An example of the use of similes in explaining science:
"At its most abstract, Lyell is proposing a change from seeing geology as a litany of an enormous number of singular events (like a huge epic poem) to seeing it as the systemisation of a small number of kinds of events. Thus, instead of seeing a particular mountain as a sign of a massive upthrust at some given date in the past, he sees it as a typical example of a kind of change that is occurring today. There are no privileged moments. His geology is a kind of bookkeeping device that allows the storage of vast amounts of information by sorting them into a kind of filing cabinet of different kinds of events."
Geoffrey C. Bowker
Bowker, G. C. (2005). Memory Practices in the Sciences. The MIT Press.
(This could be considered to amount to an analogy suggesting that the shift in geology from catastrophism to uniformitariansm was like changing from composing an epic poem to keeping account books of small detailed changes.)
Read about examples of science similes
[Please be aware that a word may have different nuances, or even a different meaning, according to context.]« Back to Index
