The Planet Factory was one of our family story time reads, and let me tell you, it was interesting reading a lot of those exoplanet names out loud. ExThe Planet Factory was one of our family story time reads, and let me tell you, it was interesting reading a lot of those exoplanet names out loud. Exoplanet names are typically catalogue style, with initials representing the method used to find the planet, a number representing the star it is orbiting, and then another letter to represent which object it is in its star system — they are alphanumeric soup, some of them quite long.
This is clearly not a book meant for reading aloud, but we are not going to hold that against it. It was interesting to learn about planetary formation and they ways that our solar system both may and may not be very representative of most systems in the universe.
Could be a very interesting reference for speculative fiction writers interested in planetary level worldbuilding!
Didn’t always hold my youngest child’s interest, but my oldest was into it, and and it often inspired physics discussions with my husband. ...more
I'd fallen out of the habit of reading physics books (kinda sorta), but then, and this is very random, someone I met on fandom twitter was geeking on I'd fallen out of the habit of reading physics books (kinda sorta), but then, and this is very random, someone I met on fandom twitter was geeking on various since topics, we got to chatting, and next thing I knew, I'd agreed to buddy read this book.
Mostly reading this book made me miss my grad school quantum mechanics rain. I wanted to get more out of this than I did But I had some good a-ha moments: the book has probably permanently changed the way I think about quantum effects AND I got my new favorite quote out of it -- "superfluous ideological superstructure." I would like that phrase tattooed on my body, please.
I suppose that is quite a lot to get out of a book I discovered so randomly!...more
I'd read this in college and was absolutely delighted by it. This second read was for family story time. A young Einstein dreams each night of cities I'd read this in college and was absolutely delighted by it. This second read was for family story time. A young Einstein dreams each night of cities and worlds where time works differently than it does in this one, each story exploring ramifications of what if time and light operated differently -- what would living in those worlds look like?
I have been biased towards Alan Lightman ever since the brilliantly incandescent Einstein's Dreams, so I snatched this off of the library shelf as sooI have been biased towards Alan Lightman ever since the brilliantly incandescent Einstein's Dreams, so I snatched this off of the library shelf as soon as I saw it, despite the size of my stack already and the state of my to-read shelf. Of course, this is no Einstein's Dreams, but a collection of essays about the nature of the universe. Most of the theories and interpretations discussed were not new to me, so I found little about this book to be groundbreaking. But in general I enjoy Lightman's writing style, and enjoy thinking about these sorts of things, so it was a pleasant enough read.
I most enjoyed the essay "The Symmetrical Universe," which closes thusly: "Viewed in this way, it is nonsensical to ask why we find nature beautiful. Beauty and symmetry and minimum principles are not qualities we ascribe to the cosmos and then marvel at in their perfection. They are simply what is, just like the particular arrangement of atoms that make up our minds. We are not observers on the outside looking in. We are on the inside too." And also "The Disembodied Universe," which contained a lovely contextualized explanation of Foucault's pendulum, which I know I have read/learned about before, but somehow not grasped how radical and beautiful it was in its day. This last essay is also an interesting meditation on progress and technology and the ever-changing human condition.
Some small complaints, but overall a good read. ...more
I saw this book at the bookstore and was intrigued, but something about it made me hesitate, and I decided to check it out from the library instead. WI saw this book at the bookstore and was intrigued, but something about it made me hesitate, and I decided to check it out from the library instead. While I did enjoy this book, I think I'm pretty happy with this decision.
Mary Sherman Morgan's story was fascinating. Born to poor, abusive parents on an isolated farm in North Dakota, who had to be compelled by the state to send her to school. After graduation, she runs away from home to attend college to study chemistry. After a few years, she is recruited/pressured to drop out to "join the war effort," where she stars making TNT in a factory staffed almost entirely with women. After the war, of course, munitions jobs dry up and the ladies are pressured to retire and make way for the men returning home to look for jobs. Mary applies for and gets a job at North American Aviation anyway, where she builds such a reputation for herself that when the U.S. Army sends a colonel asking for NAA's best man to solve a propellant problem that Dr. van Braun can't crack, it's Mary who gets the job. And it's Mary who eventually solves it, playing a crucial part in the first launch of an American satellite into orbit (and getting the American space program back on track.)
This book is both fascinating and frustrating. Mary was an intensely private person, averse to photographs, who didn't leave much evidence of her life behind, not even min the form of stories shared with her son, who authored this book. George shares his search for any sort of documentation of his mother's career, which turns out to be mostly non-existent. (The documentation, not the career.) Much of her story is pieced together by interviews with Mary's co-workers, who don't want her legacy forgotten after her passing.
The book also seems torn between aspirations of what it wants to be. After I read a few favorite ringing passages to my husband, he said, "That's very theatrical." And I laughed. Of course it was, I just hadn't put the word to it yet. George Morgan is a playwright, and this book grew from a play he wrote about his mother. And as much as George tries to establish his mother's place in the space race, it's also intensely personal, in places more a memoir of his search for information. But as a memoir, it also leaves questions strangely unanswered, like why his father can't or won't fill in more details of his mother's personal story.
Despite any of these shortcomings, this is still a compelling story, and one that needs to be shared. ...more
Here's how much I loved this book. Within a week of finishing the copy I'd borrowed from the library (indeed, even before I'd returned said copy), I wHere's how much I loved this book. Within a week of finishing the copy I'd borrowed from the library (indeed, even before I'd returned said copy), I went out and bought a copy of my own. Because I need this on my shelves. Why? Well, as someone with an M.S. in physics, and whose research appointment as in relativistic heavy ion collions, I'm more frequently called upon than most to explain things like the Higgs boson. But before a month ago, any such request would be met with a deer in the headlights stare and a lot of handwaving. My research was more interested in the quark-gluon plasma. So, the strong force. And it has been a very long time since I read The God Particle, okay?
So it's no surprise at all that when I saw this book in the New Books section of the library on my way to the poetry aisle, it stopped me in my tracks. And while it took me a while to get into it, once I did I really geeked out on it, telling friends about cool things I'd learned, asking my professional physics friends questions and doing additional reading on concepts I wanted to understand better. I did work for this book. I'm invested in it. Of course I want to own it now.
Like most books about an emerging concept in science, this one is presented as a history of the idea. Baggott introduces a whole host of key players, many of whom I was previously unaware of. The major players get brief histories and character descriptions as well, and as a result even some of the names I knew I now feel I know much more about. (And now feel I have a better idea which of the books on quantum mechanics on my shelves will be more interesting.)
If all you're looking for is a brief description of what the Higgs boson and Higgs field are thought to be, let me recommend the minutephysics channel on youtube. But if you want a wider survey on how did we get to this moment, and why is it important, I heartily recommend this book. ...more
Impulse buy at Tuesday Books in Williamston. Clearly the intersection between modern physics and religion is on my mind lately. This book is a collectImpulse buy at Tuesday Books in Williamston. Clearly the intersection between modern physics and religion is on my mind lately. This book is a collection of interviews by Tippett with leading scientists. Not all are physicists, there are also medical doctors, scientists studying revenge, stress, depression. Tippett asks these scientists on the cutting edge of their respective fields how their developing understanding affects their understanding of religion and the universe. So it serves as a sort of sampler of the current world of science.
There's a lot that I really liked about this book. I appreciated the variety even as I tended to be more interested in the physicists and the chapter on Darwin and evolution. I really loved the interview with V.V. Raman, whose Hindi beliefs appreciate multiple ways of knowing, asking, understanding.
At the same time, this book had me frequently grinding my teeth. If someone said something that Tippett found particularly insightful, you were going to know all about it. Certainly it would appear in the transcript of the interview, of course. But additionally, each interview was proceeded by an introduction. Not just an introduction of the person being interviewed, because that appeared in the chapter itself. But an introduction before the chapter, that summarized the work of the interviewee, the interview itself, and touched on individual points and sometimes quotes from the interview. Then also there was an introduction to the entire book that did the same things. By the time you're reading those engaging points within the interviews, you're (or at least I) was like, "Yes, Yes! I remember the time!"
As I complained to everyone within earshot, it was suggested to me multiple times that I just skip the introductions, but that's cheating, and I couldn't force myself to do it. Seriously. Did she write the book over many months and forget that she had already quoted exactly that excerpt before? Could Penguin, in this age of e-books and cost-cutting, just not be bothered to assign this book an editor?
All the repetition made me feel like I'd easily be able to find all the interesting ideas that sparked things in my brain, but now I can't. One of these days, I'll get over my aversion to marking books. (At least some books.)
Despite my frustration, and despite the occasional tripping of my woo-alarm, I highly recommend this book. Just maybe, you know, skip the introductions. ...more
It took me MONTHS to finish this beast of a book. Sometimes I was enraptured (explanations of nuclear physics), sometimes I was gritting my teeth to sIt took me MONTHS to finish this beast of a book. Sometimes I was enraptured (explanations of nuclear physics), sometimes I was gritting my teeth to slog through (most of the war stuff -- excepting the missions to take out the heavy-water plant supplying the Nazis). Most of it was the kind of book I want to have read more than I want to read. There were just so many people! And of course lots of people were involved, but it was taxing my brain trying to keep some of them straight, and also the timeline so sprawling, so you never knew when you would run into those people again.
For me this book sometimes sunk under the weight of its own ambition (and just its own weight -- this book is a BRICK), but I am still very glad that I finally got around to reading it. And I'll be happy to keep it on the shelf as a reference. It's just -- how many people can be as interested in the physics, the personalities, the politics, the bureaucracy, the bombing campaigns -- ALL of it -- in the same weight as Rhodes? It's a challenge subject -- to cover all the angles! I suppose it is remarkable that I enjoyed this as much as I did....more
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