What are you currently reading?

[North Star]

Who or what are you referring to?

And I hope you know that much of theoretical physics is essentially maths with a human spin on things?

I was referring to the comic.

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Yes, I do know that theoretical physics was only invented after the mathematical inventions needed. But the point is, what is maths without reality and other sciences - not much more than fun.    Mathematics is needed in order to create models that can be used to help us understand how/why the world is the way it is, but pure math isn't what I'd call a science, since it isn't based on reality, but models, some of which are used in natural sciences.

[Opus106]

[P]ure math isn't what I'd call a science, since it isn't based on reality, but models, some of which are used in natural sciences.

*Sound of can of worms opening*

Define reality.

[North Star]

*Sound of can of worms opening*

Define reality.

By reality I mean the world in which people, or most of us anyway, live, and the observations made in this world.

[nesf]

You might be biased, though.

Probably.

[Opus106]

By reality I mean the world in which people, or most of us anyway, live, and the observations made in this world.

Assuming that mathematical entities are purely human creations, namely a series of firings of neurons in the brain (I'm in a reductionist mood today), wouldn't that make them a part of reality?

[North Star]

Assuming that mathematical entities are purely human creations, namely a series of firings of neurons in the brain (I'm in a reductionist mood today), wouldn't that make them a part of reality?

And also posts on GMG are a part of reality. But not all mathematical models give us any valuable information of the structure of the universe.

[DavidW]

This is too nerdy even for me!

[Karl Henning]

Hah! Davey has been out-nerded!

[DavidW]

Hah! Davey has been out-nerded!

Haha!  That happens to me everyday by one of my students who likes to make references to video games and tv shows that go right over my head.

[North Star]

What can I say, but

And I'm glad, I tell you!  Glad!!!   

[Opus106]

Is Dave getting old?

[DavidW]

Is Dave getting old?

All you have to do to feel old is be around teenagers, trust me.   Greg would feel old after a day with my students.

[SonicMan46]

This is too nerdy even for me!

David - agree! I had to take all of those courses as a pre-med student in the 1960s - just do it!      Dave 

[Antoine Marchand]

It was a hard decision, but I decided to spend part of my vacation time reading Law, Legislation & Liberty:



One of the most stimulating readings of the last years, so addictive as The Road of Serfdom.

[DavidW]

I read The Paradox of Choice, reread Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and I'm now rereading the Shadow Rising.

[asin]B000TDGGVU[/asin]
Paradox of Choice is well researched and is compelling.  I also found it's very simple advise helpful on making choices, and I find myself spending less time making choices, feeling better about them and using things like netflix more often now that I'm not as overwhelmed by the choices.


This is one of the better Harry Potter novels, and the film adaptation is my favorite.  It's funny that one of the strongest entries only lightly touches on Voldemort.  It has more to do with the bonds of both friendship and kinship and honoring your loved ones even if they've passed on.

[asin]B00329UWL8[/asin]
Shadow Rising is my favorite novel in the Wheel of Time series.  It has completely tossed aside it's LoTR roots.  Each character matures into the adult characters ready to take on the responsibility they must for the last battle.  It also shows through first person perspective what it was like in the age of legends when the dark one is first released from his prison.  It adds complexity to the villains and heroes alike.  And in this novel you really feel the characters burden-- duty as heavy as a mountain, death as light as a feather.

[Antoine Marchand]

I read The Paradox of Choice, reread Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and I'm now rereading the Shadow Rising.

[asin]B000TDGGVU[/asin]
Paradox of Choice is well researched and is compelling.  I also found it's very simple advise helpful on making choices, and I find myself spending less time making choices, feeling better about them and using things like netflix more often now that I'm not as overwhelmed by the choices.

It looks very interesting, David. Particularly in "cultural" affairs the overabundance of choices can be paralyzing these days. 

P.S.: Damn! Amazon offers a Kindle edition; i.e., I can get a copy in one minute...  I need to recall why less is more. 

[DavidW]

It looks very interesting, David. Particularly in "cultural" affairs the overabundance of choices can be paralyzing these days. 

P.S.: Damn! Amazon offers a Kindle edition; i.e., I can get a copy in one minute...  I need to recall why less is more. 

Only problem with it is that it's redundant and a pretty short read... but I don't regret the purchase.

[DavidW]

Here is a taste, the same taste that got me to read the book-- his TED talk (also on youtube):

http://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_on_the_paradox_of_choice.html

[nesf]

I read The Paradox of Choice, reread Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and I'm now rereading the Shadow Rising.

[asin]B000TDGGVU[/asin]
Paradox of Choice is well researched and is compelling.  I also found it's very simple advise helpful on making choices, and I find myself spending less time making choices, feeling better about them and using things like netflix more often now that I'm not as overwhelmed by the choices.

I've been eyeing that for ages.


Currently reading after getting bored of case study after case study in Musicophilia:

[asin]B005FQ1GSO[/asin]

Fascinating. Very nerdy obviously but great fun if you find etymology interesting. Bread is a loanword? Etc.



Interesting. I don't know enough about acoustics to say whether he's always correct or not but his physics is right anyway. Listening as an audiobook and he makes good use of the format to show examples of phenomena such as how we have insane difficulty identifying an instrument if we cut off the first part of the note being played and similar.

[Lethevich]

Is there a good book (ideally audiobook, but wishful thinking maybe) on black Americans between the end of the civil war and the mid-20th century civil rights movements?

Edit: specifically this, because the other parts before and after seem much better covered.