Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Peter Pan

In case you are not riveted by my endorsements of the WoT, perhaps you will find this classic fantasy story more interesting. J. M. Barrie created Peter Pan back in 1902, and it took me 107 years finally to get around to reading it. It's a quite exciting adventure story, with pirates and mermaids and flying and swashbuckling and wild animals. Peter is an occasionally obnoxious kid, but overall he is pretty awesome. Plus, his supporting cast of the Lost Boys adds a lot of comic delight.

This book goes by quite quickly, so if you want a fun adventure in a hurry, this book is just the ticket. I haven't read anything else by Barrie, but I would imagine that it's worthwhile as well.

Plus, I've got a little actuarial treat for you. So Peter is ostensibly supposed to live forever, which seems a little farfetched. Lest you doubt it is possible, consider the following:

In 2005, American kids aged 5-14 had a death rate of 16.3 per 100,000. Here's one way to think about how incredibly low that is:Suppose a kid could keep that childhood mortality rate forever. What would be his expected lifespan? Answer: 6,135 years!

All he has to do is avoid being skewered by a cutlass.

3 comments:

The Never Fairy said...

Hooray for Peter Pan!

Glad you liked it. The story is much darker and bittersweet than people would first realize, don't you think?

You might want to read this novel, too, as it's based on Barrie's own ideas for more Pan adventure! Click my name to see.

BELIEVE!

Mom said...

How cute and amusing! When Peter Pan was written, though, I bet kids weren't expected to live so long, so living almost forever would be even more impressive.

Bld424 said...

Did you do the math on that? Because I am impressed! I would have never thought it through that way.

I like your blog, David. It makes me want to read more than Goodnight, Moon each day!`