After "Why You Should Trust Darwin", the third book Chen Siping read was "Reading Biology Notes", written by Zheng Yefu. Zheng Yefu is a professor in the Department of Sociology of Peking University, and for some reason, "Yefu" reminds Chen Siping of "being a good man", which is very disrespectful to Professor Zheng, but it is really not his original intention.

On the title page of "Reading Biology Notes", my father left a short passage.

"Darwin's theory of evolution (strictly speaking, 'evolution') had a great influence on me, and in a way, all my deviant ideas came from it. But that wasn't enough, I needed stronger support and comfort to convince myself to stand up to the world and face myself calmly. So I decided to start from scratch and read as many books as I could find, or reread them. Zheng Yefu read biology works, and at the age of 47 ushered in "a period of frenzy and pleasure usually reserved for young people", after which he wrote a column for a year, opened a course, the enlightenment of biology to social science, and published a book, "Reading Biology Notes". I don't have such hopes, but I hope that in my lifetime, I will be able to find peace of mind. Perhaps this is the greater luxury. ”

Chen Siping read it several times, and all the mysteries were solved, and he finally knew why his father had tirelessly read biology, and he was full of emotion and empathy. He guessed that "it takes stronger support and comfort to convince yourself to stand up to the world and face yourself calmly," referring to why he doesn't like his son. The father was always confused, and deep down he was unwilling to give, to sacrifice, and to value his life above his children, which was both contrary to biological nature and contrary to the customs of society. He was upset and isolated about it, and wanted to get comfort from biology, at least some kind of explanation and support.

Did he find the answer? Maybe I found it, maybe I didn't. Chen Siping couldn't imagine what kind of mood his father was in when he ran away from home, was it relieved and relaxed, or desperate? He was curious and excited, like a spinning top whipped and couldn't stop at all.

The "Reading Biology Notes" was accompanied by a bibliography marked with pencils, and my father apparently "searched for a map" and did his best to collect it. Chen Siping poured out all three cardboard boxes and checked them one by one, and sure enough, the marked books were included: Jared Diamond's "Sexual Secrets", "Guns, Germs and Steel", Roger Gersden's "Deception of Time", Stephen Gould's "Since Darwin" and "The Grandeur of Life", William Clarke's "Exploration of Aging", Richard Leakey's "The Origin of Man", R. Nice and George Williams "Why Are We Sick", D. Morris "The Naked Ape", Lewis Thomas "Jellyfish and Snails" , which is about one-eighth of the bibliography.

Absent from the bibliography are Stephen Gould's The Panda's Thumb, The Flamingo's Smile, Dinosaurs in the Haystack, Desmond Morris's The Human Menagerie, Robert Weinberg's The Cell Rebel, Tess Goldsmitt's Darwin's Dream Pond, Carl Zimmer's Evolution, Elaine Morgan's The Origin of Women, Michael Pollan's The Desire of Plants, Albert Jakar's Ode to Difference, The Disaster of Science, Jerry A. Coyne Why Believe in Darwin, Jordan Smaller's The Other Side of Normal, Chip Walter's Return to the Scene of Human Evolution, Frans de Waal's Primates and the Philosopher, Vetus Dryscher's From Cannibalism to Love, Matt Ridley's Nature, Acquired, The History of Sex, The Genome, The Origin of Virtue, Rational Optimism, Lewis Thomas's Celebration of Cellular Life, Goodesel's Illustrated Life, Cynthia L. Mills The Legend of Evolution, Richard Dawkins' "River of Genes", "The Story of Ancestors", Erich Hoyt's "Ant Empire", George Williams' "Who is the Creator", Daniel Charles's "God of Harvest", Borwin Banderlow's "Hidden Disease".

At the age of 47, Zheng Yefu ushered in "a period of enthusiasm and pleasure that usually belongs only to young people", most of the books he read, his father did not read, and many of the books his father read, Zheng Yefu did not mention. My father was in his early 40s when he read biology. Chen Siping is only 22 years old this year. His father was 5 years earlier than Zheng Yefu, and Chen Siping was 20 years earlier than his father.

Chen Siping flipped through it casually, and the books left by his father were not all biological, and some seemed to involve morality and spirituality. Chen Siping didn't know if his father had deliberately sorted out these books, and he didn't know if his father read these books, from shallow to deep, step by step, or which one he picked up and which one to read. He sat by the messy pile of books, fingertips touching the cover, worn-out, half-new, smooth, dry, with seemingly subtle differences in temperature and smell.

His father endured the family's chickens and dogs, and squeezed out a lot of time to study, in order to find an answer, which changed his life and Chen Siping's life. At this moment, Chen Siping felt as if he had seen his father's figure, alone, at the end of the long road, walking in a hurry. He is following in his father's footsteps. They are on the same path.