are two ways to see the world, right?” she said. “I mean, there are probably many more than two ways, but what I’m asking you here is to imagine two ways of looking at the world.”
    â€œTwo ways,”