Because a book isn’t a real book until it has a promotional website, I give you: http://dogphysics.com the official(ish) site for promoting How to Teach Physics to Your Dog, which will be published this December (and can be pre-ordered on Amazon). The site does, in fact, contain content you won’t find on the blog, including… Continue reading Introducing DogPhysics.com
Category: Book Writing
How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: Coming This Christmas
I have an official release date for the book-in-production: December 22nd. There’s no lay-down date, though, so they may turn up in stores before then. Mark it down on your Christmas list now… There’s also an official title and cover: Emmy’s slightly miffed that she’s not the dog on the cover, but that’s what she… Continue reading How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: Coming This Christmas
The Queen on Facebook
The book is now starting through the production process, and people at Scribner are thinking about publicity. I got email asking whether I could set up a Facebook page for Emmy as a promotion. I’m not sure whether that meant a fan page for the dog, or a Facebook profile for her, as if she… Continue reading The Queen on Facebook
Good Writing Needs Editing
Inspired by Leigh Butler at tor.com, I’ve been re-reading Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time books. This happened to coincide with my recent vicious cold, which is good, because they’re great sickbed reading. Most of my re-reading has been done on my Palm, which miraculously came loaded with electronic copies of all the books. These are… Continue reading Good Writing Needs Editing
Mr. Earbrass Writes a Pop-Science Book
Holding TUH not very neatly done up in pink butcher’s paper, whcih was all he could find in a last-minute search before leaving to catch his train for London, Mr Earbrass arrives at the offices of his publishers to deliver it. The stairs look oddly menacing, as though he might break a leg on one… Continue reading Mr. Earbrass Writes a Pop-Science Book
Book Report: Slouching Toward Production
The Book-in-Progress is slowly but surely moving toward being the Book-in-Production. There isn’t an officially official date yet, but I’ve gotten what should be the last round of edits, and been told that it should be out this fall, just in time for holiday gift-buying. Between the book and my class, I don’t have a… Continue reading Book Report: Slouching Toward Production
Editing and its Discontents
FemaleScienceProfessor posted a few days ago about “intense” editing of scholarly writing, and the different reactions students have to the experience: Although an individual student’s response to being intensely edited can vary with time and mood, there tend to be typical responses from each student. These typical responses are no doubt related to very deep… Continue reading Editing and its Discontents
Pop-Science Book Racing
Over at Cosmic Variance, Sean writes: You know what the world really needs? A good book about time. Google tells me there are only about one and a half million such books right now, but I think you’ll agree that one more really good one is called for. So I’m writing one. From Eternity to… Continue reading Pop-Science Book Racing
Quantum Physics for Dogs Preview
We’re out for a walk, when the dog spots a squirrel up ahead and takes off in pursuit. The squirrel flees into a yard and dodges around a small ornamental maple. Emmy doesn’t alter her course in the slightest, and just before she slams into the tree, I pull her up short. “What’d you do… Continue reading Quantum Physics for Dogs Preview
A Question of Publishing Ethics
There’s a classic paper on the Quantum Zeno Effect that I discuss in Chapter 5 of the book. The paper does two tests of the effect, and presents the results in two bar graphs. They also provide the data in tabular form. My question is this: If I copy the data from the table, and… Continue reading A Question of Publishing Ethics