09-26-2013, 07:39 AM | #346 | |
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New one from Alan Wiseman (The World Without Us) - Countdown - will the Earth support 11 billion?
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09-26-2013, 10:37 PM | #347 |
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Kenny,
Thanks for posting that - I read and enjoyed The World Without Us several years ago. By the way, this is eligible for promo codes at Kobobooks.com. |
09-29-2013, 02:34 PM | #348 | |
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Recently finished The 10,000 Year Explosion: How Civilization Accelerated Human Evolution by Gregory Cochran and Henry Harpending:
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http://www.amazon.com/000-Year-Explo...year+explosion |
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10-11-2013, 12:50 PM | #349 |
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I just breezed through Lee Smolin's Time Reborn: From the Crisis in Physics to the Future of the Universe and found it very interesting. I must note that I did not read this word for work and did a lot of skipping over his explanations of things I knew -- the history of physics/cosmology etc. but tried to focus on his new information.
This book in many ways rehashes some of his 'beefs' against leading edge physics - string theory, quantum mechanics, etc. but takes a bit of a new approach by making the bold claim that Time is itself the fundamental component of the structure of reality. As a result of this his claim is that the laws of physics must evolve and change over time. He also makes the claim that this 'setting of time as invariant' is another way of looking at Einstein's relativity (which set the speed of light as invariant - resulting in different experiences of time, time dilation, etc). I personally have always wondered if what Einstein did was somewhat arbitrary (fixing the speed of light and that it was invariant) and have always wondered if other elements might not be set as invariant with the same results of giving us a completely new view of reality. I found the book quite interesting. Lee Smolin is a bit of the 'bad boy' of physics but if you are interested in that perspective this is worth the read. |
10-11-2013, 12:52 PM | #350 |
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I just got the new The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2013
I've only read a couple of the entries and will come back with a full review later but I had to share a paragraph from the editor's introduction which sort of summarizes all of modern science and the personalities in one paragraph. He's speaking of Gregor Mendel father of modern genetics: "How on earth, then, did this man, in this place, unlock the secret of genes? Newton had his cometary intellect; Einstein was born a rebel and bred to defy convention; Feynman was the comic genius of physics, exposing his discipline’s vanities like a jester in a court of fools. But Gregor Mendel? The founder of modern biology seems, in contrast, to have been born without contrast—a man of habits plodding his way among men in habits." |
10-14-2013, 04:13 AM | #351 | |
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Two science books I read during the last month that I think are worthy of attention.
The Mind Within the Brain: How We Make Decisions and How Those Decisions Go Wrong by A. David Redish. A very detailed description of the neurological and cognitive processes underlying memory, behavior and decision making processes. Although the different processes are well described, the author goes into the great detail needed to really understand the basic science behind them, so the book is not exactly an easy read. I enjoyed it greatly though, and definitely learned a lot from it (and now even understand part of the neurology underlying that learning process ). The second book I enjoyed is rather science history, The Philosophical Breakfast Club: Four Remarkable Friends Who Transformed Science and Changed the World by Laura J. Snyder. From the blurb: Quote:
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10-20-2013, 04:19 PM | #352 |
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Just finished The 10, 000 Year Explosion recommended by Section8 and what an interesting read. I highly recommend this one.
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10-20-2013, 04:27 PM | #353 |
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10-21-2013, 02:51 AM | #354 | |
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Quote:
The mention of Feynman led me to notice that "Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman" and the related books don't appear in this thread. Admittedly they're not strictly science books, being more autobiographical in nature, but they're without doubt a must-read for anyone with an interest in science and reason. /JB |
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12-16-2013, 10:43 AM | #355 |
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"The Phantoms in the brain"
Was scanning the forum. A lovely place to discuss. The book"The Phantoms in the brain" by V.S.Ramchandran is a must read.
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12-16-2013, 11:18 AM | #356 |
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Yep, that's great stuff. I've not read it but have seen and read shorter stuff by him.
Welcome to MobileRead! |
12-17-2013, 07:56 AM | #357 | |
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Just ran across this: Our Final Invention: Artificial Intelligence and the End of the Human Era
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/031...g=793775876-20 Quote:
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12-17-2013, 08:05 AM | #358 |
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And Science book picks for 2013 from Science Friday:
http://sciencefriday.com/segment/12/...-for-2013.html Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital by Sheri Fink The Sixteenth Rail: The Evidence, the Scientist, and the Lindbergh Kidnapping by Adam Schrager Ninety Percent of Everything: Inside Shipping, the Invisible Industry That Puts Clothes on Your Back, Gas in Your Car and Food on Your Plate by Rose George Does My Goldfish Know Who I Am? by Gemma Elwin Harris The Inheritor’s Powder: A Tale of Arsenic, Murder, and the New Forensic Science by Sandra Hempel On Looking: Eleven Walks With Expert Eyes by Alexandra Horowitz Cosmic Apprentice: Dispatches from The Edge of Science by Dorion Sagan Wild Ones: A Sometimes Dismaying, Weirdly Reassuring Story About Looking at People Looking at Animals in America by Jon Mooallem Smarter Than You Think by Clive Thompson Einstein and The Quantum: The Quest of the Valian Swabian by A. Douglas Stone |
12-18-2013, 08:40 AM | #359 | |
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12-18-2013, 08:52 AM | #360 |
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I'm symbiotic with that.
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