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
Category: Science Books
Blog Table Discussion with Puff the Mutant Dragon (part II)
In which we have the next round of the conversation with Puff the Mutant Dragon. Previous entries here and there. ———— Amusingly, your post was singled out for high praise in the Knight Science Journalism Tracker review of the book. Probably because Deborah Blum, who wrote it, wrote a book about poisons, so the topic… Continue reading Blog Table Discussion with Puff the Mutant Dragon (part II)
Blog Table Discussion with Puff the Mutant Dragon (Part I)
My post post Faster Than a Speeding Photon, doing a Q&A explainer of the OPERA fast-neutrino measurement was picked for inclusion in The Best Science Writing Online 2012 (confusingly published in late 2012, featuring blog posts from 2011…). As promotion for the book, it was suggested that pairs of authors from the collection “interview” each… Continue reading Blog Table Discussion with Puff the Mutant Dragon (Part I)
The Perfection of Bay Area Dogphysics
Last night, as I was flying in to San Francisco, Matt Cain pitched the first perfect game in Giants history. Now, a casual observer might think these events were unrelated, but to ancient alien theorists, the connection between them could not be more obvious. Thus, you should come to Kepler’s Books in Menlo Park this… Continue reading The Perfection of Bay Area Dogphysics
Relativity for Bay Area Dogs, Among Others
Two How to Teach Relativity to Your Dog items: First and foremost, I’ll be appearing at Kepler’s Books in Menlo Park, CA, this Thursday, June 14 at 7:00pm. I’ll probably read a bit of the book, so if you’ve ever wanted to hear me do the silly dog voice live, here’s your chance. Provided, of… Continue reading Relativity for Bay Area Dogs, Among Others
The Vicious Cycle of Physics PR
In which I talk about why it is that particle physics and cosmology are so over-represented in popular physics, and why my own books contribute to that. [The too-short excerpts on the new front page are beyond my ability to change, so I’ll be doing Victorian-style “In which…” summaries at the start of posts as… Continue reading The Vicious Cycle of Physics PR
How to Teach Relativity to Your Dog in the New York Times
I was going to post something noting that the great WordPress transition will begin at 7pm tonight, and comments after that time will be lost like Roy Batty’s tears. However, I have much happier news: tomorrow’s Science Times (available on the Web already) will include a review of How to Teach Relativity to Your Dog!… Continue reading How to Teach Relativity to Your Dog in the New York Times
How to Teach Relativity to Your Bay Area Dog
So, you find yourself living in the San Francisco Bay area, and you maybe have a dog who would like to know something about relativity, or you maybe want to someday have a dog who will want to know something about relativity, or you maybe want to know something more about relativity yourself, in case… Continue reading How to Teach Relativity to Your Bay Area Dog
The Republican Brain by Chris Mooney
This has been out for a little while now, and Chris has been promoting it very heavily, and it’s sort of interesting to see the reactions. It’s really something of a Rorschach blot of a book, with a lot of what’s been written about it telling you more about what the writer wants to be… Continue reading The Republican Brain by Chris Mooney
Exploring Space: Don’t Sell Robots Short
One final thought on the Big Science/ Space Chronicles stuff from last week. One of the things I found really frustrating about the book, and the whole argument that we ought to be sinking lots of money into manned space missions is that the terms of the argument are so nebulous. This is most obvious… Continue reading Exploring Space: Don’t Sell Robots Short