For my 51st birthday, my wife bought me a copy of Roger Penrose's new book, "The Road to Reality". It is an amazing and engrossing piece of work. This is NOT "summer reading"; Penrose embrances the obvious (and commercially fatal, I fear) point that mathematical explanations of the Universe cannot really be understood EXCEPT in mathematical terms. (Umm...that's, you know, WHY we invented mathematics?) But he is careful NOT to assume that his readers already possess enough mathematical background to follow his argument. He explains carefully each new concept as it comes along. I get the impression that the reader will end up with a knowledge of mathematical physics roughly equivalent to my knowledge of prayerbook Hebrew: I know enough vocabulary to translate and understand what is being said and enough grammer to parse the sentence if it isn't too obtuse or arcane. I do NOT have enough understanding to USE Hebrew to express my own thoughts.
I browsed through it, and it´s a brick of over 1000 pages at the level of an astrophysicist. Without spoiling it, any conclusion worth mentioning? Age of universe, shape, fate, origin? I will definitely *try* to read it but a little sneaky preview would definitely help getting me started.
Beats me; I've browsed and gotten through the first two chapters. But I find it very hard to put down!
My own introduction to Penrose was his book entitled Shadows of the Mind: A Search for the Missing Science of Consciousness. I've never looked at The Road to Reality, and so I can't comment on that piece. My impression however, is that it may not be the easiest introduction to Penrose. For that, readers might consider The Emperors New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds and the Laws of Physics. None on these works are written for the casual reader but this last title, perhaps, comes the closest. Anyway, sometimes it's good to stretch those old synapses. Jack
I am making further progress (a break from Jurisprudence since I'm shifting LL.M. programs). This book just gets better! It answers a serious need for something between texts on, say, quantum theory and popular explanation type books. It will doubtless be a commercial flop in our stupidly math-phobic society but it really IS a marvelous piece of work!
Same Penrose is a read and a half. I'd also suggest "Quantum Field Theory In A Nut Shell" by A. Zee. He additionally wrote "Fearful Symmetry","Einstein's Universe", and "Swallowing Clouds". Definitely good for insomniacs. Start from "Clouds" and work back. The "Einstein's Universe" by Calder is a primer as is Gott's "Time Travel In Einstein's Universe" and Barrow's "The Book of Nothing". You won't knock yourself out, if you accidentally drop them on your head, in bed.
Same I forgot "Supersymmetry" by Kane and "Three Roads to Quantum Gravity" by Smolin if just getting into this hobby. Sit vis nobiscum
Most Disappointing Book... "Freakonomics" came highly rated and while it was interesting it wasn't as well thought out as people seemed to think. For example, he expoused that abortion was the primary cause of the drop in juvenile crime. He came up with a lot of facts which could have supported his thesis but totally ignored others like the pill (introduced in 1960 but not widespread until the late 60's only about 5 years before RvW) and seriously downplayed the effects of proactive police work. Too easy a read I was done in part of an eveneing and a little of the next morning. I have the "The World is Flat" by Friedman but haven't started reading it yet....
A little off topic Noseborne48, Just a tad off the subject, but I was e-mailing a Rabbi buddy and decided to use a Yiddish book of terms, to surprise him, and be a smart-ass. Well, it didn't work as well as I had hoped. I expected a reply within a couple hours. A week later, he sent me back to school. Fortunately, he has a great sense of humor, deciphered my feeble attempt at smart-assitis and suggested I stick to Redneck. One of my old girlfriends is Jewish. When she read my note, she said that I was better off agnostic, and would say a prayer for my doomed dumb-ass. And a belated Happy Birthday!
Well, don't beat yourself up. Not all Jews, and certainly not all Rabbis understand Yiddish. Not all Jews come from a Yiddish background; Sepharadim speak Ladino, not Yiddish, and the languages are as different as, well, German and Spanish. Not all Yiddishes are the same. A Litvak speaks differently from a Galacian. Finally, the Rabbi's view of Yiddish itself may be very negative. Young Jews don't learn Yiddish in school; they learn Israeli Hebrew.
As said to me by "Mr. Candy Store" when in my young teens: "Yiddish is s--t! We speak Polish." Yiddish is much subcultural, pidgin speech.
Same He explained this to me, about as well as you have. I only kicked for a couple days, and then chalked it up to failure to research my subject. My language background is in Latin (Catholic Schools) and Spanish from the service. So, I can certainly destroy a sentence quickly. Make that a word. Anyhow, he was very understanding and instructive. I now write in Redneck and he replies in various languages to piss...make me study. A very bright man, humorous and entertaining. A good man and friend. Thanks for the response, I don't feel as foolish as I did, just a tad embarrassed. Which is about normal, for me. Pisk?
Re: Most Disappointing Book... I'm about 100 pages in and so far I find it both interesting and an easy read. David
