I don't understand how a person who pours over their car's driver manual can completely neglect learning about their own bodies . Sure, it's more complex, but it's also a lot more critical.
My first few months of college was just general curriculum but that quickly phased into a five year program in pharmacy. That was, of course, all kinds of biology. My first college course in biology was an introduction to biology. It was a laboratory course. We went into the classroom to perform the next exercise. The only time we saw an instructor was if we needed extra help. Tests were administered by assistants. I think that was my favorite college course.
I was sick for a week during that time and got behind, so when I went back I spent a day catching up on dissections. I also learned what formaldehyde poisoning felt like.
I met my longest term friend there. Paul Holm and I have been hiking together from that class in 1973 until I moved to Denver in 2013. We still check on each other occasionally.
There was a series of courses in Pharmacy that pushed my memory past its limits. It was a three quarter series and we were required to memorize 20 drugs a day....chemical and trade names, major manufacturers, chemical structure, action on the body, side effects. The courses were pulling my grades down and I intended to get a double major so with two quarters left to gain a degree in Pharmacy, I transfered to the School of Psychology.
At the time, neuropsychology wasn't a thing, but that was where I wanted to go so pharmacy was a way to get a solid foundation in physiology before moving to the more behavioral aspects of psychology. A student had to choose a framework to follow and, at Auburn, the choices were behaviorism (which I dispised at the time) and personality psychology (which, although I enjoyed, I wanted something more integrated.....there wasn't the "integrated psychology" discipline at the time). There was also social psychology and that was the closest match to what I wanted that I could find. And after graduating with a bachelor's degree in psychology, I entered a master's curriculum in rehabilitation and special education with focused in vocational evaluation and research design. And that was my formal education.
My informal education involved asking questions about everything that came up. I've always seen my medical incidences as opportunities to learn, including things like endurance hikes that pushed me beyond my limits, where my "instruments would swing into the red zone".
For instance, I'm just finishing up surgery and recovery for a detached retina. I have plenty of intimate details about my eyes (which I will share with you as time goes on). The bubble vanished the day before yesterday; I am again free to hike above 7000 feet and I am able to concentrate for more than five minutes on what I am typing.
So, where I stand in respect to biology.....I'm not a biologist but I am a retired public health professional. I have plenty to learn but I've picked up a lot along the way.
And it's not bookkeeping, so I have the incentive to learn.
So, what about you? Are you interested in the life around and in you and how it works? Biology gets as deep as you might want to go.
