Dog Physics and Academic Blogging

I’ve made a few references to book-related things that were in the pipeline in recent Obsessive Updates. The first of those has just gone live, an opinion piece for Inside Higher Ed on how the book came about and why more academic scientists should have blogs:

When I started my blog in 2002, I had no idea it would lead me to talking to my dog about physics. Let alone to writing a book about explaining physics to my dog.

I thought of the blog as a way to talk a bit about politics, pop culture, and academic science, and a place to let off a little steam as I went through the tenure process (I started the blog at the end of my first year as an assistant professor). Over the last seven and a half years, it’s evolved into something much more, and I’ve begun to see it as an essential part of my responsibilities as a scientist.

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, a lot of the ideas will sound somewhat familiar, but you should still go over there and read the whole thing.