Category: Books

The Trouble With Physics

New submissions to the arxiv, from http://arxiv.org/help/stats/2012_by_area/index

For something related to the book-in-progress, I was reading Raymond Chandler’s classic essay “The Simple Art of Murder” last night, and stumbled across the following quote, where he laments the number of stories in print in the mystery genre in 1950: In my less stilted moments I too write detective stories, and all this immortality… Continue reading The Trouble With Physics

My Beloved Brontosaurus by Brian Switek

Back in January, thinking about science topics to add to the book-in-progress, it occurred to me that I would really be letting down SteelyKid (and pre-schoolers everywhere) if I didn’t take the opportunity to include something about dinosaurs. The problem with that, of course, is that I know next to nothing about dinosaurs, especially discoveries… Continue reading My Beloved Brontosaurus by Brian Switek

Mastermind by Maria Konnikova

I saw Maria Konnikova’s Mastermind on the book lottery stacks at Science Online, and the subtitle “How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes” practically screamed “This is relevant to your interests!” Not only am I writing a book about how to think like a scientist, one of the chapters I have in mind uses mystery novels… Continue reading Mastermind by Maria Konnikova

The Theoretical Minimum by Leonard Susskind and George Hrabovsky

This is the physics book that’s generating the most buzz just at the moment, by noted string theorist Leonard Susskind and George Hrabovsky, based on a general-audience course Susskind’s been running for years. It’s doing very well, with an Amazon rank in the 300’s, which is kind of remarkable for a book with this many… Continue reading The Theoretical Minimum by Leonard Susskind and George Hrabovsky

Science Online Advice: Writing Books

Last Friday, when I didn’t have any time to blog, Zen Faulkes wrote an interesting wrap-up post on Science Online 2013 in which he declared he won’t be back. Not because it was a bad time, but because other people would benefit from it more, and his not going frees up a spot for somebody… Continue reading Science Online Advice: Writing Books

Faitheist by Chris Stedman

I started following Chris Stedman on Twitter thanks to a recommendation from Josh Rosenau citing him as someone who promotes atheism without being contemptous of religious people. He was, indeed, a source of religion-and-politics material that I found congenial, and when I noticed he was flogging a forthcoming book, I picked up a copy, which… Continue reading Faitheist by Chris Stedman

The Physics of Wall Street by James Owen Weatherall

The Physics of Wall Street cover.

As I hinted obliquely a little while back, I don’t have a terribly high opinion of Wall Street or Wall Street traders. Given that, I’m not the most obvious audience for a book titled The Physics of Wall Street, and truth be told, I wouldn’t’ve picked it up on my own. The publisher sent me… Continue reading The Physics of Wall Street by James Owen Weatherall

The Inspiring Power of You’re Doing It Wrong

I’ve got a bunch of browser tabs open on my various computers that have been there for weeks, one of which is Alastair Reynolds on writing science fiction. This is mostly a response to a not-terribly-interesting complaint that the science fiction genre has been “exhausted,” but there was a bit in there that resonated with… Continue reading The Inspiring Power of You’re Doing It Wrong

Hobbits and Prime Ministers: The Physics of Doors

Peter Jackson in the door to Bag End.

Over at Tor.com, Kate has begun a chapter-by-chapter re-read of The Hobbit, and has some thoughts on Chapter 1. It’s full of interesting commentary about characters and literary technique, but let’s get right to the important bit: Physics! Kate mentions in passing in the post that the Hobbit style round door with a knob in… Continue reading Hobbits and Prime Ministers: The Physics of Doors