Today is Question Day when it comes to post topics, I guess. Over at Fine Structure, Nick asks about the effect of spotlighting brilliant scientists: I can’t help but think about the repercussions of looking at his clearly above average career as something that’s normal in physics. It’s a deterrent, I think, for all those… Continue reading Is Frank Wilczek Making Us Look Bad?
Category: Physics
How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: Obsessive Update
I should probably start date-tagging these updates about miscellaneous How to Teach Physics to Your Dog news. I don’t really mean this to become a second daily links dump, but it’s kind of looking that way… — As a general matter, it’s dangerous for authors to acknowledge the existence of Amazon customer reviews (acknowledgment leads… Continue reading How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: Obsessive Update
Why Every Dog Should Love Quantum Physics 6: Superconductors
If you’re still not sure whether you should be teaching physics to your dog, here’s another good reason: Superconductors. The “super” in “superconductor” refers to the fact that these materials conduct electric current with absolutely zero resistance, better than the best ordinary metals. This has obvious applications in the green technology field (which dogs should… Continue reading Why Every Dog Should Love Quantum Physics 6: Superconductors
Quantization of Books 3: How Many Books Is That?
When I saw the data generated by the sales rank tracker Matthew Beckler was kind enough to put together, I joked that I hoped to someday need a logarithmic scale to display the sales rank history of How to Teach Physics to Your Dog. Thanks to links from Boing Boing, John Scalzi, and Kevin Drum,… Continue reading Quantization of Books 3: How Many Books Is That?
Move Over, Schrödinger’s Cat
A couple of quick book-related items that I can’t resist posting, even while on vacation: First, the sales rank cracked the top 500 on Amazon last night, peaking at 396. I don’t know if this is just a matter of relative sales volume being low, or what, but it’s a huge kick all the same.… Continue reading Move Over, Schrödinger’s Cat
Local Bookstore Report
Not that I’m obsessed, or anything (current Amazon rank: 1106), but here are the results from my incomplete survey of local book stores regarding How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: Barnes & Noble: “Out of Stock” in all local stores. Has never been in stock, really. Borders in Crossgates Mall: “Likely in store” according… Continue reading Local Bookstore Report
You Don’t Really Understand a Subject Until You Teach It To Your Dog
I’m typing this from the local Barnes and Noble, waiting for the dealership next door to finish changing my oil and inspecting my car. Sadly, they don’t have How to Teach Physics to Your Dog on the shelves in their (rather small) science section. Grump, grump, grump. The disappointment at not immediately finding it on… Continue reading You Don’t Really Understand a Subject Until You Teach It To Your Dog
How to Teach Physics to Your Dog Is Out Today!
Today is the official publication date for How to Teach Physics to your Dog! I’ve got another reason or two why dogs should love quantum physics that I’ll probably post later, but if the ones posted so far haven’t sold you on the book, how about a really nice review from Cory Doctorow at Boing… Continue reading How to Teach Physics to Your Dog Is Out Today!
Why Every Dog Should Love Quantum Physics 5: Sunlight
How to Teach Physics to Your Dog goes on sale in fine bookstores everywhere tomorrow. But maybe the four previous posts explaining why dogs should care about quantum physics haven’t yet convinced you to go buy a copy. So here’s another reason, one appropriate to this solstice season, when dogs in the Northern Hemisphere will… Continue reading Why Every Dog Should Love Quantum Physics 5: Sunlight
Quantization of Books 2: What Does One Sale Get You?
I’ve been playing around with the spiffy sales rank tracker Matthew Beckler wrote, because I’m a great big dork, and enjoy playing with graphs. Here’s a graph of the sales rank vs. time through 2pm EST today (plotted in Excel from the data table at the bottom of the page): As I noted in my… Continue reading Quantization of Books 2: What Does One Sale Get You?