This was good, another short read. I got it free on my ereader so I can't exactly complain. It is just that there are so many better books on this subThis was good, another short read. I got it free on my ereader so I can't exactly complain. It is just that there are so many better books on this subject that are more up to date at this point, that reading something of this nature seems utterly pointless, unless like I mentioned before you got it free....more
I like Dawkins, tone aside I think he is brilliant and knows how to present his material. The selfish gene is very well presented to be sure, but perhI like Dawkins, tone aside I think he is brilliant and knows how to present his material. The selfish gene is very well presented to be sure, but perhaps at least in my mind not as good as his "greatest show on earth" which had a more enjoyable feel. This was still a wonderful read, I was especially interested in the Prisoners Dilemma set up. I thought that was well integrated into the work and a very interesting experiment. I read and re read this portion in relation to the rest of the book and think there is really something to this experiment that is fascinating and reveals some underpinning in the human psyche. I read the 30th Anniversary Edition which had some good updates and a wonderful new introduction. ...more
This book was short, informative and to the point. It is just a brief overview of the transition from Newtonian thinking to Einsteins new concepts. ItThis book was short, informative and to the point. It is just a brief overview of the transition from Newtonian thinking to Einsteins new concepts. It was written in 1920 so that must be kept in mind. ...more
It took me awhile to drag myself into reading this one. People have always commented that it was so dull and that it was convoluted and hard to followIt took me awhile to drag myself into reading this one. People have always commented that it was so dull and that it was convoluted and hard to follow and I have always believed in evolution and found modern books very accessible on the subject so I thought why bother? Then again I have a thing for classics, and as my list of books on evolution grew I started to chide myself that I still had not even read from Darwin's own hand. So I bent to the grain and pulled it out. This book was nothing like what I expected. Absolutely NOTHING like what I expected.
If you read this with an open mind, slowly and take each of his points into consideration you find an absolute flawless logic to his argument. It is well presented and actually I find that compared to many scientific articles it is clearly written for the wider audience. Darwin wants you to get it. He wrote as plainly and carefully as he could. He did not propose his idea half assed or hurriedly. I was floored to find that all of my favorite arguments for evolution came straight from the horses mouth as it were. Darwin got it. He really really got it. He went at it from every angle he could, geological time scales, fossils, birds, plants, animals, interactions, sexual selection, selection on islands, selection in various terrains. He broke it down bit by bit and said: Look guys, I hardly wanted to buy this myself but this is how it is. Just look! See for yourself. Make up your own mind.
His methodical manner is hard to shy away from. He did not come up with an idea and let others run with it. He did the research, he talked to people, he took it from all angles and presented it in the clearest manner possible.
Yes I have to admit that the writing was a bit dry, but the river of content was overflowing, and the proposal was elegant and clear. What a wonderful contribution. I am honored to have read this work and chide myself yet again for my hesitation. ...more
Fucking brilliant book! This is exactly what I was looking for. I could feel myself getting excited as I started to mentally piece together Einstein'sFucking brilliant book! This is exactly what I was looking for. I could feel myself getting excited as I started to mentally piece together Einstein's equations and logic for myself. Then about three quarters into it the Math started blowing my mind and I felt my head exploding. Perhaps I needed more differential calculus to understand that bit. I wanted to get out graphing paper and start calculating everything for myself but then again since it was all so well laid out in the book I just carried on and marveled at the beauty and simplicity of the findings. The only thing that was kind of unnerving was the sweet kind of cartoon drawings peppered throughout the work. As the math started to get harder the drawings felt like they were taunting you. Almost like this is kiddy stuff why can't you get it. You would look over at the bunny in the picture and think, damn you rabbit what do you know about time in space...which inevitably led to thinking about the book flatland and imagining what would have happened in flatland had the bunny been introduced. An entirely circular and unnecessary point. Obviously the page with the bunny on it was absolutely grueling. ...more
I expected more from Hawking on this one. Seems like a lot of rehashing of other popular modern physics books, but the content was of course good and I expected more from Hawking on this one. Seems like a lot of rehashing of other popular modern physics books, but the content was of course good and the topic interesting as hell. So eh? What can you do. ...more
I have this book in particular for finally giving my husband and I some peace of mind with each other on this subject. I am a strong atheistic evolutiI have this book in particular for finally giving my husband and I some peace of mind with each other on this subject. I am a strong atheistic evolutionist and my husband a very gentle ex Jehovah's witness creationist. To say the least this topic takes very little fuel to start a fire of magnanimous proportions. My brother recommended this book and gave it to my husband to help him see some of the evidence for evolution. It not only served this purpose wonderfully but it helped my husband be at peace with a god who could fashion the world in this way. On my end I am not going to concede that this book won me anything toward a new belief in god but it helped me be a little more understanding and sympathetic to the views of those who wish to believe in evolution and a creator simultaneously. ...more
I don't really understand the style of it all. Why write about something so haphazardly? It contains just enough science to I suppose be considered scI don't really understand the style of it all. Why write about something so haphazardly? It contains just enough science to I suppose be considered science. Yet she uses each chapter to tell one particular story relating to each of the planets in turn. The stories have no tie in. There seems to be little reason for each choice. There is also a terrible mixing in of non scientific information that also seems to be chosen at random and perhaps irrelevant. I guess the ordering of it is just not for me. The continuity of the work is in question here. ...more
This book was good. I expected more from the writer of Galileo's daughter though. It was short, concise, the story itself was fabulous but the writingThis book was good. I expected more from the writer of Galileo's daughter though. It was short, concise, the story itself was fabulous but the writing was rather bland. I found my heart aching for this mans when his chronometers were taken from him I was beyond upset. I hate politics and lawsuits and have had enough of them in my own life to find myself easily wrapped up in his position. Frankly however she could have written a more heart strung story with very little effort since the facts themselves were so convincingly winning. ...more
Consciousness is a huge topic to tackle. It's one of those questions/truths that is so inexplicably hard to wrap any kind of explanation around that iConsciousness is a huge topic to tackle. It's one of those questions/truths that is so inexplicably hard to wrap any kind of explanation around that it gets bantered around by philosophers and scientists with equal bravado. Of course the logical starting point would be the brain, which leads indefinitely to the synapse and then where? How do you define consciousness in terms of a synapse impulse aside from the chemistry of it all? Does chemistry account for will? In comes physics. What a brilliant approach! Physics yes of course! So obvious from the vantage point that the author takes to state vector collapse and yet at the onset how elusive! Wonderful! I really enjoyed the approach. You find the approach of the need for the conscious observer in terms of uncertainty principles but it is rarely talked about the other way around as a gateway to the mysteries of consciousness. Five stars for the approach, presentation and emotional content. But ah! Then then ending to make that huge illogical leap to the final content being the great consciousness of some undefinable god. Well in some senses if this is what you want to label "god" then at least the author puts together a good argument for that so called "god" he created. But he cannot automatically ascribe to it all of the other attachments that society does to that term god that inevitably readers will attach. He in fact knows this and tries to term this new god a "universal" I just think the leap here was much to far to be wrapped up in a final chapter. I do however think that the content was good. The line of thinking was rational and well put forth and frankly at least this form of god I can respect more so than the layman who puts forth no effort in defining what a true god could actually be other than what he is told it should be. So therefore fine. I liked the book it was really a good read then. ...more
This book really gives you a play by play of the mission as it unfolded, it also references some potential missions and extensions for the future. It This book really gives you a play by play of the mission as it unfolded, it also references some potential missions and extensions for the future. It is not a "new frontier, hypothetical" type book. The book is more technical and gives even so much as wind patterns and atmospheric pressures and so forth for the great moon of Saturn. It is more interested in data presentation than story telling, which honestly I appreciated and enjoyed quite a bit. ...more
This book was extremely basic. If you know anything at all about particle physics you will be very bored. I think there is more pertinent time sensitiThis book was extremely basic. If you know anything at all about particle physics you will be very bored. I think there is more pertinent time sensitive information about the "frontier of research" on the CERN website....more
I refuse to beat myself up too badly for not understanding most of this book. I realize I know almost nothing fundamentally about electricity, and of I refuse to beat myself up too badly for not understanding most of this book. I realize I know almost nothing fundamentally about electricity, and of course as usual I got swamped in the mathematics. Maxwell also does not do you any favors in way of long explanation. He gets right to the point and does it more with numbers than words. ...more
Ok to be fair I really liked this authors writing style. I like her train of thought, I like her humor, I like her immensely and this is the only thinOk to be fair I really liked this authors writing style. I like her train of thought, I like her humor, I like her immensely and this is the only thing of hers that I have ever read. But as a book? This was not at all what I was looking for. Were I to probe into that great question of what is there in the hereafter from a "scientific approach" the last thing I would do is go chase down mediums and stories on reincarnation. I found that both demeaning to science and utterly a waste of time. There are better approaches in journals such as Nature. What about the brain? Wouldn't that be a good place to start? There are studies on the brain showing that the last few minuets before death become as an eternity to the dying and that neural pathways are opened up to allow information exchanged in those moments that were not used prior to. What about going down that sort of route? What about actual science? Are we so desperate to explain it all that we have to look down spook alley? No no no she has to go play ghost catcher with a bunch of crazy people. Unfortunately for the author I take the idea of death very seriously and despite the fact that I can get a joke on occasion it just didn't blend well with the subject matter for me. I really want to know what happens after you die and this book gave no answers only crazy stories that even the author admitted she didn't buy into. Well if you don't buy into it then you are looking in the wrong place! ...more
Finally! Brian Greene you are the master at delivering exactly what I have naturally been pondering and lack the scientific mind to undertake. Thank hFinally! Brian Greene you are the master at delivering exactly what I have naturally been pondering and lack the scientific mind to undertake. Thank heavens it wasn't another science book that I had to sit through the whole of physics from Einstein onward. Way to know your audience. We are sick of the constant repeating of every major scientific breakthrough of modern times. We have heard it all a dozen times, we know the history and want to know what is going on now! Yet again you deliver in your classically simply elegant style the various avenues mathematics has led us to opening up different scenarios for parallel universes in every flavor under high investigation. Giving comparisons for each approach and tackling them all in turn. Its such absolute brain candy. You are so damn brilliantly perfect for presenting this type of information. Bravo! This is why you are one of my all time favorite authors. ...more
The thing about this book was that despite the fact that it was really good and had a lot of great information, I couldn't help but feel like the authThe thing about this book was that despite the fact that it was really good and had a lot of great information, I couldn't help but feel like the author put a lot of so called "data" in it that was somewhat unverifiable and drawing many conclusions that I think were premature. On the whole though I really did enjoy the book and it had so much good information in it that it was really hard to put down. ...more
I love studying genetics, and have always had a special fascination with genetic engineering. I do really believe that genetic engineering will lead tI love studying genetics, and have always had a special fascination with genetic engineering. I do really believe that genetic engineering will lead to two distinct class systems based on money. Honestly, I can say that there is not any "thought experiment" in this book that I have not run through in my mind already, and frankly I think there are better ways to present this information than what was outlined in this book. I will consent that for its time then information would have been current, but much needs to be added in this subject. ...more
It hardly needs to be stated that I am a generous rater in the first place. I love Dawkins but sometimes his literary skills need to be checked a bit.It hardly needs to be stated that I am a generous rater in the first place. I love Dawkins but sometimes his literary skills need to be checked a bit. I feel on occasion that he rushes to publish before fully forming some of his ideas. On the other hand great experiments in this book! The E-coli 20 year extraveganza blew my mind. I would not have likely stubled across this information without having read this book. So for at least that information I have to say I was pleased with the book. I also really liked reading about the guppies. Good information in this one. Starts out slow though. ...more
I would have preferred if this book had touched more on the sociological aspects of beauty. Exploring things like how beautiful people interact in socI would have preferred if this book had touched more on the sociological aspects of beauty. Exploring things like how beautiful people interact in social situations, if they get better treatment maybe providing some statistical evidence or studies for this (of which I know there are many studies). Also perhaps if she could have explored the psychological aspects of when beauty meets ego, perhaps expounding more on characters in history like Cleopatra, who had an absolute plethora of beautifying aids at her disposal. Also maybe look throughout histories and cultures and compare/contrast what is considered beautiful across the world, and perhaps draw some conclusions from this about the lengths that people go through to beautify themselves. Instead the author very much focuses in on Caucasians, which frankly I don't think all cultures would find that beautiful, and for what she focused on I still felt like there were some major holes in her arguments. I enjoy non fiction, but at around 200 pages (a short read) this book could have provided a lot more in way of enlightening us about how very intertwined beauty is in society by bulking up a bit. I thought she brought up a few good evolutionary points, but could really have pulled more from other cultures....more
Cassandra Kay
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