In "Two Ways of Seeing a River," author Mark Twain compares and contrasts the way he perceives the river before and after he became a steamboat pilot. Before learning the science of steam boating, Twain did not consider that the blood orange reflection of the sun in the water and the solitary floating log could be anything other than beautiful. Now a pilot of a steamboat, Twain sees his once beautiful sun now only means that he will experience wind tomorrow, and that his free floating log simply indicates the rising of the river. For Twain, the knowledge of how things work dirtied the beautiful simplicity of his river, reducing it to a dull, spiritless waterway. I do not feel the same as Twain. Learning how things work amplifies its significance