In praise of failure : four lessons in humility by Costic? Br?d??an, 2023. I just finished this quirky little book (273 p) and am left with more than a few things to think about – birth, death, humility, human frailty, hubris, genocide, madness, disease, senility, poverty and wealth to name a few. He uses the … [Read more…]
(The events in Moscow unfolded as I wrote this, it isn’t aimed at the current events except tangentially.) I finished this review in the New York Review of Books and wanted to share it. It is a long review, but rather fascinating for someone who knows next to nothing about this history, it filled in … [Read more…]
I checked out “All Systems Red” by Martha Wells, from the library yesterday. I started it after dinner and had finished it by the time I shut off the lights in bed. Granted, it is a short novel, but she can really tell a story. A thread I read on Ars Technica described her creation … [Read more…]
I wrapped up “Don’t Even Think About It” by George Marshall and I want to write my notes up before I go off and kill myself to do my bit to reduce our carbon debt. Yep, it’s that kind of book, I just finished chapter 37 “Degrees of Separation – How Climate Experts Live With … [Read more…]
CERN Courier review. Faraday, Maxwell, and the Electromagnetic Field: How Two Men Revolutionized Physics 27 November 2014 By Nancy Forbes and Basil Mahon Prometheus Books My review: This was a snap to read, light on the equations, but with enough math to make sense, the story line follows the lives of Michael Faraday and James … [Read more…]
Finished this “classic” a few nights ago. Feynman is quite a story teller and if you haven’t read this and like zany, bongo playing Nobel winners, it’s for you. I wasn’t sure what to expect but he writes in short stories about his life and his opinions on a lot of subjects, he is brilliant … [Read more…]
The Worlds I See by Dr. Fei Fei Li, borrowed from my local library after a two month wait in the queue. This is a “Moment of Lift” book which supports “publishing original nonfiction by visionaries working to unlock a more equal world for women and girls.” I didn’t know this until I had finished … [Read more…]
While at the library earlier this week to return Dr. Fei Fei Li’s book, I stumbled across another science memoir, this one The Double Helix by James D. Watson. It is a very easy read, fast paced, on topic, and rather funny in many ways. He tells on how, by working with chemists of various … [Read more…]
This is a small book, in the genre of possible science. Rovelli has his ideas about the existence of “white holes” and explains the development of the theory in a rather charming way, citing Dante most of the way through the process. While I was able to follow along with his reasoning I wasn’t … [Read more…]
Disruptions : stories Steven Millhauser 12/15/2023 This collection was my first book by Millhauser and I liked it a lot. He has a unique viewpoint, mostly 1st person narrative and the scenarios he creates are quite bizarre. The story “After the beheading” is, as many of his stories are, set in a community. This one … [Read more…]