Best scientist biographies according to redditors
We found 1,509 Reddit comments discussing the best scientist biographies. We ranked the 376 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 1,509 Reddit comments discussing the best scientist biographies. We ranked the 376 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
For a good book about this, check out The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson.
Here's my list of the classics:
General Computing
Computer Science
Software Development
Case Studies
Employment
Language-Specific
C
Python
C#
C++
Java
Linux Shell Scripts
Web Development
Ruby and Rails
Assembly
I really enjoyed Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman
It's an autobiography by physicist Richard Feynman. Very fun read, by an incredibly interesting man.
If you haven't read it already, Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! is a fantastic read.
I'd recommend two sources that cover the reception with relation to the competition: Jeff Ryan's "How Nintendo Conquered America" and Blake Harris's more recent "Console Wars."
One of the things that Ryan focused on is Mario 64's innovation (indeed, Nintendo's promotional materials focused on this too) -- it' was one of the first games where you could control the camera in all directions. Mario 64 was one of the few games available at the console's launch, and it showcased the new console hardware and possibilities that weren't available on the Playstation or Saturn. I can't speak to the greatness it immediately received, but a lot of the early reviews certainly focused on its innovative features and newness that otherwise wasn't available on other consoles or, for that matter, Mario Games (while Mario RPG was 3d, this allowed complete control over his moves and attacks)
It sounds like a decent book, but with this quote at the bottom of the review
> "The problem is that Krauss – also a theoretical physicist – concentrates a little too heavily on the science, rather then the life, of Richard Feynman"
I would recommend Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman as an immediate companion.
Surely you're joking, Mr Feynman! is really good, and if you like this clip you should read it.
Really interesting guy and the book is a great read.
>This is just a minor story,
Ummnn...no.
This is not a minor story.
This is what I'd call a "75 cent discrepancy". There's a great book from the 1980's called The Cuckoo's Egg. It tells the story of how tracking down the reason for a 75 cent accounting error on a university computer system led to the discovery of a team of West German hackers breaking into U.S. military and defense contractors' computer systems at the behest of the K.G.B.
I suspect that for many ACONS, the first place where we can sit up and say, "This isn't right. This really doesn't make sense, and it's NOT me," is something seemingly small like this.
Your nmom's whackadoo insistence that you fit into HER mold for you, and the lengths she went to in order to force her version of "reality" onto to not just you, but everyone around you is significantly abusive, involving gaslighting, emotional abuse, and emotional neglect, among others.
It's not cute, and it's not funny. It's enraging. I'm not surprised you're still angry about it. It's the tip of an iceberg...
My husband and I have recently realized that LSD is now our favorite drug. We're amazed that something so tiny have such a crazy profound effect on your mind.
We've started reading "How to change your mind" by Michael Pollan and it's fascinating. He talks about the history of LSD in clinical studies in the 50-70s and that the drug influenced a lot of organizations, including the beginning of Alcoholics Anonymous.
If you're interested in learning more about the drug, it's definitely an interesting read, it would be even better on audio book.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594204225/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_zn-KBbYB9Z16H
For the love of all that's holy, read his book:
http://www.amazon.com/Surely-Feynman-Adventures-Curious-Character/dp/0393316041
It's utterly fascinating. Feynman is the only person I have ever wanted to be.
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, part 3, "Testing Bloodhounds", e.g.,
> Then I looked at the bookshelf and said, "Those books you haven't
looked at for a while, right? This time, when I go out, take one book off
the shelf, and just open it -- that's all -- and close it again; then put it
back." So I went out again, she took a book, opened it and closed it, and put
it back. I came in -- and nothing to it! It was easy. You just smell the
books.
and:
> We did a few more experiments, and I discovered that while bloodhounds
are indeed quite capable, humans are not as incapable as they think they
are: it's just that they carry their nose so high off the ground!
Psychedelics get you into a head-space where you can sort of feel the connectedness of everything, and also think beyond the rigid thoughts your mind normally operates on (so as to see things in a different way than you always have). That's one of the reasons so many people have such a profound experience with it. That's why Leary was considering dosing an entire towns water supply, to spur real revolutionary change. I do think there is a case to be made that psychedelics could lead to a real leftward shift in popular imagination, but, then again, theres a Nazi that took acid and came up with the idea of a White Nationalist form of Twitter or something recently, so results vary.
A real good book on the subject of rethinking psychedelics (sorry abt the Amazon link): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1594204225/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
The textbook business has been rotten for decades. 46 years ago the renowned Caltech physicist Richard Feynman served on a California state committee for adopting textbooks for high schools. He wrote about the incompetence and corruption in the whole process in his autobiography Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!. You can read an online version of the section dealing with that here.
William Dunham has a great book,Journey through Genius: The Great Theorems of Mathematics, about this.
Right now I'm reading "Surely you are joking Mr Feynman". great book!
http://www.amazon.com/Surely-Feynman-Adventures-Curious-Character/dp/0393316041
Specifically, this one.
Latitude is relatively easy. Longitude, not so much. Good narration: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003WUYE66/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
That's how it used to be. London in the 19th century had a preposterously confusing network of water lines because of several competing companies who all delivered running water and all had their own separate lines tangling their way through the city. You couldn't tell by looking at a house or a neighborhood where their water came from; you had to individually ask homeowners who they payed their water bill to, and not everybody even knew. And one of the results of this overcomplexity was that it probably delayed the discovery of the fact that cholera is transmitted through water (source).
Imagine being the pediatrician who elucidated the Flint water crisis, but different: you notice an uptick in blood lead levels of your patients and suspect that one or more of the five competing water utilities must have become contaminated with lead. But you didn't know which one(s) it might be because you didn't know where any given house got their water and all of the utilities are denying you access to their error-riddled customer lists.
Thanks, will definitely check that out!
Also responding here for /u/rock_lobsterrr since they asked for some recos as well.
The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson is about a deadly cholera outbreak in Victorian London. The disease killed so many that it led to the creation of the Bazalgette sewer system that London still uses today.
New York: An Illustrated History by Ric Burns, Lisa Ades, and James Sanders is a beast of a coffee table book that outlines the comprehensive history of Manhattan from swampland backwater to thriving modern metropolis. It's chock full of some fantastic stories, including the one about two reclusive brothers who were found dead in a brownstone that was heavily booby-trapped. (One was invalid, and the other was killed by his own booby traps.) The whole book is a lovingly-created tapestry of New York's ambitious, brutal, and just plain weird history.
That's all I got for now, but if I remember something else, I'll add it to my comment.
If you want to learn more about this, I highly recommend Longitude by Dava Sobel.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003WUYE66/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
SpaceX has done nothing innovative in rocketry. Their innovation is purely on the business side. Reusable launch vehicles existed long before SpaceX, all the way back to the 50s. The technology wasn't leveraged back then because launch cost mattered a lot less than performance.
All of the tech being used by SpaceX today was invented in the 50s and 60s and then shelved, including methane engines, reusable SSTOs, and even more 'futuristic' technologies like aerospike engines that still haven't yet been resurrected. Even when it comes to economies of scale, SpaceX is only executing on a pretty tame strategy. For extreme economy at extreme scale, there's the Sea Dragon.
If you want to get a grasp on how advanced rocketry was in the 50/60s and how little we've come since then, I suggest the amazingly written Ignition! by John D Clark, one of the pioneers of the field.
https://library.sciencemadness.org/library/books/ignition.pdf (free pdf)
https://www.amazon.com.au/Ignition-John-Clark/dp/0813595835 (recent reprint)
The relevant passage from John Clark's "Ignition!":
>”It is, of course, extremely toxic, but that’s the least of the problem. It is hypergolic with every known fuel, and so rapidly hypergolic that no ignition delay has ever been measured. It is also hypergolic with such things as cloth, wood, and test engineers, not to mention asbestos, sand, and water-with which it reacts explosively. It can be kept in some of the ordinary structural metals-steel, copper, aluminium, etc.-because of the formation of a thin film of insoluble metal fluoride which protects the bulk of the metal, just as the invisible coat of oxide on aluminium keeps it from burning up in the atmosphere. If, however, this coat is melted or scrubbed off, and has no chance to reform, the operator is confronted with the problem of coping with a metal-fluorine fire. For dealing with this situation, I have always recommended a good pair of running shoes.”
Amazon link
The Cuckoo's Egg is one of my favorites!
For sure!
​
I've had several roles in the technology space, from the strategy around a complete digital transformation (ripping out a clients current ERP, CRM, MES, PLM, and HR to implement an API-riddled "modern ecosystem" so those systems could share data), to implementing a continuous improvement framework and sustainment model around a technology implementation. What really got me interested in PM was my first role where I took a custom mobile application from design to deployment while running an Agile team for ~2.5 years. I've been searching for PM jobs on and off for the better part of a year until this opportunity came through the pipeline.
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As to why I made the switch, I really enjoy working through all the cross-functional portions that comes with launching a new piece of technology. During the lifecycle of a product/feature you have to do strategy (what is the product-market fit), design/development (work with engineers to build a feasible product), and launch work (empower Product Marketing and work with them to find the correct segment/marketing materials). In my experience consulting teams usually focus on one portion of that work, but seeing the lifecycle through falls under the PM because they're there for the long haul.
​
Career aspirations include moving along the PM track and eventually leading a team of PMs. Consulting gave me a strong skillset mostly because I had mentors driving my career development, and providing standards to work towards. One of the most rewarding things I found was returning the favor to the new crop of consultants. Definitely looking to do that in my new position once I get more settled down and we build out the PM team a bit more.
​
Speaking on career aspirations, if money is one of your main motivators for becoming a PM I might suggest a different line of work. I got a small pay raise to $122,000 living in an expensive area, but the compensation trajectory is much higher if you stay in consulting (i.e. assuming everything had gone well this year I was looking at a raise to $145,000 base). In the short term compensation may be similar if you get a PM job with a FAANG company (especially at the MBA level where everyone is competing for top talent), but if you hit partner you leave your PM counterparts in the dust.
​
Getting this role was really luck-based (in addition to practicing for PM interviews for a year). I was initially contacted by a recruiter for this role and ended up hearing nothing after two weeks. So I found someone in the company on LinkedIn and reached out to them (we had gone to the same school). Turns out that person would be my boss and was interested in talking with me! The rest is history (after some harrowing interviews). I guess the moral of the story is if something seems interesting don't stop at the first roadblock.
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I haven't started the PM role yet so what I like/don't like is TBD, but what I really enjoyed working on the custom mobile application was being "the guy" that everyone comes to with questions/ideas/complaints. One minute I'd be talking with customers about how to use the app, the next I'd be talking with our engineering lead about how I could ever design something so stupidly, and finally I'd get called into the office of the program head to run the numbers with her and see if we were really saving $5 million annually in operations cost. It's stressful, but being the ingress point keeps you constantly on your feet.
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Did you know that psychedelics were legal in the 50s/60s and used to treat alcoholism/depression? I sure didn't! I've been reading How to Change your Mind and it has been mind-blowing (pun intended) charting the rise and fall of psychedelics in both research and counter-culture terms.
Op-ed by former guest Michael Pollan and author of How to Change Your Mind.
TL;DR:
>I look forward to the day when psychedelic medicines like psilocybin, having proven their safety and efficacy in F.D.A.-approved trials, will take their legal place in society, not only in mental health care but in the lives of people dealing with garden-variety unhappiness or interested in spiritual exploration and personal growth.
>
>My worry is that ballot initiatives may not be the smartest way to get there. We still have a lot to learn about the immense power and potential risk of these molecules, not to mention the consequences of unrestricted use. It would be a shame if the public is pushed to make premature decisions about psychedelics before the researchers have completed their work. There is, too, the risk of inciting the sort of political backlash that, in the late 1960s, set back research into psychedelics for decades. Think of what we might know now, and the suffering that might have been alleviated, had that research been allowed to continue.
Non-fiction, which to my mind makes it better:
The Soul of a New Machine
Also non-fiction and a great read, the autobiography of aircraft designer/novelist Nevil Shute: Slide Rule
Journey Through Genius is an excellent book that I read when I was an undergrad. If I remember correctly, it focuses on ten (or so) major results and goes through in detail the motivations behind them and the work leading up to them. I found it really interesting. As an undergrad, I took a course on Philosophy of Mathematics (which basically amounted to the history of Math). The prof had written his own textbook for the course and it's available here (scroll down the page until you get to "6. The Art of the Intelligible: An Elementary Survey of Mathematics in its Conceptual Development. Kluwer, 1999." and then click the links below). You may also want to spend some time browsing the extensive MacTutor History of Mathematics website - not a book, but incredibly thorough.
If anyone's interested in the backround of the pictures, go read Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!. It's a really great book, and makes you realize what an awesome person he was. The book is written in such a way that you feel as though you're sitting in a room with him and just sort of chatting.
This book describes what you are taking about very well.
https://www.amazon.com/Change-Your-Mind-Consciousness-Transcendence/dp/1594204225
Fascinating stuff.
A fascinating and related read: Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time
A lot of them are in this book.
http://www.amazon.ca/Surely-Youre-Joking-Mr-Feynman/dp/0393316041
Your library should have a copy. It's a compendium of anecdotes, all of them interesting.
Not a particularly interesting article, but I do always enjoy reading about Feynman. He truly was one of the most fascinating people in science.
For those that don't know much about him, Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! is a really great collection of stories -- scientific/mathematical/technical and otherwise.
You should read the book. It is amazing. http://www.amazon.com/Starman-Truth-Behind-Legend-Gagarin/dp/0802779506
They reprinted it!
https://smile.amazon.com/Ignition-Informal-Propellants-University-Classics/dp/0813595835/
You can get the epub of the recent reprint for free here
Or buy it on Amazon
Fantastic book.
Clifford Stoll's The Cuckoo Egg is an absolutely fascinating insight into tracking a computer hacker transnationally. Well worth a read if you like hearing about hacker stuff.
Most recommendations I’ve heard are for 0.2g, up to 0.4g of mushrooms. It could be more but generally, what I’ve seen recommended is that if you can feel it, it’s too much. Dose one day, skip two days. It should make you generally feel like your day is better. Your brain can gain the ability to make new neural connections, among other amazing things. Check out the Paul Stamets interview on Joe Rogan around 46:00 and the fantastic
The Psychadelic Explorers Guide on The Tim Ferris show with Jim Fadiman, they discuss it right away. There’s also books, How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594204225/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_ZKL5BbQ7K6JYQ (though Michael Pollan offers little on microdosing)
about this new frontier of psychedelics plus a new micodosing specific documentary.
Then there’s the wide variety of psychadelic research currently happening, leading back to OP.
Edit: formatting
Michael Pollan has a good book on the subject: https://www.amazon.com/Change-Your-Mind-Consciousness-Transcendence/dp/1594204225/ref=nodl_
He also does a interview with Joe Rogan: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tz4CrWE_P0g
Interesting stuff.
One of my favorite books is Surely Your Joking Mr. Feynman there is another version with an audio cd that is a great listen.
/u/cm362084 already recommended The Millennium Problems by Keith Devlin, which is literally exactly what you're looking for. If you're interested in other great books about math, 2 I'd recommend are Journey through Genius by William Dunham and Fermat's Enigma by Simon Singh.
Journey through Genius is organized such that every other chapter is some important proof (detailed out step-by-step), and the remaining chapters provide the historical/biographical context for those proofs. There are some interesting stories included in the book such as how mathematicians in the middle ages would keep their techniques secret, since there was a chance that another mathematician would come to town and challenge them to a math duel.
Fermat's Enigma tells the story of how Andrew Wiles was able to prove Fermat's Last Theorem, which states that there are no integer solutions to the equation a^n + b^n = c^n for n>2. (This one was a century problem last century, but since it was solved, there was no need to list it as a Millennium Problem.) This is a bit more storytelling than actual math, though Singh doesn't shy away from going a little bit into detail about the underlying math.
The last book to consider is The Poincare Conjecture by Donal O'Shea. The Poincare Conjecture was one of the Millennium problems and was recently solved. I should point out that I can't recommend this book personally because too much of it went over my head. That says more about me than the book, though, so I don't want to leave it off the list just because I was too dumb to get it. :) I never took any classes in topology, so I may want to read up on that and give this book another shot.
I just finished reading Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman, what an incredible person. Makes me sad he's still not alive. Recommended you read it too if you haven't already:
http://www.amazon.com/Surely-Feynman-Adventures-Curious-Character/dp/0393316041/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344831089&sr=8-1&keywords=surely+you%27re+joking+mr.+feynman
Makes me respect Bill Gates even more than I already did.
> That's the sad thing, people say "it's the FBI leadership, not the rank and file!" this wasn't Comey and co. This was the rank and file.
A problem, though, is that the leadership generally sets the tone and emphasis of an organization. And since J. Edger Hoover, the primary focus has been political, especially on stuff that generates good publicity. That's why when I was growing up their emphasis and reputation was still based on bank robberies and kidnappings, which are both notorious and particularly easy to solve crimes, because of witnesses in the former, and the need to pick up a ransom in the latter.
If you're into computers, and, heh, this is another "Russia" thing, read The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage. The one organization that wouldn't give Cliff Stoll the time of day in tracking down the West German hackers who were being run by the KFB was the FBI, because the crime didn't satisfy their $100,000 or more threshold.
Hoover did seriously care about counter-espionage, but it was always a red headed stepchild in the organization, and he of course was long gone by then. That the FBI started exerting itself so much about claimed Russian espionage and the like last year just by itself makes it very suspicious, they wouldn't do it without a political angle, which we now can be pretty sure was the "insurance policy" they had in case Trump got elected.
For The Legend of Zelda, there's (as others have said) "Hyrule Historia". There's also a book called "Legends of Localization" that details the localization process of the original Legend of Zelda from Japanese to English:
http://www.fangamer.com/products/legends-of-localization-zelda-book
If you're into manga, there's a whole set of Zelda mangas:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/mobile/p/the-legend-of-zelda-box-set-akira-himekawa/1104178239/2683774677098?st=PLA&sid=BNB_DRS_Marketplace+Shopping+greatbookprices_00000000&2sid=Google_&sourceId=PLGoP24049&k_clickid=3x24049
There's also "Legend Of the Hero" by Kari Fry, which is essentially a field journal of sorts about the Legend of Zelda franchise, with some gorgeous artwork:
http://www.fangamer.com/products/legend-of-the-hero
Kari Fry has also made similar things for Pokemon and Animal Crossing, titled "The Field Guide to Kanto" and "A Guide to Village Life", respectively found here:
http://www.fangamer.com/products/kanto-field-guide
And here:
http://www.fangamer.com/products/a-guide-to-village-life
Another fun title is "Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America", which is about the history of Nintendo of a company (although you could probably find all of the information online, it's definitely a nice book to have on the shelf), and you can grab that one on Amazon here:
http://www.amazon.com/Super-Mario-Nintendo-Conquered-America/dp/1591845637
Those are all of the ones I know about, but I'm sure there are more out there!
There is an excellent book I read called Longitude that tells the story of that guy. Absolutely one of the best non-fiction books I have ever read and I cant recomend it enough if you have even the smallest intrest in what Harrison did.
Highly recommend The Ghost Map
Journey Through Genius, I couldn't put it down, it goes through some of the greatest/most well known proofs in math. It is a book that goes into detail and while one may need to reread a section a couple times to comprehend, it does a great job of explaining what is going in
http://www.amazon.com/Journey-through-Genius-Theorems-Mathematics/dp/014014739X/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=undefined&sr=8-1&keywords=journey+through+genius
This paragraph from Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman! really got to me...
> I had obviously done something to myself psychologically: Reality was so important - I had to understand what really happened to Arlene, physiologically - that I didn't cry until a number of months later, when I was in Oak Ridge. I was walking past a department store with dresses in the window, and I thought Arlene would like one of them. That was too much for me.
Cliff Stoll doesn't recommend metal openers for his Klein Bottles.
Fun fact: Cliff wrote one of the first investigative books on overseas espionage/hacking in the 1980s "The Cuckoo's Egg" and has a lot of other neat topological glassware on the site.
Some advice here for anyone looking for psychedelic therapy.
Mushrooms are still not legal in Oakland, they've just instructed cops not to do anything about possession. So don't expect to see shops selling mushrooms, or therapists giving them to clients. Your best bet is to look for a "psychedelic integration therapist". They won't give you drugs or trip-sit for you, but they specialize in helping clients make sense of psychedelic experiences. Also check out meetups such as those run by the SF Psychedelic Society. Their Psychedelic Therapeutic Use Peer Support Group (there's one that meets in Oakland and one in Petaluma) is great.
There are therapists who practice psychedelic therapy underground. They don't advertise, obviously, so you'll need to make connections to find them. I can't help you there.
You don't need a professional guide to benefit from psychedelics. In fact few therapists have training or experience in this unique modality. More than formal training, it's important to have a trusted trip sitter (ideally someone who's taken psychedelics before), a safe and comfortable setting, and a positive mental state going in. If you want to read trip reports, there are thousands available on Erowid. I recommend the book Psychedelic Psychotherapy by R. Coleman (although I don't endorse everything in it). How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan is a popular book that covers a lot of topics related to the psychedelic renaissance. Also check out /r/PsychedelicTherapy.
Both psilocybin and MDMA are in the FDA approval pipeline and might be legally prescribed for therapy within the next 10 years. You could potentially do this now if you qualify for a clinical trial.
Hopefully we will soon see full legalization and a safe way for people to access these experiences that doesn't require them to label themselves as "sick". There is a ballot measure in Oregon next year which would be a big step in that direction.
> Det er liten fare for dødelige forgiftninger ved bruk av hallusinogener, men dette vil avhenge av dosen, forteller Høiseth.
Det finnes ingen kjent dødelig dose av DMT eller andre vanlige tryptaminer så vidt jeg vet. Folk med hjerteproblemer skal uansett være varsomme. Det samme kan sies om folk som sliter med schizofreni eller har familiemedlemmer som gjør det.
> Legen påpeker at risikoen for avhengighet av stoffer som DMT vil være relativt lav.
Heller ikke-eksisterenede risiko for avhengighet, men psykedeliske stoffer har vist seg å værre langt mer effektive for å stoppe avhengighet av alt mulig rart, enn det legemiddelindustrien så langt har prestert å gjøre penger på
> De viktigste bivirkningene var kvalme og oppkast.
Noe som er en viktig del av prosessen for mange. Oppkast er derfor ikke en bivirkning i dette tilfellet, noe som forklares slik lenger opp i artikkelen:
>Spyingen blir sett på som en renselse av kropp og sinn.
> Det er som om ayahuascaen har fått tak i et virus som ikke tjener deg lenger. Plutselig ligger depresjonen, det dårlige forholdet eller traumer du har slitt med, oppi bøtta. Man får en dypere innsikt og forstår at det som plager deg, ikke trenger å være et problem lenger.
"En studie nylig publisert i Psychological Medicine viser at ayahuasca kan ha positiv effekt på sterk depresjon."
Dette stemmer godt overens med mitt anekdotiske tilfelle.
> – Én ting er å behandle mennesker med alvorlige sykdommer. Noe helt annet er det at friske mennesker inntar hallusinogener i søken etter mening med livet. Å klusse med kjemien i en frisk hjerne er et hasardspill, sier Hasle.
Jeg tror de aller fleste kan ha godt av å bli litt bedre kjent med seg selv. Dette er verktøy som har blitt brukt i tusenvis av år og ikke uten god grunn. Jeg vil påstå at det er minst like hasardiøst å proppe kropp og sinn fullt av avhengighetsskapende lykkepiller, som SSRI'er med tvilsomme bivirkninger og praktisk talt ingen bedre effekt enn placebo, i undersøkelser som ikke er utført av legemiddelindustrien selv.
Til sist vil jeg si at om mann velger å innta et psykedelisk stoff, bør man gjøre grundig research på forhånd og gjøre det i så trygge omgivelser som mulig.
Her er en ganske god artikkelserie for folk som vil vite mer:
https://sapiensoup.com/medical-benefits-of-psychedelic-drugs
Anbefaler også den siste boka til Michael Pollan:
https://www.amazon.com/Change-Your-Mind-Consciousness-Transcendence/dp/1594204225
Edit: Psykedeliske erfaringer er av mange grunner svært vanskelige å sette ord, siden ord ofte blir fattige. Her er en som gjør et hederlig forsøk likevel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqsdCqKQCLU
There is a book written about John Harrison and his incredible work. It's a very good read. An aside. I was in a small museum in Bermuda and they had one of his original clocks on display. It was cool to see.
https://www.amazon.com/Longitude-Genius-Greatest-Scientific-Problem/dp/080271529X
If you have not read The Cuckoo's Egg, definitely do. In fact you can read pretty much anything Clifford Stoll writes and it's just what you're looking for.
If you're interested in something that's more story than technical reference, you might enjoy The Soul Of A New Machine by Tracy Kidder:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Soul-New-Machine-Tracy-Kidder/dp/0316491977/
It's got techy stuff in there too, but takes you through the history of a particular machine's creation.
Amazon links for books mentioned in this thread:
\/u/thetrueonion (OP)
\/u/llothar:
\/u/DallasGreen:
\/u/gearnut:
\/u/frothysasquatch:
\/u/Beefstyles:
\/u/CalledCaptainHook:
\/u/75footubi:
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Not a problem. I would highly recommend reading this book if you are interested and want to explore things more:
http://www.amazon.com/Journey-Ants-Story-Scientific-Exploration/dp/0674485262
I have three books that I love to loan out (or just strongly recommend to those weirdos out there who refuse a loaner):
The first two books have in some ways shaped my life over the years. The last book is just the funniest I've ever read.
Maybe not strictly in the topic, however very, very motivational - Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! by Richard Feynman.
From memory, Feynman and his wife Arline had a game of writing to each other in code while Feynman was at Los Alamos and she was in hospital with TB in Santa Fe (I think). The army censors continually cracked the shits and said "no more codes, we can't afford the man hours required to crack them". Later on he mentioned in a letter the interesting property of 1 / 243 = blah blah and the censors wrote back saying "we said 'no more codes'". Feynman then tried to reason with them that 0.00411522633744855967078189300412 contains no more information in it than the number 243 (and he's right).
Everybody should go and read Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! if they haven't already, I can't recommend it highly enough. Give it to your Dad for Christmas and read it while he's having an afternoon nap on Boxing Day.
7th grade - Where the Winds Sleep: Man’s Future on the Moon - a Projected History”
High School: Foundation Trilogy & Earth Abides
University - les Miserables - Victor Hugo, unabridged version & Siddhartha - Hermann Hesse.
20's - Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance & the River Why
30's - The boat who wouldn't float - Farley Mowat, , and all his other books.
40's - Surely You're Joking Mr Feynman
he means this
Hey! This comment ended up being a lot longer than I anticipated, oops.
My all-time favs of these kinds of books definitely has to be Prime Obsession and Unknown Quantity by John Derbyshire - Prime Obsession covers the history behind one of the most famous unsolved problems in all of math - the Riemann hypothesis, and does it while actually diving into some of the actual theory behind it. Unknown Quantity is quite similar to Prime Obsession, except it's a more general overview of the history of algebra. They're also filled with lots of interesting footnotes. (Ignore his other, more questionable political books.)
In a similar vein, Fermat's Enigma by Simon Singh also does this really well with Fermat's last theorem, an infamously hard problem that remained unsolved until 1995. The rest of his books are also excellent.
All of Ian Stewart's books are great too - my favs from him are Cabinet, Hoard, and Casebook which are each filled with lots of fun mathematical vignettes, stories, and problems, which you can pick or choose at your leisure.
When it comes to fiction, Edwin Abbott's Flatland is a classic parody of Victorian England and a visualization of what a 4th dimension would look like. (This one's in the public domain, too.) Strictly speaking, this doesn't have any equations in it, but you should definitely still read it for a good mental workout!
Lastly, the Math Girls series is a Japanese YA series all about interesting topics like Taylor series, recursive relations, Fermat's last theorem, and Godel's incompleteness theorems. (Yes, really!) Although the 3rd book actually has a pretty decent plot, they're not really that story or character driven. As an interesting and unique mathematical resource though, they're unmatched!
I'm sure there are lots of other great books I've missed, but as a high school student myself, I can say that these were the books that really introduced me to how crazy and interesting upper-level math could be, without getting too over my head. They're all highly recommended.
Good luck in your mathematical adventures, and have fun!
Cuckoo's Egg by Clifford Stoll. Well worth $10.
Go get the Verizon DBIR for 2016, and then start reading back issues. Consider also Silence on the Wire which talks about all the ways that information leakage attacks can be launched -- it's really easy to understand. And if you haven't read it yet, The Cuckoo's Egg is one of the first public accounts of a computer system administrator discovering, hunting, and eventually catching a hacker.
Either check out this book or Check out this Ted Talk
https://www.amazon.com/Change-Your-Mind-Consciousness-Transcendence/dp/1594204225
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuhmZSFvhL0
Of course this only works if you know exactly when noon is where you're at. When you're at port that's easy enough. When you're at sea, not so much. The quest for an accurate clock for navigation was a huge deal during the Age of Sail. In fact in 1714 England's Parliament offered a prize of up to £20,000, the equivalent today of millions of dollars.
Dava Sobel has written a fascinating book about it called Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time
There's also a documentary about the longitude problem up on YouTube (in 21 parts)
http://youtu.be/T9dso7ATlSk
I loved biomedical pop-sci with a passion when I was in high school. "Stiff" was on my bookshelf for sure. Didn't read Atul Gawande's stuff until later, but enjoyed them very much. My favorites from when I was a teen were:
and others, such as The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down. All are great reads.
I read this book, Latitude, by Dava Sobel (which I highly recommend as well as any other Dava Sobel book) which talks about how hard it was to nail down where you were longitudinally. After reading it, I saw an old map like this one and it all clicked. You'll notice that, generally, on maps that pre-date some dude (I won't ruin the book for you), the north-south orientation is pretty accurate, and only the east-west orientation is skewed.
I haven't looked at an old map the same ever since.
Journey Through Genius: Exploring the Great Theorems of Mathematics. - William Dunham
Journey through Genius: The Great Theorems of Mathematics https://www.amazon.com/dp/014014739X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_uOd3CbD8DH8CN
A great read that does walkthroughs of proofs and breakthroughs. Highly recommended.
I was thinking more along the lines of Soul of A New Machine
"Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" http://www.amazon.com/Surely-Feynman-Adventures-Curious-Character/dp/0393316041
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!
Autobiography of Richard Feynman, what fucking brilliant hilarious man.
You will love this book no matter if you're into science or not, I promise.
https://www.amazon.com/Surely-Feynman-Adventures-Curious-Character/dp/0393316041
Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character)
Well I think you might find it easier if you dispensed with all those categories (economics, gender, law, etc.). They are useful in terms of specialization, but unless you're doing a specialization, I find it most helpful to try to get to the bottom of things and ignore categories. Most of these overlap.
The great book that taught me to think this way, and after which a lot more in the world started to make sense was Surely you're joking Mr Feynman. Essentially the difference is between trying to get it right (makes everything overwhelming/confusing) vs understanding it (looking for good explanations).
The beginning of infinity by David Deutsch has something similar.
I know this may seem totally irrellevant, but for me this was the thing that removed that feeling of being overwhelmed by knowledge forever.
That said, I am too consuming incredible amounts of JP. Probably an average of.. wow, maybe 2 hours per day since I first discovered him 5 months ago or so.
Feynman was the fuckin man. I strongly suggest that everyone read "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" if they haven't already. It's filled with memoirs and great insight to how he viewed the world. It's a fantastically good read that I couldn't put down until I finished it.
This is going to seem like a really strange choice, but it's coming from another 16 year old. I recommend Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman, as it is one of my absolute favorite books. It may only appeal to him if he likes science or engineering, but it's worth a shot regardless.
In a similar vein to the Chronicles of Narnia, may I recommend The Hobbit/ The Lord of the Rings? Both are great stories that he may like. Although they are not the best written books in terms of writing quality (in my opinion), the Inheritence Cycle by Christopher Paolini might appeal for entertainment value. Perhaps a lesser known author that I greatly enjoy is Megan Whalen Turner, author of The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, and The King of Attolia. I just became aware of this book and have thus never read it, but A Conspiracy of Kings by the same author is bound to be good.
Steering away from fantasy, he may also like science fiction. I recommend any Ray Bradbury. Most of his stories are short, so for someone who doesn't read often they are great. My favorite are the Martian Chronicles, but R is for Rocket is also a good compilation. All of the Artemis Fowl series are recommended as well.
If I think of any more, I will certainly edit this post.
You seem like the kind of person who'd enjoy a book like Journey through Genius, by William Dunham.
http://www.amazon.com/Journey-through-Genius-Theorems-Mathematics/dp/014014739X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346777582&sr=8-1&keywords=william+dunham
I've always enjoyed Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman, and I think it's great for non-scientists. It's essentially a collection of short stories, which could be nice for quick reads or just before bed.
If you like that, you should buy this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Surely-Feynman-Adventures-Curious-Character/dp/0393316041
Richard Feynman was an amazing person.
https://www.amazon.com/Surely-Feynman-Adventures-Curious-Character/dp/0393316041
The section on magnets starts at 3:55, but there's a great explanation of the difficulty of "why" questions at the beginning.
P.S. I'd like to take this opportunity to recommend Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman, if anyone hasn't read it yet. There's also a larger hardcover compilation containing that work and a few others called Classic Feynman (this is the edition I have). He was an amazing person, and there are all sorts of spectacular stories about his time on the Manhattan Project, about investigating the Challenger disaster, and about selecting textbooks out for the California school curriculum (this section may make you rage).
I can't remember if these were both in his book, but you should absolutely read: Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!
Although not by him, Genius by Gleick was one of the things that inspired me to enter physics. I should like to check out his lectures online, but I'm on linux at the moment.
Amazon link
The DOE did not write Common Core. Common Core is one standard, among a few others, that was in the works when Obama (early in his administration) set out some requirements to make some funding available. The requirement was, essentially, that the states that wanted the funding had to adopt some standard that met certain requirements, Common Core was one such standard that was in development. Many states chose to use Common Core, some developed their own (specifically Texas and Virginia).
It has pros and cons. Pros: Gets some things right about integrating cross-subject learning into the curricula. What does this mean? Students should exercise their reading, writing and math schools in a variety of areas to both reinforce the knowledge and skill set, and to demonstrate its utility beyond just passing English and math classes. How's this supposed to be done? Well, history gets reading and writing for free. Integrating math may be more difficult (IMO, if it's not an intuitive segue, it should be skipped). Sciences demonstrate math by default, so they're encouraged to add more reading/writing (writing is easy, have the students write up experiment reports, science fair projects, etc; reading - make it topical, in middle/high school give them books like Longitude to read or something).
Cons: No science standard. Standard may be overly ambitious for some grade levels. Standard was hastily constructed with little feedback. Rolled out to all grade levels rather than introduced over a period of time (most sensible approach, K-3 jumps in, expand it each year for 9 years until all of K-12 is under the selected standard). Testing requirements each year, which really ties back to things like No Child Left Behind, that affects school funding and the employment of educators and administrators (a huge pressure using dubious metrics).
You should add this book to your present
The Radioactive Boy Scout: The Frightening True Story of a Whiz Kid and His Homemade Nuclear Reactor https://www.amazon.com/dp/0812966600/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_PCzrybXDEVF89
Which only really highlights how little they know about the subject. There are all kinds different rocket propellants used and not all of them are bad. The Delta IV uses hydrogen and oxygen which makes.. water. Not saying there isin't some nasty shit out there but it's mostly no worse than what you get when you burn diesel in a car (just a lot more of it in a short time). Read Ignition!: An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants if you're into that sort of shit.
The Cuckoo's Egg, by Cliff Stoll: the hackers in that book used this day in and day out.
https://www.amazon.com/Cuckoos-Egg-Tracking-Computer-Espionage/dp/1416507787
Hey man I had the same question and I think I found it.
How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594204225/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_LtZ4Cb5CW5F9K
If you haven't read it, The Ghost Map is an excellent book about the investigation into the Broad Street Well.
This book about Richard Feynman is a really fun and casual read. I tend to give it to a lot of scientists as a gift.
https://www.amazon.com/Surely-Youre-Joking-Mr-Feynman-ebook/dp/B003V1WXKU
I read Longitude while reading M&D. A fantastic book that provided a lot of background...
Hahaha where did you hear that buddy?
Go check out Michael Pollan’s new book - https://www.amazon.com/Change-Your-Mind-Consciousness-Transcendence-ebook/dp/B076GPJXWZ/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1538226139&sr=8-3&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=how+to+change+your+mind
"Watermelons" by James Delingpole is one of my favorite books about climate skepticism:
http://www.amazon.com/Watermelons-Green-Movements-True-Colors/dp/0983347409
Here are some other books that I recommend.
The Deliberate Corruption of Climate Science:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Deliberate-Corruption-Climate-Science/dp/0988877740
Don't Sell Your Coat: Surprising Truths About Climate Change:
http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Sell-Your-Coat-Surprising/dp/0615569048
The Delinquent Teenager Who Was Mistaken for the World's Top Climate Expert:
http://www.amazon.com/Delinquent-Teenager-Mistaken-Worlds-Climate/dp/1466453486
The Hockey Stick Illusion: Climategate and the Corruption of Science:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Hockey-Stick-Illusion-Climategate/dp/1906768358
Sure it does. Why did temperatures fall in the late 2000s, only to rise again, while C02 concentrations rose steadily? Because greenhouse gases aren't the only variable we need to consider in the debate. We need to consider a host of factors, for example: ENSO, aerosols, the sun, a great variety of things. The debate is not as to whether the recent low-frequency warming trend is occurring, it is about whether humans are the primary cause, i.e. the magnitude of AGW. Of course, if you take the "it's just weather vs. climate" side of things, you can average the "climatology" over the preferred temporal scale and come up your increasing linear trend. We shouldn't just discount high-frequency characteristics out of hand, however, they could contain important clues about the real phenomenon that everyone is searching for. Don't take my word for it, read about the most famous instance of this. I'm not sure why you keep trying to paint me as anti-AGW, this is not the case.
I have not read many books explicitly devoted to the history of mathematics, such as those recommended in this math.stackechange post #31058, so I will refrain from recommending any of them. Instead, I'd like to mention a few books that do well discussing aspects of mathematical history, although this is not their main focus.
Hope this is helpful!
If you want to teach probability or statistics, take a look at Gelman's Teaching Statistics: A Bag Of Tricks. I've used material from there to good effect.
Edit: Maybe also take a look at better explained.
Edit2: Also Dunham's Journey Through Genius. Very inspiring and fun.
You have to take it in the context that at that time there was no other books that explored that topic to that degree. Today its assumptions are a bit dated and are divorced from its historical context. Personally, I would say it was influential by the nature of it being the only book available.
I would suggest reading “Prisoner's Dilemma: John von Neumann, Game Theory, and the Puzzle of the Bomb”
https://www.amazon.com/Prisoners-Dilemma-Neumann-Theory-Puzzle/dp/038541580X/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1540053354&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=prisoners+dilemma+william+poundstone&dpPl=1&dpID=51JDofUSNLL&ref=plSrch
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!
Autobiography of esteemed physicist Richard Feynman. Though obviously his specialty is in physics, these recollections of his life touch upon pretty much all scientific disciplines- mathematics, biology, computer science, etc- but it has more to do with how to think about things scientifically rather than cold hard science. A must read for anyone, scientist or non-scientist.
I read about these in Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!
Neat little book.
his books - start here - http://www.amazon.com/Surely-Feynman-Adventures-Curious-Character/dp/0393316041
There's a better copy in here:
http://www.amazon.com/Surely-Feynman-Adventures-Curious-Character/dp/0393316041
Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan.
It really does a good job of explaining why science and critical thinking are important to society and why it is dangerous to reject them or to be ignorant of them.
https://www.amazon.com/Demon-Haunted-World-Science-Candle-Dark/dp/0345409469
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! by Richard Feynman.
It is a very witty and entertaining collection of Dr. Feynman's personal anecdotes and reminds us that scientists are people just like everyone else.
https://www.amazon.com/Surely-Feynman-Adventures-Curious-Character/dp/0393316041/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1498402289&sr=1-1&keywords=surely+you%27re+joking+mr.+feynman
I think that you should look into Richard Feynman. This man was a truly influential member of the scientific community. There are several books about his life and findings. I think that all engineers should envy his lust for balance.
I think that the most interesting thing about him is his passion for his children. They were truly the center of what he focused on and that intellectual curiosity is reflected in his offspring.
I don't know what else I need to write to convince you to read books about his life; however, I will claim that learning about this man has made me into a better engineer, son, and SO. Just thinking about this book gives me goosebumps because I appreciated it so much.
Cleaner URL: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0393316041/
May I recommend you read "Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman!", a fantastic book.
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman by Richard Feynman.
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!.
Some good readings from the University of Cambridge Mathematical reading list and p11 from the Studying Mathematics at Oxford Booklet both aimed at undergraduate admissions.
I'd add:
Prime obsession by Derbyshire. (Excellent)
The unfinished game by Devlin.
Letters to a young mathematician by Stewart.
The code book by Singh
Imagining numbers by Mazur (so, so)
and a little off topic:
The annotated turing by Petzold (not so light reading, but excellent)
Complexity by Waldrop
Downmod any math-phobic comments.
Besides, the poster, John Derbyshire, knows his math.
God Created the Integers, edited by Stephen Hawking. Includes selected works of various big names in mathematics with a brief biography of each preceding the math. The wiki article on the book has a list of all mathematicians included.
Prime Obsession, about Riemann and his famous hypothesis.
The Man Who Knew Infinity, about Ramanujan.
Thanks. I'm about 75% of the way through the article and I have faaaaaar too many tabs open so I'm commenting now. I bookmarked Peter Kropotkin's Wikipedia page to read later.
I disagree with some of the axioms of the author but I'm certain I'll be thinking about the text. I read a biography of Richard Feynman once: Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman by James Gleick.
He often went back to first principles. He'd do things that no average genius would - like review freshman physics. I don't know if that helped keep him a wizard amongst geniuses but I think he did it for a kind of "play".
My takeaway of that section was that reviewing what you know might help you to more intuitively grok things you aren't familiar with. Right now I find it hard to accept that insects or lobster can play. But if I consider a random creature like a bird - I think it's clear that ravens and crows play. They are very intelligent.
Maybe humble birds like sparrows do too. We just haven't been clever enough to notice.
Have you seen their Highlights for High School feature?
Also, there are sites like Academic Earth that might be useful.
Here are a few blogs with potential. You'll have to decide for yourself if they have inappropriate content.
Here are a few book recommendations covering various fields, in no particular order (though they should all read #1):
And here's a video interview with Richard Feynman they might enjoy.
[About Time](About Time: Celebrating Men's Watches https://www.amazon.com/dp/0764349058/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_mUazzb1CZSCQ7) is a great coffee table book and a great read.
[Longitude](Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time https://www.amazon.com/dp/080271529X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_OVazzbZN0WWP2) is about John Harrison and the invention of modern time keeping. This should be on everyone's list.
Huh? Paperback and Hardcover editions exist on amazon, for $25 and $99 respectively.
At this point, it's mandatory to mention John Clarke's Ignition, an entertaining and educational look at the history of liquid-fuelled rocket engines.
Learn about the exciting world of Zip fuels, Fluorine-based oxidisers, and Nitroglycerine as a monopropellant!
Ignition! by John D. Clark.
It's also linked on the subreddit sidebar.
No, this one is a real-life account of how a large (German?) hacker group got caught due to a $.13 (or something like that) account difference in the 80's.
It's probably been 10 years since I read it, so I'm a little rough on the particulars, but it really was a fascinating book, and still ends up being surprisingly relevant to computer security these days.
Edit: was a $.75 error. https://www.amazon.com/Cuckoos-Egg-Tracking-Computer-Espionage/dp/1416507787
You sound like me around 10 years ago. The only difference between misery and happiness is what we choose to focus on.
Take a walk! Meditate! Life is so precious. Every moment of your life is a spectacular phenomenon that should be enjoyed and appreciated. If you don't feel that way, I'd recommend some light reading -
https://www.amazon.com/Change-Your-Mind-Consciousness-Transcendence/dp/1594204225
You said it yourself man, cannabis elevates mood. Which is how it's used to treat PTSD, it stabilizes your mood and makes you happier and more compassionate.
I think plant medicines as a whole can be used interchangeably in some cases, which is a great benefit compared to specific and targeted pharmaceuticals you're probably used to that only treat one thing and one thing only. Not everyone wants to go through an intense psilocybin experience, some people might not be mentally ready, or they may have tried it and might be in the small population of people that psilocybin doesn't work for. Cannabis isn't just a one trick pony, and neither are many other plant medicines & drugs that are soon to be legalized. MDMA has also shown great promise I believe. MAPS is actually about to go through a 3rd wave of trials soon for psilocybin and if it performs well, it will then go straight to the FDA and probably be legalized. MDMA is expected to be legal sooner than that for treatments. Michael Pollan talks about this on a recent podcast with Joe Rogan which is here, as well as in his recently released book that can be found here, also check out his Twitter as he Tweets out research and news on drug studies often. Trump could also soon be signing a bill that would allow terminally ill patients to try cannabis, LSD, MDMA, or psilocybin to alleviate their symptoms, article here. Interesting things on the horizon for sure.
Good book on longitude
I read The Radioactive Boy Scout which details his story about trying to making the reactor. I thought it was a good book.
The Practice of System and Network Administration, Second Edition by Thomas A. Limoncelli is a great place to start for mindset. Guess that counts as a "textbook" to you however.
For non-fiction/memoir grab The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage for a great walk-through of what it is like to find an anomaly and track it back to the source and then figure out what to do about it.
I read the book Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America earlier this year. It's not just Mario, either - it goes through the entire history of Nintendo and it's rivals. A pretty good read.
Try "How to Change Your Mind," by Michael Pollan
https://www.amazon.com/Change-Your-Mind-Consciousness-Transcendence/dp/1594204225
I absolutely found these parallels. If you haven't already I highly suggest reading this . It is super insightful into the healing aspects of psychedelics. Particularly LSD and Psilocybin. I thought this show had a very unique way of bringing these practices to the forefront of the media
Michael Pollan, food/nature writer. Author of In Defense of Food, The Omnivore's Dilemma, and new book How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence. With his new book, it's an interesting pivot from food to psychedelics, though he considers himself a nature writer. Given his influence on the food system and thought around it, I think/hope his new book will be monumental in changing how we see psychedelics.
If you're interested in Feynman's life and his great stories: "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" and "What Do You Care What Other People Think?" are great reads. The guy was a goddamn rockstar.
Perhaps you're looking for "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" by Richard Feynman?
For anyone else that was suddenly compelled to go check out the book because of this exchange...
Amazon
That's an excellent article. Non-tree ring proxies, done by a skeptic, and still shows a fast upswing to temperatures slightly above the MWP.
But the RealClimate article is a review of The Hockey Stick Illusion by Andrew Montford, aka Bishop Hill.
One of the best books I've read that places mathematical discoveries in their historical contexts: Journey Through Genius. Dunham tells the story of math through different great theorems - why they were historically important, why they are important today - and then walks you through the proof. My copy is at school, so I can't say anything more tonight, but give it a shot.
Good luck!
Journey through Genius: The Great Theorems of Mathematics is also good too, with many historical mathematicians and their contributions. The author William Dunham, actually gave a lecture on Newton and Euler at my university a few weeks ago too.
I am currently reading a fantastic book which might be interesting for you. It is called Journey through Genius. The book starts from the beginning of math and presents hand picked theorems in a very engaging way. Background information on the great mathematicians and what drove them to come up with these proofs in the first place makes the information stick long after reading. I also second PuTongHua who recommended Better Explained.
If you like feynman, there's endless amounts of material you can watch / read with or on him.
Project Tuva
Surely you're joking mr. Feynman is my personal favorite Feynman book. It's not technical, but tremendously fascinating.
and the Feynman Lecture of Physics. Can't find an amazon link to that one for the actual audio, but it's direct recordings of some of his lectures. They have probably about 10 CDs at my local library that I've listened to. It's just fascinating to hear this man talk.
Read Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!. Now.
Reading your post immediately reminded me of the chapter "Los Alamos from Below" from Richard Feynman's book, "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!", where he describes the situation when his wife got sick with tuberculosis and died, while he was working on the atomic bombs at Los Alamos. A few relevant excerpts:
> Arlene died a few hours after I got there. A nurse came in to fill out the death certificate, and went out again. I spent a little more time with my wife. […]
> I went for a walk outside. Maybe I was fooling myself, but I was surprised how I didn’t feel what I thought people would expect to feel under the circumstances. I wasn’t delighted, but I didn’t feel terribly upset, perhaps because I had known for seven years that something like this was going to happen.
> I didn’t know how I was going to face all my friends up at Los Alamos. I didn’t want people with long faces talking to me about it. When I got back (yet another tire went flat on the way), they asked me what happened. "She’s dead. And how’s the program going?"
> I had obviously done something to myself psychologically: Reality was so important—I had to understand what really happened to Arlene, physiologically—that I didn’t cry until a number of months later, when I was in Oak Ridge. I was walking past a department store with dresses in the window, and I thought Arlene would like one of them. That was too much for me.
What's interesting is that, Feynman mentions his wife's illness and death in passing throughout several of his books, yet he barely touches upon the emotions. This is the only chapter, in any of his books, where I can recall reading anything about his feelings in this situation. This is probably my favourite chapter from all his books.
This is a superb book by the way, one of my own personal favourites.
To be fair he's quoting feynman, aka our guy. The man was a rationalist and wasn't necessarily born a genius, just very curious and was stellar at using simple examples to convey complex ideas. There's a fun, not so serious book about him with a bunch of quotes like this, it's a good read https://www.amazon.com/Surely-Feynman-Adventures-Curious-Character/dp/0393316041
I'll recommend some books that I'm reading right now
Thinking, fast and slow by Daniel Kahneman
Dragons of Eden by Carl Sagan
Broca's Brain by Carl Sagan
Surely you're joking, Mr Feynman by Richard Feynman
Why Nations Fail by Robinson and Acemoglu
In Afghanistan's Shadow: Baluch Nationalism and Soviet Temptations
The Terrorist Prince: The Life and Death of Murtaza Bhutto
Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman! (Link goes to US Amazon.com store)
Great autobiography about an amazing physicist.
This biography of Paul Dirac is excellent.
This autobiography (in the form of a sequence of anecdotes) of Richard Feynman is a classic.
This biography of Robert Oppenheimer is extremely good as well.
This book contains short biographies all the most significant figures involved with every Hilbert Problem.
This is a work of science fiction where the main character belongs to a monastic order devoted to mathematics and theoretical science. It's among my favorite books.
edit: Who downvotes this? Really? Even if you think you've got better options... just leave a comment with them for OP.
And if you like stories about Richard Feynman, "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman" has this story and many more. Him talking about his time at Los Alamos was particularly entertaining.
Read this when I was 12. Still my favorite book 20 years later. You won't walk away with any practical skills or philosophy from it, but I cannot imagine a better description of a life worth living.
Also, it's "Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman", a reference to a fraternity prank he pulled as described in the book.
https://www.amazon.com/Surely-Feynman-Adventures-Curious-Character/dp/0393316041
Hiya! I'm a recent physics/computer science graduate and although I can't think of any super cool handmade options off the top of my head, there are some physics books that I find interesting that your boyfriend may enjoy. One solid idea would be just about anything written by Richard Feynman. Reading through the Feynman Lectures is pretty standard for all physicists, though there are free versions online as well. There are a few others, such as The Pleasure of Finding things Out and Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman. There's also a cool graphic novel that recounts the events of his life called Feynman by Ottaviani. If you're not familiar with who this guy is, he is a colorful and concise orator who won a nobel prize in physics. His biggest contributions were in nuclear physics and quantum computation, and his quirks make his explanations of these topics very interesting. The Feynman Lectures are more formal, while his personal books are a mixture of personal experience and explanation.
 
Something else that I typically gift all of my friends who are problem solvers interested in physics is the book Thinking Physics. This book is great for developing some high level intuition in every field of physics (mechanics, optics, thermodynamics, electricity and magnetism, quantum mechanics, etc.). This book is great because it's broken into small digestible sections that build your knowledge as you solve more of the questions (solutions are given).
 
Good luck!
Not a scholarly article, but I like this book https://www.amazon.com/Prime-Obsession-Bernhard-Greatest-Mathematics/dp/0452285259 and think it does a decent job going into the history and attempting to explain the math in a way that doesn't require a grad degree.
Check out some pop math books.
John Derbyshire's Prime Obsession talks about today's most famous unsolved problem, both the history of and an un-rigorous not-in-depth discussion of the mathematical ideas.
There's also Keith Devlin's Mathematics: The New Golden Age, which, to quote redditor schnitzi, "provides an overview of most of the major discoveries in mathematics since 1960, across all subdisciplines, and isn't afraid to try to teach you the basics of them (unlike many similar books)."
Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott is an interesting novel about dimension and immersion. An absolute classic, first published in 1884.
You should also check out the books on math history.
Journey Through Genius covers some of the major mathematical breakthroughs from the time of the Greeks to modern day. I enjoyed this one.
Derbyshire wrote one too called Unknown Quantity: A Real and Imaginary History of Algebra which I've heard is good.
And finally, you should check out at least one book containing actual mathematics. For this I emphatically recommend Paul Halmos' Naive Set Theory. It is a small book, just 100 pages, absolutely bursting with mathematical insight and complexity. It is essentially a haiku on a subject that forms the theoretical foundation of all of today's mathematics (though it is slowly being usurped by category theory). After sufficient background material is introduced, the book covers the ever-important Axiom of Choice (remember the Banach-Tarski paradox?), along with its sisters, Zorn's Lemma and the Well Ordering Principle. After that it discusses cardinal numbers and the levels of infinity. The path he takes is absolutely beautiful and his experience and understanding virtually drips from the pages.
Oh yeah, there's an awesome reading list of books put out by the University of Cambridge that might be of interest too: PDF warning.
Journey through Genius: The Great Theorems of Mathematics Mathematics opened up the world of math for me like nothing else did.
The Illuminatus Trilogy perhaps
Really it all depends on your goals, though. Do you want to be eclectic? Read 'quality' literature? Be the campus ideologue? Have a good idea about the classes you might be taking?
One thing I would suggest is, if you have a subject you are interested in...find a good textbook and start reading. This has helped me get a more balanced view of things (I think) than reading 'what's hot' in the field's popular literature.
Working your way through a beginning discrete math class is kind of an overview of the history of math. But here are some stand-alone books on it. Writing quality varies.
The World of Mathematics
A History of Mathematical Notation. Warning: his style is painful.
Journey Through Genius
The Princeton Companion to Mathematics. A reference book, but useful.
Another great book that will hone your math and your vocabulary is Journey Through Genius.
https://smile.amazon.com/Journey-through-Genius-Theorems-Mathematics/dp/014014739X?sa-no-redirect=1
This book was like a revelation to me.
Introduced me to non-Euclidean geometry and all other kinds of crazy shit.
I highly recommend Jouney Through Genius by William Dunham. It covers the great theorems in history from Euclid to Cantor, and the writing style is very engaging and accessible. It has a perfect five star record on amazon with over a hundred reviews which is pretty rare.
I read a book called Journey Through Genius for a math history class. I enjoyed it quite a bit and it matches what you are looking for.
Not a book, but I can share a few videos that I've found inspirational during some rough times with mathematics...
Fermat's Last Theorem -- This is a documentary on Andrew Wiles' proof of Fermat's last theorem. It's also probably the most emotional video I've ever watched about math. Highly recommended.
Fractals -- This is a neat NOVA documentary on fractals. In particular, it provides some inspiring history regarding Mandelbrot's discovery and journey with this subject.
Everything is relative, Mr. Poincare -- Another exceptional and inspiring documentary.
The only book I can recommend is Journey Through Genius by William Dunham, which provides an excellent treatise on the history of mathematics. From the book description
> Dunham places each theorem within its historical context and explores the very human and often turbulent life of the creator — from Archimedes, the absentminded theoretician whose absorption in his work often precluded eating or bathing, to Gerolamo Cardano, the sixteenth-century mathematician whose accomplishments flourished despite a bizarre array of misadventures, to the paranoid genius of modern times, Georg Cantor. He also provides step-by-step proofs for the theorems, each easily accessible to readers with no more than a knowledge of high school mathematics.
It's a very good read, and not too gigantic. Good wishes your way, mate.
Soul of a New Machine - almost the same story
i sing the body electric - from a pure software pov
I read this in 8th grade: http://www.amazon.com/The-Soul-A-New-Machine/dp/0316491977/
If you're looking for a story, here's a good classic non-fiction one:
The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder
And a fictional one:
The Bug by Ellen Ullman
These are not exactly books about computer science, but rather about the various human aspects (both are non-fiction):
The Cuckoo's Egg by Cliff Stoll. This is about one of the first computer hackers (in the black hat media sense of hacker). The author stumbled onto the intrusion due to a 75 cent billing discrepancy, and went on to invent honeypots and other creative means of tracking the hacker.
The Soul of A New Machine by Tracy Kidder. Written in 1981, it follows two competing teams in a Massachusetts computer company trying to build a 32-bit minicomputer under intense time pressure.
Anything by Simon Singh is worth reading. In addition to what others have recommended, these books are good:
[The man who loved only numbers](http://www.amazon.com/MAN-WHO-LOVED-ONLY-NUMBERS/dp/0786884061/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254333710&sr=8-1
)
Flatland
Prisoner's Dilemma
A mathematician reads the newspaper
A mathematician plays the stock market
Innumeracy: mathematical illiteracy and its consequences
Also, while not exactly about Maths:
Surely you are joking, Mr Feynman
What do you care what other people think?
The Art of Computer Programming
Why not read a book on all of them?
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!
Never met a physicist who doesn't idolize him.
I'm in, but some people are put off by calling it that. Any idea what that genre of literature would be referred to? Intellectual non-fiction, or something?
As for books to add to the list, Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! is a fantastic read.
If you haven't read it yet, I'd highly recommend picking up the book on the right of the picture, too: Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!
Feynman was one hell of a character. Brilliant man.
Someone did a graphic novel biography of him, if you're interested. Awesome book. And I've never laughed more from a book than from Surely you're joking, Mr Feynman
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! is a refreshing and entertaining book of short stories about Feynman's life. The stores aren't fundamentally technical, but they definitely give insight into some of the nontechnical aspects of engineering.
otro recomendable de fisica con humor y comprensible de Feynman
sobre fisica cuantica?
Richard Feynman noticed this phenomenon and did a series of impromptu experiments to determine the chemical signalling ants use. You can read further details in this interesting book:
http://www.amazon.com/Surely-Feynman-Adventures-Curious-Character/dp/0393316041
Surely you're joking, Mr Feynman is a fantastic book and anyone who would like to know that there's still adventure in the world should read it. Hell, everyone else should read it too.
Also, I was really worried about finding a job after college and reading What should I do with my life? was not only enjoyable but uplifting. I felt a lot better about my life after reading it.
Edit: Added links
Your comment reminds me of this comic. Feynman was an influential physicist and one of the best science communicators that ever lived. I first recommend watching these videos, then reading this book (the text of which can be easily found digitally).
Have a good Sunday = ).
Or his book Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman. It too is a fantastic read and truly allows you to appreciate the man for not only his fantastic knowledge, but also for the humour he brought to life.
Yes, they do! On average at least. Intuitively, as you get bigger and bigger there are more and more primes with which to make numbers, so the need for them gets less and less. This is answered by the Prime Number Theorem which says that (on average) the number of primes less than the number x is approximately x/log(x). Proving this was a triumph of 19th century mathematics.
Now, this graph of x/log(x) is very smooth and nice, so it only approximates where primes will be. It's not a guarantee. Imagine the primes as a crowd of people in an airport terminal. The crowd is, in general, flowing nicely from the ticket agents to the gate and this appears to be very nice when we look at it from high above. But when we get closer, we see some people walking from the ticket agents to the coffee shop, against the flow. Some kids are running in circles, which is not in the "nice flow" prediction. These fluctuations were not predicted by our model.
So even if primes obey the law x/log(x) overall, there are still fluctuations against this law. While the overall trend is for primes to get infinitely far apart we predict there are infinitely many primes that are right next to each other, totally against the flow. This is the Twin Prime Conjecture. We have recently proved that there are infinitely many pairs of primes, both of which are separated by only ~600 numbers. This was a huge deal and was done only within the last year or so, but we want to get that number down to 2.
We can also ask: "Do these fluctuations affect the overall flow in a significant way, or are they mostly isolated events that don't mess up the Prime Number Theorem approximation too much?" This is the content of the Riemann Hypothesis. If the Prime Number Theorem says that primes are somewhat ordered nicely, then the Riemann Hypothesis says that the primes are ordered as nicely as they can possibly get. That would mean that even though there are variations to the x/log(x) approximation, these fluctuations do not mess things up that bad.
Now, when looking for large primes, we generally look at expressions like 2^(n)-1 because we have fast algorithms to check if these guys are prime. But, in general, most primes do not look like that, they're just very nice numbers that we can check the primatlity of. We do not even know if there are infinitely many primes of the form 2^(n)-1, called Mersenne Primes so we could have already found them all. But we are pretty convinced there are infinitely many, so we're not too worried.
I don't know what your background is, but I've heard that the Prime Obsession is a good layperson book on this (though I haven't read it). If you have math background in complex analysis and abstract algebra, then you could look Apostol's Introduction to Analytic Number Theory.
These might interest you:
Poincare's Prize
Prime Obsession
Fermat's Enigma
The Code Book
These are castings of species you can find in the US. Somewhere there are probably better quality photos but these are the best I could find. I saw these in a presentation given by Dr Tschinkel and he had a bunch of really awesome high quality shots that might not have made it to the web.
I actually met him and Dr. Holldobler (mentioned in the linked video) one summer in Arizona.
For anyone interested the book Journey to the Ants by EO Wilson and Holldobler is the laymen version of their seminal book The Ants... which is pretty much the bible for anyone that studies ants.
Interesting factiod: You can find some interesting species just about any place in the world... in the US there are about 400+ species including army ants, fungus growers, slave making ants, etc.
This was the first book I bought from my university's book store. It's still one of my favorites, and it sounds like it might become one of yours.
Just imagine how I must have felt when I discovered that ants have diplomacy, propaganda, policing, warfare, a waste management system and nest architecture as, if not more, complicated than humans! How could you not love them!
If you want to know more, I highly recommend reading:
http://www.amazon.ca/Journey-Ants-Story-Scientific-Exploration/dp/0674485262
In my own research, it was the fact that what ever I discover in ants seem to apply to other organisms. Its very exciting. Because ants are social, it seems that discovering the hoydens secret of biology is easier. We would have never discovered that we could induce the dormant potential of super soldier ants had they not taken care of these are anomalies in their colonies. They are like humans, they take care of their less fortunate!
Einstein: His Life and Universe
The Black Hole War
The Trouble With Physics
Parallel Worlds
The Red Limit: The Search for the Edge of the Universe
Warped Passages
The Singularity is Near
If you've taken high school trigonometry, you have the basic skills to make a pretty accurate map. You measure the angles between fixed points (where you're standing now, that tree over there, and the peak of that mountain), and measure the distances between them by walking and stretching out a chain of known length. This kind of laborious surveying is how borders were measured, inland maps made, and property measured. With a series of triangulations, it's easy to measure exactly a coastline or the course of a river, and to place mountains relative to them.
With a little more math (spherical trigonometry) and the right tool (a sextant), you could learn to measure the angle of the sun, moon, and stars relative to the horizon. With this information and a book of reference calculations (put out by an observatory, most famously the Royal Observatory at Greenwich in London, England), you could find with accuracy your latitude (distance north or south of the equator). This information is useful for placing features onto the map when you don't have a known starting point (like if your ship arrives at a new continent).
East-west measurement of Longitude was an especially hard problem, which explains why terrain features were often depicted on maps at the right spot north-south but off in the east-west axis. The solution was highly accurate clocks, so you could measure when local solar noon was, relative to solar noon in a fixed place (the Greenwich observatory, through which the Prime Meridian runs). This story is told famously and well in a short book called Longitude.
Also recommended is the book Starman: The Truth Behind the Legend of Yuri Gagarin.
You're welcome! If you're interested in Soviet Space history, I can't recommend the Leonov book enough. He has a really great first-hand perspective and an amazing story to tell. (It alternates chapters with Astronaut David Scott, and it's really cool to see how their lives cross paths and run parallel). There's also a biography of Gagarin that was reprinted last year and is absolutely fantastic as far as both his life and some general political stuff. I don't see the need for Lost Cosmonaut conspiracies when the real stories are so fascinating and full of intrigue!
If you'd like to read more, Starman is a pretty awesome book about Yuri Gagarin and the Soviet space program. http://www.amazon.com/Starman-Truth-Behind-Legend-Gagarin/dp/0802779506
Probably a bit late for anyone to see this, but the book that Krulwich references in the article, Starman, is $2.77 on amazon, and is Prime eligible.
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Somebody in another comment mentioned Kevin Mitnick.
In addition to Mitnick's book, I'll also recommend:
Steven Levy's Hackers. It's a classic exploration of the birth of the computer age and hacker culture, with a lot of insights into the mindset of computer people, both white-hat and black-hat.
The Cuckoo's Egg by Cliff Stoll, which is an account of him tracking down some serious hackers waaay back in the day. It's kind of vintage now, but I remember it being very well written and engaging. It's more like reading a novel than some dry academic piece.
In similar vein is Takedown, by Tsutomu Shimomura, which is Shimomura's account of pursuing and catching Kevin Mitnick. Also quite good, as it was co-written by John Markoff. There's a whiff of Shimomura tooting his own horn in it, but you definitely get a feel for the chase as it was happening, and learn a lot about the details of what Mitnick (and others in the underground hacking world) were actually doing.
Weird fact: I had no idea at the time, of course, but during some of Mitnick's last days before they nabbed him, he lived in an apartment building in my neighborhood in Seattle, right across from the grocery store where I always shopped. And about a year later, I ended up dating a girl who lived in that same building at that time, though of course she had no idea Mitnick was there either or even who he was. Still, I always wonder if I ever happened to stand next to him in line at the grocery store or something like that.
Anyone ever read the book "The Cuckoo's Egg", by Cliff Stoll? It deals with mid-80s cybercrime (true story) but there was something kinda similar to this, where early on he tracked the bad dude down to the country (but didn't realize it yet because the answer initially sounded so ridiculous to him) by figuring how long it took for data to travel.
Fantastic fantastic book. I'm on my second copy--read the first one literally to pieces.
I can't recommend this book enough: https://www.amazon.com/Cuckoos-Egg-Tracking-Computer-Espionage/dp/1416507787
This is basically the story of one network admin tracking someone attacking his (and the military's) networks. Takes place in the late 80s. If you'd really like to see a description of the "wild west period of the internet", this is it.
Have you read The Cuckoo's Egg by Cliff Stoll?
http://www.amazon.com/The-Cuckoos-Egg-Tracking-Espionage/dp/1416507787
The call he made to the Los Angeles Air Force Base when they were getting hacked bad is one of my favorites. To paraphrase, he was tracking hackers, and they got into LAAFB's computer. He called the duty officer. He told them someone had broken into their computer, duty officer said "impossible, it has a password". And Stoll said "yes, the password is "sysop", the default, it was never changed". The duty officer yanked the connection out of the wall as I recall, or something like that.
If you have not read it, it is a GREAT book, and well ahead of its time, highly recommended.
Hackers: Heros of the Computer Revolution
The Cookoo's Egg
Both non-fiction, both excellent. Both cover a unique period in computing history, the understanding of which is worthwhile.
Does Cuckoo's Egg ( http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1416507787?pc_redir=1395427486&robot_redir=1) count? I remember reading this and writing a report on it back in middle(?) school. Made me want to be that one day...
In the forward to The Cuckoo's egg Clifford Stoll mentioned his oral defense of his dissertation. At some poiint one of the gravelly old profs said "I only have one question. Why is the sky blue?". So Stoll starts talking about the scattering of the light and get's interrupted "okay, but why?". Before he knew it they were deep into physics and he said it was the hardest part of the defense by far.
TL;DR - Science is hard
This one is only about Nintendo and I haven't read it myself but I've read similar books to this. I'd imagine the first couple chapters would be dedicated to explaining what other video game companies in Japan did at the time and how Nintendo broke the mold, with the second half being Nintendo coming to America. Not sure if it's what you're looking for but it's my wish list https://www.amazon.com/Super-Mario-Nintendo-Conquered-America/dp/1591845637
I’m 40 and weening off .5mg tables 3X a day for eight years. I’ve recently been reading Michael Pollan’s new book about microdosing psilocybin and I am convinced and going to start trying it out when I get low enough on my benzodiazepines and start really feeling WD. I figure this will be a ripe time to try a natural remedy used by shamans for thousands of years to battle tribal anxieties.
This post is a great connection for me.
ope, found it. It was actually a square of the sky in an otherwise black page.
​
A friend recommended me it. For those interested:
​
https://www.amazon.com/Change-Your-Mind-Consciousness-Transcendence/dp/1594204225
​
I recommend Michael Pollan’s book How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence.. He also does the audio book reading himself.
Pollen is a a journalist, activist, and professor at Harvard and UC Berkeley.
In How to Change your Mind, Pollan chronicles the history is psychedelics, what’s happening with its current success in medicine, and its affect on human consciousness.
I really hope Netflix picks this up for another docuseries like his past works such as Cooked and The Botany of Desire.
Just taking Psilocybin won't really help fix much. You're better off using it in a therapeutic setting intended to help you deal with past issues. It's all about your intentions using it and the set and setting.
​
I can't recommend Michael Pollans book enough to help you understand how Psilocybin works and the therapy that goes along with it. https://www.amazon.com/Change-Your-Mind-Consciousness-Transcendence/dp/1594204225
​
If you want a quick intro to everything, his interview with Tim Ferriss is really great:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbBXplrwbyQ
https://tim.blog/2018/05/06/michael-pollan-how-to-change-your-mind/
​
Good luck, be safe, and take it slow. You're gonna be just fine.
I've been here periodically but I haven't formally intro'ed myself so I'll do that here:
Perhaps not a guide, but Michael Pollan's How to Change Your Mind is a great book about history of psychedelic therapy, current events in that field, and looking forward as well as trip reports from the author.
Interesting! I picked this up recently on a trip (see what I did there?) based on liking the author’s other books: How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594204225/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_VO0.Bb483RSD1
Might be worth a read. I’ve noted a fair number of news headlines mentioning psychedelic research since I read the book, but that could just be because I’m aware of the subject now.
Also, read the book on how to change your mind with psychedelics. There’s literally a guidebook on how to treat depression with the science thy exists in psychedelic research.
Je ne suis qu'un inconnu sur internet, mais quoi que tu décides de faire fais aussi très attention avec les médicaments qu'on pourrait te prescrire. Les antidépresseurs (fluoxétine) et les benzodiazépines (alprazolam) sont des médicaments dont il peut être très difficile de se sevrer. Je te conseille de bien te renseigner sur leur fonctionnement et sur les effets secondaires qu'ils peuvent avoir. Lis les articles Wikipédia sur ces produits. Les benzodiazépines en particulier sont des médicaments hautement addictifs. Si tu peux éviter de toucher à cette classe de médicaments, fais-le. Le risque d'abus est élevé.
Est-ce qu'il existe d'autres types de traitement pharmaceutiques ? Oui, mais certains sont encore à un stade expérimental.
Aux États-Unis la kétamine a récemment été légalisée suite aux résultats positifs dans le traitement contre la dépression. Pour autant que je sache ce traitement n'est malheureusement pas encore disponible en France. La kétamine fonctionne de façon complètement différente des antidépresseurs de la classe des SSRI et agit immédiatement avec des effets positifs à court-terme.
Enfin à un stade moins avancé, il y a les psychédéliques, et en particulier la psilocybine. La psychothérapie assistée par la psilocybine va probablement être une des découvertes les plus importantes dans le traitement de la dépression dans les quelques prochaines années. Malheureusement ces thérapies sont difficiles d'accès, même aux États-Unis. Certains choisissent d'aller voir des thérapeutes "clandestins" qui peuvent réaliser le traitement, mais trouver la bonne personne n'est ni facile ni bon marché. Tu trouveras plus d'informations sur le sujet dans l'excellent livre de Michael Pollan.
You might enjoy Ghost Map. It is about the London cholera epidemic in 1854. https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Map-Londons-Terrifying-Epidemic/dp/1594482691
Psychedelic therapy
The "Why" Book: Pollan's How to Change Your Mind
The "What" Book: MAPS's A Manual for MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy in the Treatment of PTSD (alternatives would be this treatment protocol from Phase 2 MDMA trials and Grof's LSD Psychotherapy)
The "How" Book: R. Coleman's Psychedelic Psychotherapy: A User-friendly Guide for Psychedelic Drug-assisted Psychotherapy (the runner up would be Fadiman's The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide)
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X-posted from this post on the EA forum: Cash prizes for the best arguments against psychedelics being an EA cause area
Fiction Books
Cryptonomicon - Very few books make up a cypher system based on playing cards, have a story that spans WW2 through the present day and in large part revolve around creating an alternate digital currency, a data haven and startup life.
Neuromancer - this is the book that created cyberpunk and that inspired all those bad movie ideas about hacking in 3D systems. That being said, it marked a real turning point in SciFi. Without this book "cyber" security specialists would probably be called something else.
Snow Crash - This is much more breezy than the other two but still has very recognizable hacking/security elements to it and is just fun.
Non Fiction
Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman - This isn't a book about technology so much as deduction and figuring things out (while being hilariously entertaining).
I included all these here in large part because they are what inspired me to get into development and sysadmin work and I bet that I'm about 20 years older than you if you're just getting into the field - so there's a decent chance that your coworkers are into them too.
As an engineer in a research position: I'd give you my upvotes for the next 100 days if I could.
Here's how you (the reader of this thread) can start: Read Surely you must be joking, Mr. Feynman, a nice book with anecdotes about the life of a particularly gifted scientist with lots of wit and perspective on how actual science is different from sudo science. It's a very entertaining book and IMO a great way to get some basics about the world view of a true scientist. It has lots of examples of fields other than physics that he did some investigation in, and maybe you'll find something that particularly interests you.
Many redditors are too young to remember the Climategate fraud "let's use Mike's trick to hide the decline."
[The Hockey Stick Illusion: Climategate and the Corruption of Science ](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1906768358/
)
I don't want to be an adult anymore. Seriously. This sucks. I had to deal with car insurance shit after a small car accident last week and then it turns out my brothers doctor screwed up his records and didn't do a follow up blood test my brother needed. All this while waiting to hear back about a crappy part time job I'm hoping to get. On top of this, my aunt called my mom this morning and said some truly aweful things which caused a huge fight and gave me a terrible case of adjada.
If I win, this ebook looks pretty interesting.
Thanks for the contest!
You have a cool list there. I enjoyed [The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594482691/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_PriQAbA38S824)
Steven Johnson’s The Ghost Map -
The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World
https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Map-Londons-Terrifying-Epidemic/dp/1594482691/
I pretty much only read non-fiction, so I'm all about books that are educational but also interesting :) I'm not sure what your educational background is, so depending on how interested you are in particular subjects, I have many recommendations.
Naked Statistics and Nate Silver's Book are both good!
Feeling Good is THE book on Cognitive Behaviour Therapy.
The Omnivore's Dilemma is good, as is Eating Animals (granted, Eating Animals is aimed at a particular type of eating)
Guns, Germs and Steel is very good.
I also very much enjoyed The Immortal Live of Henrietta Lacks, as well as Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman :)
edit to add: Chris Hadfield's Book which I haven't received yet but it's going to be amazing.
The best historical plague novel I can think of is actually about the cholera outbreak in England a few hundred years ago (c. 1830). It's called The Ghost Map, written by Stephen Johnson, and details the first outbreak fought and visualized with modern mathematical methods. Being a total stats nerd, it's one of my favorite nonfiction books and really makes you wonder how many other mysteries could be solved with the right combination of graphing and analysis.
Anyway, the two real life protagonists are perfect for a comedy/action movie; a priest with a giant beard who habitually drank water with whiskey in it and a wacky scientist who discovered one of the first anesthetics and who huffed said anesthetic for fun.
There are some notable/deserving winners of the Nobel Prize, like Richard Feynman (shared Physics Nobel award in 1965).
Feynman was brilliant in many ways! He was also a great practical joker.
His book, Surely Your Joking, Mr. Feynman: Adventures of a Curious Character is worth a read!
Feynman had a varied career from working on the Manhattan Project during WW2 to determining the cause of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster (1986)
Do it. You don't need a history background to do this, and you've got a great background that will give you a lot of unique insights that most people like me won't have. You can do the infrastructure, the engineering, and the rest that often gets glossed over in a lot of these kinds of more social science podcasts. There's a book called The Ghost Map that really gets into your vibe:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Ghost-Map-Terrifying-Epidemic/dp/1594482691
It's an epidemiological case study of an epidemic in London in the 1840s, and it goes into the background/urban planning of what was going on back then.
Btw, what are your favorite podcasts?
I love science books. These are all on my bookshelf/around my apt. They aren't all chemistry, but they appeal to my science senses:
I got a coffee table book once as a gift. It's Theodore Gray's The Elements. It's beautiful, but like I said, more of a coffee table book. It's got a ton of very cool info about each atom though.
I tried The Immortal Life of Henrieta Lacks, which is all about the people and family behind HeLa cells. That was a big hit, but I didn't care for it.
I liked The Emperor of all Maladies which took a long time to read, but was super cool. It's essentially a biography of cancer. (Actually I think that's it's subtitle)
The Wizard of Quarks and Alice in Quantumland are both super cute allegories relating to partical physics and quantum physics respectively. I liked them both, though they felt low-level, tying them to high-level physics resulted in a fun read.
Unscientific America I bought on a whim and didn't really enjoy since it wasn't science enough.
The Ghost Map was a suuuper fun read about Cholera. I love reading about mass-epidemics and plague.
The Bell that Rings Light, In Search of Schrödinger's Cat, Schrödinger's Kittens, The Fabric of the Cosmos and Beyond the God Particle are all pleasure reading books that are really primers on Quantum.
I also tend to like anything by Mary Roach, which isn't necessarily chemistry or science, but is amusing and feels informative. I started with Stiff but she has a few others that I also enjoyed.
Have fun!
Everyone interested in this needs to read How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan
Please check out book Michael Pollan is releasing on the 15th about psychedelics. This could be big for the mainstream!https://www.amazon.com/Change-Your-Mind-Consciousness-Transcendence-ebook/dp/B076GPJXWZ/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1525552928&sr=1-1&keywords=michael+pollan+books
For books that will help you appreciate math, I recommend Journey Through Genius by William Dunham for a general historical approach, and Love and Math by Edward Frenkel and Prime Obsession by John Derbyshire for specific focuses in "modern" mathematics (in these cases, the Langlands program and the Riemann Hypothesis).
There's a lot of mathematical lore that you'll find really interesting the first time you read it, but then it becomes more and more grating each subsequent time you come across it. (The example that springs most readily to mind is how the Pythagorean theorem rocked the Greeks' socks about their belief in numbers and what the brotherhood supposedly did to the guy who proved that irrational numbers exist). For that reason, I recommend reading only one or two books that summarize the historical developments in math up to the present, and then finding books that focus on one mathematician or one theorem that is relatively modern. In addition to the books I mentioned above, there are also some good ones on the Poincare Conjecture and Fermat's Last Theorem, and given that you're a computer science guy, I'm sure you can find a good one about P = NP.
Journey through Genius: The Great Theorems of Mathematics.
Livro bem maneiro, explica alguns pontos com profundidade, contudo de uma forma que você consegue seguir o raciocínio sem maiores problemas. Achei um excelente livro pra vc descobrir algo para se aprofundar.
Na minha experiência a física é o melhor caminho para você aprender matemática, pois dá um "contexto" interessante na aplicação do conhecimento (incidentalmente, sou advogado, contudo leio sobre física há uns 15 anos).
Mas tem alguns detalhes: i) certos pontos de matemática não estarão na física (quem sabe no futuro, como certos aspectos da simetria, que eram tópicos de matemática pura até descobrirem ser uma ferramenta na física quântica) ; ii) certos campos da matemática são muito profundos quando aplicados a uma física (sendo esta passível de adaptação para leigos); ou seja: certos livros de física que vc não terá dificuldade alguma em compreender omitem a maior parte da matemática por ser bem hardcore (muita dedicação para um autodidata, embora possível de ir atrás).
Journey Through Genius: The Great Theorems of Mathematics by William Dunham. It's currently US$10.14 in paperback on Amazon.com. It includes plenty of interesting mathematics, as well biographical profiles of a number of mathematicians. It's also definitely suitable for someone your brother's age and with his current mathematical background.
I highly recommend "Journey Through Genius" by William Dunham for people with an interest in math, but maybe with not much background yet.
Each chapter talks about one of the great theorems in math, starting with the ancient Greeks and ending with Cantor. The chapter explains some history behind the problem, and provides motivation for why the question is interesting. Then it actually presents a proof. It's a great way of getting exposure to new ideas, proofs, and is a nice survey of a wide range of math. Plus, it's well-written!
Personally, I don't think learning something like, say, category theory makes sense unless you've had some more higher math that will provide examples of where category theory is useful. I love abstraction as much as the next mathematician, but I've learned that it's usually useless unless you have a set of examples that help you understand the abstraction.
> You can do it with one triangle, but it's ugly ugly algebra.
This is the example that came to my mind. From William Dunham's Journey Through Genius:
> So, Heron's formula provides us with another proof of the Pythagorean theorem. Of course, this proof is incredibly more complicated than is necessary-rather like traveling from Boston to New York by way of Spokane....
An ugly proof, and a great line.
I've always liked Journey Through Genius. It's pretty small, ~280 pages of paperback novel size, but it covers a nice selection of mathematical history and thinking. It's not comprehensive, but it's a very good introduction to math history. It starts in 440 BCE (Hippocrates) and ends in 1891 CE (Cantor).
Paperback version is only $12: http://www.amazon.com/Journey-through-Genius-Theorems-Mathematics/dp/014014739X
For a pretty good introduction to a lot of different mathematics, try this book. Journey Through Genius is one of my favorite books. I learned a lot in high school about proof and the history of mathematics and mathematicians. It does a wonderful job of introducing the counter-intuitive concept of countability and sets of infinite numbers.
I think looking at the history of math is a great starting point. Where did all the ideas come from? How were they formed? Who were these people that came up with them? What inspired them?
A good read (I thought) on this subject was Journey through Genius:
http://www.amazon.com/Journey-through-Genius-Theorems-Mathematics/dp/014014739X
HCF is great. If you want to read the book that inspired large chunks of it, Soul of a New Machine is really good.
Like you I work at a tech startup. When we were just starting, our business/strategy people asked the question you just asked. They opened a dialog with development team, and found good answers. I attribute our success in large part to that dialog being eager and open-minded, just as you are being right now. So, it's good tidings that you are asking.
For us, the answer came from conversation, but it also came from reading the following books together:
The Soul of a New Machine amazon link
Someone emailed me yesterday and asked a similar question. I responded with this reading list:
These aren't novels, of course. All of it is non-fiction. But I think that is what you meant. And they aren't textbooks either. I'm also guessing you were looking more for applications than pure theory.
> Perhaps my education was too narrow.
No education is ever too narrow. Like the "Hall of the Mountain King" in the Adventure game, paths lead off in all directions. But a snake blocks our path.
> At the time I felt almost like an elite getting to skip some electives I considered non-sense.
In Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!
https://www.amazon.com/Surely-Feynman-Adventures-Curious-Character/dp/0393316041
He "complains" about having to read Goethe's Faust. But I think it's more of a joke because Faust does focus on the limits of scientific knowledge - how we never really know enough to control our own destiny.
There's way, way more than one book. These people are studying a religious philosophy and resolving logical problems that arise between the religion and the real world.
Dr. Richard Feynman was once asked to meet with a group of Orthodox Jews in New York. They wanted to know if pushing the button on the elevator was creating fire, because if it wasn't they could fire the boy they had push the button for them on the Sabbath. He figured it was an opportunity to educate them.
Unfortunately, for every scientific fact they had a very detailed religious argument that was considered well in advance. He concluded that you couldn't reason someone out of a position they didn't reason themselves into.
The tale is in the book Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! in the chapter "Is Electricity Fire?".
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! Autobiography of a member of the Manhattan Project, Nobel Prize winner, Professor at Caltech, bongo drum player, LSD user, painter. Just a bunch of fun eclectic stories.
If you're interested in learning more, I would recommend the book, "Surely, You're Joking, Mr. Feynman?". Link
So, I have some audiobook recommendations for you. In your learning you may have come across a theoretical physicist named Michio Kaku he is an incredibly intelligent person who has an excellent way of phrasing things to keep them understandable as well as an entertaining overall style. He has lots of great video clips on YouTube
I have two of his audiobooks (you could get the regular books instead if you want I suppose) and they are absolutely fantastic to listen to on a long drive (I have a 9 hour drive each way a few times a year to make) or even just chilling in the bathtub for a bit. Any way Physics of the Impossible and Physics of the Future are amazing.
Another person worth getting into if quantum mechanics tickles your fancy is Richard P. Feynman....that there is an entertaining man. Again you can find really old lecture videos he did on YouTube as well as I highly recommend his autobiography (which I again have on audio) is fantastic. Now, a disclaimer about that, there isnt much actual science talk in it but he explains, from his very interesting point of view, how he goes about learning and discovering the world. It may very well help you shape a new understanding of the world around you and grow a greater appreciation for material you are learning. The greatest thing that struck me in the book was when some fellow students of his asked a question about French curves, and he had a very simple and obvious answer but they hadnt put it together....he mused that it meant their knowledge was fragile and not well understood, that they merely could regurgitate a product but did not have a true grasp on what it is that they were doing....Ever since then I have been so frustrated (in a good way) while getting my ME degree because I WANT TO DEEPLY UNDERSTAND. I'm sick of just knowing on the surface and being able to go in and pass the test...I want to build an incredibly solid foundation of understanding.
Also, if you go on YouTube, check out TEDTalks as they are very informative and knowledgeable about many different things not just math and science.
Also, some channels I subscribe to on YouTube are Numberphile, MinutePhysics, Periodic Videos, Sixty Symbols, and VSauce ....oh and look on the sidebar of the VSauce page for other channel recommendations.
In all seriousness, welcome to the fold, its comforting in here.
If you like sci-fi, try Hyperion by Dan Simmons.
If you like non-fiction, try Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynmann!
We have the same taste in books! I loved Richard Feynman's memoir! Check it out: http://www.amazon.com/Surely-Feynman-Adventures-Curious-Character/dp/0393316041
Incidentally for those for whom this has peaked an interest in this amazing man read his book 'Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman' (link goes to Amazon), among others.
Richard Feynman tells a story in Surely You're Joking that he convinced all his friends that he could speak fluent Chinese by spouting Chinese-sounding gibberish. After doing this for a few weeks his friends got suspicious so they introduced him to a woman who really was Chinese and asked her to translate what he said. "Damn, I'm gonna be found out" he thought to himself, but bit the bullet and started spouting Chinese-ish nonsense to her. She looked a bit taken aback and said "sorry guys, I only speak Mandarin and he obviously speaks Cantonese".
For more pure gold like this, read the pleasure of finding things out, Surely you're joking Mr. Feynman and What do you care what other people think
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman
> A series of anecdotes shouldn't by rights add up to an autobiography, but that's just one of the many pieces of received wisdom that Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman (1918-88) cheerfully ignores in his engagingly eccentric book, a bestseller ever since its initial publication in 1985. Fiercely independent (read the chapter entitled "Judging Books by Their Covers"), intolerant of stupidity even when it comes packaged as high intellectualism (check out "Is Electricity Fire?"), unafraid to offend (see "You Just Ask Them?"), Feynman informs by entertaining. It's possible to enjoy Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman simply as a bunch of hilarious yarns with the smart-alecky author as know-it-all hero. At some point, however, attentive readers realize that underneath all the merriment simmers a running commentary on what constitutes authentic knowledge: learning by understanding, not by rote; refusal to give up on seemingly insoluble problems; and total disrespect for fancy ideas that have no grounding in the real world. Feynman himself had all these qualities in spades, and they come through with vigor and verve in his no-bull prose. No wonder his students--and readers around the world--adored him. --Wendy Smith
https://www.amazon.com/Surely-Feynman-Adventures-Curious-Character/dp/0393316041
Mathematicians say that it is trivial. According to Feynman, mathematicians can prove only trivial theorems, because every theorem that’s proved is trivial:
> “It’s trivial! It’s trivial!” the standing guy says, and he rapidly reels off a series of logical steps: “First you assume thus-and-so, then we have Kerchoff’s this-and-that; then there’s Waffenstoffer’s Theorem, and we substitute this and construct that. Now you put the vector which goes around here and then thus-and-so …” The guy on the couch is struggling to understand all this stuff, which goes on at high speed for about fifteen minutes!
> Finally the standing guy comes out the other end, and the guy on the couch says, “Yeah, yeah. It’s trivial.”
"Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman" by Feynman et al...
This was my first exposure to the way that an atheistic scientist can look at the world and feel simple joy in merely learning how things work. It instilled in me a thirst to learn, and a desire to travel my own path.
>Are you tired as in bored and without motivation or as in exhausted?
Both, tired from the time it's taking and without motivation cause my investments simply haven't paid off this year. Never bored though. I have a book of Feynman's on my wishlist, I should probably get it. Have you read it per chance?
great read
If you like this stuff, check out his famous book: Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman.
I usually trim the URL down to its minimal http://www.amazon.com/dp/0393316041/ form before creating the text link. I don't know enough about all the rest of the stuff that's encoded in the longer form of the URL. But I do know it will work fine in the shorter version.
Cheers man. I've just finished the book Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! and I'll be going on to the one you've recommended next :)
http://www.amazon.com/Surely-Feynman-Adventures-Curious-Character/dp/0393316041/ref=pd_sim_b_2/175-5309930-4744562?ie=UTF8&refRID=1DCAC154J2CFHZSADHPZ
Richard Feynman. In his auto-biographical books like Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! he comes across as a lovable braggart and trickster. I read most of that book to my kids.
Not only are his stories interesting, but he had a gift for teaching. His science books are full of great explanations.
The first link is broken - here y'all go if anyone is as lazy as I am :)
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!
I'm also travelling soon, and I'm looking forward to reading this!
Just finished Surely You're Joking Mr Feynman. Very interesting read.
I could not wrap my head around the way he viewed women though. Very, very different than myself combined with a very different time and expectation.
Do you have any strong interests? For example, I love math, and the book The Man Who Loved Only Numbers, which is a biography of Paul Erdos.
If you are interested in graphic novels, and they are allowed for the assignment, Logicomix is the quest of Bertrand Russell for an ultimate basis of mathematics, and how the journey of understanding can often lead towards obsession and madness.
If you're interested in physics, Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman is a great book that is arguably a biography.
So, what are you most interested in?
It's a great book.
If you have never read his book, Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, I highly recommend it. It is one of the most entertaining and informative books I have ever read.
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! by Richard P. Feynman
Read this
It's either in Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, or in "What Do You Care What Other People Think?". Both are well worth reading.
Ask richard p feynman to explain about 51% and about the O ring that brought down challenger in 1986..
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0393316041/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1409080944&sr=8-2
Ask him if decentralization matters? Or if the people want their money doled out by computer bunkers in the artic? Lol...
I recently learned from Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! that a very easy way to figure out the square of any number near 50 is to:
You should read "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" He is absolutely hilarious. He is easily my favorite scientist after that book.
It's $3 on amazon right now
I found Prime Obsession really captivating.
First saw this in John Derbyshire's Prime Obsession book. Quite beautiful.
There's a much lighter read that hits just the fun and interesting points. It is sort of the highlights reel to "The Ants". It's by the same two icons...Edward O. Wilson and Bert Hölldobler. It's called Journey to the Ants
http://www.amazon.com/Journey-Ants-Story-Scientific-Exploration/dp/0674485262
Richard Feynman
Robert Oppenheimer
And he became a notorious woman chaser/misogynist afterwards. Not that anyone particularly minded or cared.
Losing the love of his life embittered him but I think physics became his true love. Watching his lectures even in this day and age is marvelous, and I highly recommend it.
Sauce: Gleick's biography (he's an amazing biographer) and A set of lectures from the University of Auckland (NZ.) Also look up Project Tuva for older MIT lectures.
Also, you said you want to be an ecologist?
I highly, highly, highly recommend you look at Mark Lewis' site at the University of Alberta. All of his research is in math biology, but he does research areas like invasive species modeling, animal movement modeling, bio-invasion and and ecosystem modeling (e.g rivers, mountains).
He publishes in journals like Theoretical Ecology, Journal of Experimental Biology and American Naturalist. All the links are to papers he's published in those journals.
A word of warning though: just because you have a passion for physics does not necessarily mean you have what it takes to be a researcher in a physics/math related field. You have to love the area you are researching (e.g ecology), but more importantly, you have to love the research PROCESS. As you may have seen from the .pdf links, the papers rely heavily on mathematics. In order to succeed in this area, you have to love solving math problems, writing code, reading journal papers, and solving math problems (yes, I mentioned it twice). If you don't have a passion to do these things, then it will be really hard to succeed.
If I were you, and are really passionate about learning physics, I would find an online resource or textbook that is just above the knowledge you have now, and start studying. I can recommend some resources if you like. If you are truly passionate about physics, start doing problems. Within a year, you will be doing the kind of crazy math you want to do (and be able to apply it to physics problems in no time). If you don't want to work on math problems, then maybe you aren't as passionate as you thought.
Perhaps you can satisfy your desire for physics by reading popular science books (e.g Brian Greene, Stephen Hawking), or becoming a high school science teacher. I can tell you though that what you read in these books, and the actual process of doing science research could not be any more different.
You talk about devotion in an earlier comment. Here's an anecdote about Freeman Dyson from the book Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman
>"He read popular science books about Einstein and relativity and, realizing that he needed to learn a more advanced mathematics than his school taught, sent away to scientific publishers for their catalogs. His mother finally felt that his interest in mathematics was turning into an obsession. He was fifteen and had just spent a Christmas vacation working methodically, from six each morning until ten each evening, through the seven hundred problems of H. T. H. Piaggio's Differential Equations."
Now Dyson was a child prodigy who came from a privileged family, but that's an example of the type of people who "do" math and physics. It makes me wish I hadn't played video games from six each morning until ten each evening playing video games :(
You remind me a bit of myself back when I was trying to figure out what I want to do. Hell, I STILL don't know what I want to do, but I have a bit more experience then I did then when I was an undergrad (all of 2 years ago). So this is like a warning letter to my past self.
Sincerely,
A former mathematical biologist/physicist who discovered is passion for science from reading popular science books, but realized he didn't have what it takes to do research.
Lots of great recommendations in this thread; I've added a few to my reading list. Here are my suggestions (copied from a previous thread):
And, the following two are a look into the lives of two great men that lived in the 20th century; both offer many points worth emulating.
This is a great biography of the man if anyone wants a good summer read.
http://www.amazon.com/Genius-Life-Science-Richard-Feynman/dp/0679747044
I just found this: Einstein's Philosophy of Science, on SEP.
It's not a physical book but may serve as an introduction, while also featuring references to relevant books.
EDIT: I have heard good things about this book: Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson.
Bottom of his class of like 6. Source I can't site an exact page number.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0743264746/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1502308179&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=albert+einstein&dpPl=1&dpID=51WANNpV-WL&ref=plSrch
I don't know if this would work, but how about Longitude by Dava Sobel? It's about the development of a clock that could be carried on ships for navigation.
I know, it sounds dull, but it's actually a good story. And if you do find it boring it's really short (like 200 pages or so).
There's a fantastic little book about this ("Longitude"). A quick read and a great story - highly recommended for anybody into the history of science & the age of exploration.
I notice you can pick it up used from Amazon for forty-eight cents. Worth it.
Naval science back in the day was about cartography, charting the stars, the tides, and figuring out how to keep track of time and distance. There's a short book called Longitude that you may want to take a read of. As to the building of ships, that was more the apprenticeships of master craftsmen then a scientific approach. What we think of as a science and engineering approach to shipbuilding is more of a 20th century thing. You may see the start of trained engineers getting into it in the 19th century with the rise of the iron ship and steam power. But even at the start of the 20th century there were ships built which were failures, just because no one had really thought through what they were trying to do.
Dava Sobel writes about science in history, and she's fantastic. Longitude, in particular was great!
I also really like Simon Winchester's The Professor and the Madman about the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary
More on the longitude problem in Longitude, a great book by Dava Sobel.
I'll just leave this here:
http://www.amazon.com/Longitude-Genius-Greatest-Scientific-Problem/dp/080271529X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373482468&sr=8-1&keywords=lattitude
I'm going to suggest a non-fiction book based on his sailing and piloting background. Longitude by Dava Sobel.
For some fiction , try James Michener. Lots of historical research went into his books. Maybe start with Alaska
Okay. A point that has not been brought up until now. Soviet spacecraft land by parachute on LAND. Retro rockets are supposed to "soften" the landing. Okay. You're riding the prototype for this theory. Hell f$Cking yes I"m gonna open the motherf$cking door and bail my ass outta that bad boy rather than sit and wait to see if the theory works.
Also see http://www.amazon.com/Starman-Truth-Behind-Legend-Gagarin/dp/0802779506/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1302653339&sr=8-1
If you haven't read it yet, you might enjoy this book.
I want to read this awesome Radioactive Boy Scout book which will give me mucho summerfuntime! :)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0812966600/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1404220794&sr=8-1&pi=SL75
There is a reprint https://www.amazon.com/Ignition-Informal-Propellants-University-Classics/dp/0813595835/
In no particular order but all of the following are great.
I know it sounds like you're embellishing a bit, but these are all 100% possible depending on what else is on OP's network. All because of a 'tiny little website' and an open ssh port.
Check out The Cuckoo's Egg by Cliff Stoll, it's a good read.
> I feel similarly about computer security, in broad terms. The scary thing isn't that "hackers" can do the cyber equivalent of teleporting into your neighbourhood and trying the lock on your front door; it's that we live in a culture where people habitually don't even metaphorically install locks (despite the fact that they're often absurdly effective and trivial in cost), and also the part where people habitually have no understanding of the value of their metaphorical household goods (often many times the value of the property itself).
The book The Cuckoo's Egg is, by the way, an excellent nonfictional account of an early computer security case that has strong echoes with many of the security issues we are facing today. (And is also a damn good read, highly recommended.)
You can try Cuckoo's Egg: http://www.amazon.com/The-Cuckoos-Egg-Tracking-Espionage/dp/1416507787
And if you like it, here's the movie about the book: http://youtu.be/EcKxaq1FTac
It's one of my favorite books of all time.
If you haven't read Mitnick's other work, he has the Art of Intrusion which is pretty nice.
Fatal System Error is also a nice read: http://www.amazon.com/Fatal-System-Error-Bringing-Internet/dp/B004NSVENM
If you're into fiction, read this: http://www.amazon.com/Zero-Day-Jeff-Aiken-Novel/dp/1250007305/
You're not going to want to read things that make you wish you had a computer with you, trust me. You have no idea how many times I have tried to force myself to read stuff like that when traveling or on vacation. Never works. So here's some stuff geared more towards the philosophy of development and programming that will be fun to read and will probably make you want to slow down, relax, and think about the concepts.
And for fun:
The Cuckoo's egg. I started learning unix by trying commands in this book. I haven't seen a lot of similar books since that owning a network series... aparently there was some trouble with the fact that some of them were a little too real. I also haven't really been looking though.
Are they into learning about this stuff? If not, no amount of training material will make a difference. This sort of thing is what got me hooked:
The Cuckoo's Egg
Takedown
The Cuckoo's Egg by Cliff Stoll.
In addition to the other good suggestions here, Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America is an interesting look at console development.
Huh... Your Google must be broken. Let me see what my Google brings up.
Very interesting!
I will say that it's a shame you discounted the ingame sprites, because the technical limitations are actually a HUGE factor as to why Mario looks the way he does.
Super Mario by Jeff Ryan goes into great detail about this. It's an awesome read, you might like it. It has a lot of information about the internal processes in Nintendo, and how they managed to push into the American arcade market and culture.
I am 60 and recently divorced after 30 plus years. I am planning a psychedelic journey to set the tone for my next phase of life. I plan to go with naturals, probably psilocybin mushrooms or maybe peyote. Havent done hallucinogenics for over 35 years, and am looking forward to having a mind expanding experience
FWIW i don't think DMT is technically a psychedelic, it's more of an amphetamine. I recommend:
How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594204225/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_sqEKBbJPP5Z5C
> Like many of his colleagues, Hubbard strongly objected to Leary's do-it-yourself approach to psychedelics, especially his willingness to dispense with the all-important trained guide.
This is relayed from the perspective of Al Hubbard (not the Scientologist) on p. 200 of Michael Pollan's How to Change Your Mind. Pages 185-220 are devoted to Leary.
Some icing on the cake, an excerpt of a letter from Myron Stolaroff to Leary (p. 199):
> "Tim, I am convinced you are heading for very serious trouble ..., and it would not only make a great deal of trouble for you, but for all of us, and may do irreparable harm to the psychedelic field in general."
If you want a really full backstory on the history of psychedelics in the US and all the clinical trials from the 50's 60's, and back up again starting recently, you want to read "How to Change Your Mind" by Michael Pollen (https://www.amazon.com/Change-Your-Mind-Consciousness-Transcendence/dp/1594204225).
​
I was introduced to this book after listening to this 45 minute episode on Fresh Air podcast where he talks about it. I was fascinated and bought the book that day, but if you just want a bit more backstory than an article, I'd give it a listen. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/05/15/611225541/reluctant-psychonaut-michael-pollan-embraces-the-new-science-of-psychedelics
The book for those curious
Its a good read.
There are tons of articles in major publications now about psychedelics being used for therapy, many of them in the New York Times etc. Look some of those up.
​
Michael Pollan just wrote a new book about psychedelics, people in their 30s fucking love Michael Pollan, very famous food writer. He writes from the perspective of someone who had not really taken psychedelics, and wanted to know about history and neuroscience and immerse himself in it, to see if those transformative experiences were true. He was on a speaking tour for the book and I went to his talk. Hey, if he's coming through your town you should just take everyone to that!
https://www.amazon.com/Change-Your-Mind-Consciousness-Transcendence/dp/1594204225
decent interview about the book here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Whmnx_Cb5ts
this one is more of a talk/presentation, also very good https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuhmZSFvhL0
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re: some of the other suggestions
I do not think psychedsubstance youtube vids are going to appeal to non-psychedelic users. That guy's target audience is people who are already interested in psychedelics and other substances, and he writes from a harm reduction perspective. He's also not exactly charming, kind of an abrasive know-it-all.
​
Doors of Perception is a fantastic book but it's a very old perspective and feels very old timey academic to modern readers. Or maybe kind of like a beat poet in search of the miraculous and transcendent. But OP, YOU should certainly read doors of perception.
​
Anyone interested in psychedelics and mushrooms should read "How to Change Your Mind" By Michael Pollan.
https://www.amazon.com/Change-Your-Mind-Consciousness-Transcendence/dp/1594204225
https://www.amazon.com/Change-Your-Mind-Consciousness-Transcendence/dp/1594204225
you may find this book interesting: How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan. i've just started reading it but it's nonfic about how psychedelics alter the mind.
> As you can imagine, this is not a topic we can just bring up with our current friends. So many of them don't use any kind of drugs at all.
Why not? We bring up tripping with our straight friends all the time. Maybe give them Michael Pollen on tripping. He is pretty mainstream and quite popular.
I would also suggest investigating your regional burning man community. They generally ahve facebook groups, and local events. They skew a bit older, and are pretty ok with tripping.
> But without other like-minded people there would be no reason to grow more as we could never consume them all ourselves, and I am not interested in selling them.
When I grew shrooms, it was really easy to give them away. I swear once someone found out I had them, I would get so many requests. Be aware that they do go bad, faster than LSD in my experience.
You should try psychedelics. In many test cases, subjects who use such substances (especially psilocybin mushrooms) in a clinical setting report greatly reduced fear of death. Please check out this book on the subject by the science writer Michael Pollan,
https://www.amazon.com/Change-Your-Mind-Consciousness-Transcendence/dp/1594204225
Here are some recent podcasts the author has appeared on to discuss the book. The discussion focused on the positive impact of medicinal psychedelic use amongst terminally ill patients:
From the Joe Rogan Experience:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tz4CrWE_P0g
From the Waking Up Podcast:
https://samharris.org/podcasts/127-freedom-known/
I really hope this helps. As humans we’re all united by the common struggle with our own mortality, and I wish you all the best in enjoying your life. Hang in there :)
The miasma theory, and its defenders during the Cholera outbreak in London (the one that lead to the first studies in epidemiology and urban planning/sewers) is covered in great detail in an amazing book called The Ghost Map.
Definitely give it a read if you are into epidemiology:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Ghost-Map-Terrifying-Epidemic--/dp/1594482691/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405001782&sr=8-1&keywords=the+ghost+map
The Ghost Map - excellent book on this subject
Nah, but I did read this book. Einstein did marry his cousin, but they slept in seperate beds.
He never liked wearing socks, and when he became world famous he said that he had nothing to prove to anybody. He would wear crazy shoes with no socks. He also really enjoyed to play the absent minded professor. source
Honestly I'm about 3/4 of the way through this book and it is a fantastic read.
http://www.amazon.com/Einstein-Life-Universe-Walter-Isaacson/dp/0743264746/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1292186195&sr=8-5
How about Einstein? I would suggest reading this book about his life
Longitude by Dave Sobel
A book about how modern navigation was made possible through solving a seemingly impossible problem namely determining the longitude. At the time the solution was thought to be astronomy and the scientific community ignored the simple solution through watchmaking developed by a single man. A nice David vs. Goliath story about a guy fighting to be recognised for a simple mechanical solution to a problem thought to be impossible.
Available to read for free right now in Kindle Unlimited.
Also dramatized into a 2-part TV movie in 2000.
Here is a book that deals with Harrison's work.
https://www.amazon.com/Longitude-Genius-Greatest-Scientific-Problem/dp/080271529X
It should be known that ALL sea explorers (including Magellan) before the late 18th century were sailing willy nilly and were all essentially lucky idiots. They had no means of calculating longitude. They knew how north they were, but not how far east/west they were. Think about it, you can tell how far north you are by the stars and the length of day, but the since the earth rotates, how do you know how far west you are? The length of day at 40N for example, is the same length of time off the coast of Spain, as it is in the middle of the Atlantic, and also off the coast of New York.
With the increased amount of sea travel in the 1700s, losses from not knowing Longitude were becoming catastrophic. After losing thousands of men to shallow seas, The King of England issues a bounty on discovering longitude. And that's how the accurate pocketwatch (chronometer) was invented (it was the size of a dvd). With a proper clock sailors could FINALLY keep track of where they were. The clock was set on GMT, and by knowing what time sunrise and sunset was in London, however much later the sun set for them was how far they were away from the Prime Meridian and GMT. This is why lat and long degrees are giving in minutes and seconds.
Check out this book if you wanna know more. I love nautical history. http://www.amazon.com/Longitude-Genius-Greatest-Scientific-Problem/dp/080271529X/
The book Longitude is a fascinating description of the search for accurate Longitude that surrounds the creation of this watch.
Harrison clearly had the right tech with the H4 watch, but lacked the political clout of the Lunar Distance crowd and was shut out from official recognition for having solved "The longitude problem".
I meant longitude in my previous comment. You might enjoy this book if you are interested in such things.
http://www.amazon.com/Longitude-Genius-Greatest-Scientific-Problem/dp/080271529X
A story about the development of accurate clocks so ships can tell their longitude: Longitude
A novel written in the style of Cervantes about the life of Cervantes (which was really an interesting life). The Death and Life of Miguel Cervantes
Unfortunately, beyond the fact that he died in a failed reentry, the story you commonly see surrounding the incident is unverified. Any article that provides sources (eg the Wikipedia article or the NPR article) will always lead back to this one recent book on the subject, where the story originates, which is heavily debated wherever it pops up as a source. Its details have not been verified by anyone despite its narrative becoming quite popular. The NPR article, which probably popularized this story online, even added "these events, if true" before proceeding to cover the book's telling of events, and had to release a follow-up to look at specific details that are amiss due to reader responses casting doubt:
https://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2011/05/03/135919389/a-cosmonauts-fiery-death-retold
If you have any further interest, I highly recommend Starman: The Truth Behind the Legend of Yuri Gagarin for more information. There's also been a wealth of declassified documents released from the former soviet archives in Russia regarding its space program.
Starman: The Truth Behind the Legend of Yuri Gagarin
You like sci-fi, I suppose you'd enjoy learning about the first man to (almost) completely orbit the earth.
Yes, she was first mammal to orbit the Earth as well as the first to die in orbit. She has a monument in Russia.
>On April 11, 2008, Russian officials unveiled a monument to Laika. A small monument in her honour was built near the military research facility in Moscow which prepared Laika's flight to space. It features a dog standing on top of a rocket.
Source: Laika
The first hominid in space, Ham the Astrochimp did make it back to earth safely.
I'd also say poor Vladimir Komarov.
>His spaceflight on Soyuz 1 made him the first cosmonaut to fly into outer space more than once, and he became the first human to die during a spaceflight—when the Soyuz 1 space capsule crashed after re-entry on April 24, 1967.
His death has been attributed to Leonid Brezhnev's desire to have a Soviet space triumph on the 50th anniversary of the Communist revolution. The Soviet space agency wasn't ready for the launch, but no one dared tell Brezhev. Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, tried to have the launch delayed, but was unsuccessful, because others would not relay his warning memo to Brezhnev.
>The space vehicle is shoddily constructed, running dangerously low on fuel; its parachutes — though no one knows this — won't work and the cosmonaut, Vladimir Komarov, is about to, literally, crash full speed into Earth, his body turning molten on impact. As he heads to his doom, U.S. listening posts in Turkey hear him crying in rage, "cursing the people who had put him inside a botched spaceship."
>
>This extraordinarily intimate account of the 1967 death of a Russian cosmonaut appears in a new book, Starman, by Jamie Doran and Piers Bizony, to be published next month. The authors base their narrative principally on revelations from a KGB officer, Venyamin Ivanovich Russayev, and previous reporting by Yaroslav Golovanov in Pravda. This version - if it's true - is beyond shocking.
>
>Starman tells the story of a friendship between two cosmonauts, Vladimir Kamarov and Soviet hero Yuri Gagarin, the first human to reach outer space. The two men were close; they socialized, hunted and drank together.
>
>In 1967, both men were assigned to the same Earth-orbiting mission, and both knew the space capsule was not safe to fly. Komarov told friends he knew he would probably die. But he wouldn't back out because he didn't want Gagarin to die. Gagarin would have been his replacement.
Source: Cosmonaut Crashed Into Earth 'Crying In Rage'
This kid already tried it. There's a book about it and everything:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Radioactive-Boy-Scout-Frightening/dp/0812966600/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398732658&sr=8-1&keywords=the+radioactive+boy+scout
I read a book about this guy
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Radioactive-Boy-Scout-Frightening-Homemade/dp/0812966600/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1319228310&sr=8-2
There's a book out there, too. I read it in college and it was short, but definitely entertaining. Wouldn't necessarily buy it, but a good one to get from your local library if you need something to read on a summer trip.
Sounds like a new version of David Hahn - The Radioactive Boy Scout
Radioactive boy scout
amazon link
They recently did a reprint! You can get it for $20 on Amazon now.
Maybe consider trading book ingition. It is about rocket propellants from 1950's.
https://www.amazon.com/Ignition-Informal-Propellants-University-Classics/dp/0813595835/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=ignition&qid=1567315915&s=gateway&sprefix=igni&sr=8-1
Also if you or anyone else is really looking into it the two most useful text book I found to be SMAD (Space Mission Analysis and Design): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mission-Analysis-Design-Technology-Library/dp/9401051925/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=space+mission+analysis+and+design&qid=1559028595&s=gateway&sr=8-1
Other good reads are Fundamentals of Astrodynamics (which is much more relevant for KSP) https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fundamentals-Astrodynamics-Dover-Aeronautical-Engineering/dp/0486600610/ref=sr_1_1?crid=SWR1ICPOGQ7X&keywords=fundamentals+of+astrodynamics&qid=1559028689&s=gateway&sprefix=the+fundamentals+of+astro%2Caps%2C134&sr=8-1 And Ignition! to cover the history in a very entertaining manner https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ignition-Informal-Propellants-University-Classics/dp/0813595835/ref=pd_sbs_14_1/259-4345144-1867258?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0813595835&pd_rd_r=9e3755d8-811a-11e9-9b3b-b9bbd55e85d0&pd_rd_w=sq1G0&pd_rd_wg=m37dV&pf_rd_p=18edf98b-139a-41ee-bb40-d725dd59d1d3&pf_rd_r=WPHT2J5EFR2KZ1WYVJEX&psc=1&refRID=WPHT2J5EFR2KZ1WYVJEX .
You can probably find pdfs online for those if you look mind.
It's been reprinted, although it looks like Amazon may not have it in stock currently.
https://smile.amazon.com/Ignition-Informal-Propellants-University-Classics/dp/0813595835/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1536254029&sr=8-1&keywords=ignition
Archives for the links in comments:
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I love this book!
https://www.amazon.com/Cuckoos-Egg-Tracking-Computer-Espionage/dp/1416507787
I don't even want to say anything about it, and spoil the story
Cuckoo's Egg is a good read, but High-Tech Heretic should be compulsory for anyone doing CS past bachelor's.
I would recomend you to read Future Crimes by Marc Goodman https://www.amazon.co.uk/Future-Crimes-Digital-Underground-Connected/dp/0552170801?SubscriptionId=AKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q&tag=duckduckgo-ffab-uk-21&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=0552170801 mostly deals with the non existence of electronic security though and how it is and can be exploited
Information and Corporate security is a very big subject, so it kind of depends where you intend to take your story. But you can start by reading the Wikipedia article about InfoSec https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_security and then see how each area fits into your story and work out from there.
Some realisim in how difficult it can be to track down a hacker, read The Cuckoo's Egg by Clifford Stoll
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cuckoos-Egg-Tracking-Computer-Espionage/dp/1416507787/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1500888747&sr=1-1&keywords=clifford+stoll very different from what you see in the media
IMHO the most interesting area in Information security is Social Engineering, it requires cunning and skill, and sometimes you can't stop admiring the talents and genius of some of these people. Read Social Engineering: The Art of Human Hacking https://www.amazon.co.uk/Social-Engineering-Art-Human-Hacking/dp/0470639539/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1500889212&sr=1-1&keywords=social+engineering+the+art+of+human+hacking
Each year Verizon release their data breach report http://www.verizonenterprise.com/verizon-insights-lab/dbir/2017/ it is free to download (don't have to register, just click the download only button) I think that is possibly the best insight you can get into corporate security challenges in 2017
Technology related would for sure be The Cuckoo's Egg, and Ghost in the Wires
Not tech related, Junky, American Psycho, and Kitchen Confidential
The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage
Here's something similar.
I liked both books a lot.
Then video games and anime are your passion, simple as that. If that doesn't feel like "enough" because you're only consuming these things, rather than creating them, give creation a try. Or use them as jumping off points to see if maybe you can expand your passions.
For instance, if video games are super-interesting, maybe the history of video games would be interesting to you as well. One of my best friends from college, Jeff Ryan, used the Venn Diagram of "Liking Video Games" and "Liking to Write" to get a pretty nice payday to write a book about Super Mario (http://www.amazon.com/Super-Mario-Nintendo-Conquered-America/dp/1591845637).
The point is, if you love something, you can make that thing the center of your life in a constructive way.
NOTE: there's a difference between "love" and "addiction". A lot of people have porn addictions, which puts them in front of the computer, masturbating 4 hours a day. Paul Thomas Anderson loved porn and used it to create "Boogie Nights". I would take a long look at what I was falling into and try to decide if the thing I find myself doing is a distraction from life or a reason for being alive...
Game Over is pretty much the definitive work. The early chapters talk about all the before stuff. I don't think you get to Donkey Kong for a while. It goes into a few different ventures that Yamauchi was trying. Including a light gun shooting gallery and love hotels.
Super Mario is pretty good as well. It covers a lot of the same events.
[Play Value(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ge1UzO2AQc) did an episode on it. It's pretty light and lacks the details, but it could whet your interest.
If you like the history, I enjoyed "How Nintendo Conquered America". Gives the business side of Nintendo up to the Wii, with predictions for the Wii U so it's a bit out of date, but I liked it.
Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1591845637/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_4W9QBb69KTPTG
There is this one too:
http://www.amazon.com/Super-Mario-Nintendo-Conquered-America/dp/1591845637
but if you have read Console Wars... this book will feel very lacking
Y'all should read this. It's fascinating.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1591845637
cut them out of your life or get them help. use profits to fund rehabilitation and education. if you're stupid enough to get into heroin and meth, you're probably not going to let the law stop you, but you shouldn't go to jail for possessing it or making it out of plants in the privacy of your own home. i do agree that dangerous drugs such as meth and heroin would be better off decriminalized rather than legalized, so that it remains illegal to sell but not to posses, but i don't think anyone should go to jail for acquiring them by their own means.
we do have to draw a legal limit to what humans can morally get away with on earth, or else people would be stealing and killing without consequence, but the war on drugs is a travesty and is hindering the mental progression of humanity. most people who have had a psychedelic experience will attest that nature is trying to help us (i'm looking forward to reading the book how to change your mind by michael pollan), yet we've let nixon convince the masses that the counterculture is bad and therefore people are losing their freedoms and spending their lives in prison for trying to open their mind and become better individuals or even form a religious belief from it.
more specifically, if we legalized psychedelics, we could help people overcome their addictions to more dangerous substances because like it or not, these substances work with your neurotransmitters to achieve what used to be seen as impossible. we would also see humanity looking past all this political money bullshit and focus more on the reality of love and nature and what's really important. so while i'm not saying we should make it easy to get harmful drugs like meth, i still don't think it should be a criminal act if you figure out how to acquire it on your own, and i sure as hell think it's a sin to have a war on psychedelics. as far as cocaine, i see that as no different than alcohol. it's harmful but fun in moderation and if you're gonna let us poison our livers, might as well let us poison our nostrils.
the whole thing is complex, but right now the war on drugs is a blanket over too many useful substances to accept it as a good thing. but you are right, in that i shouldn't make a blanket statement such as "humans should be able to do whatever they want". we do need order and protection from chaos. i just think politicians are trying too hard to boss us around in unnecessary ways and ruining a lot of lives over plants and what mother nature gave us.
Get Micheal Pollan on the show!
He's coming out with a new book: How to Change Your Mind:What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness
Dude destroys a lot of food nutrition theories on the reg and explores the world of psychedelics in his new book. Been trying to get this guy on for years. Lets make it happen soon!
Michael Pollan, the author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and "The Botany of Desire", recently released a book on psychedelics and their potential to treat addiction and other mental issues.
It's called "How To Change Your Mind"
https://www.amazon.com/Change-Your-Mind-Consciousness-Transcendence/dp/1594204225
I cannot recommend this book highly (nyuknyuk) enough. Having tried LSD, psilocybin, and ecstasy, I can say that I really enjoyed most of those experiences. Of course, setting is key. You need to be in a good place, both physically and mentally.
This book is a revelation. Pollan does excellent research, and also documents his own experiences with the drugs that he profiles.
I wept with joy several times as he interviewed people who recounted how their lives were changed for the better after having a guided trip.
It was glorious.
There's active research starting up. Check out Michael Polan's latest book for deets:
https://www.amazon.com/Change-Your-Mind-Consciousness-Transcendence/dp/1594204225
Great stuff, definitely worth a read.
While looking at that book, I came across this one:
https://www.amazon.com/Change-Your-Mind-Consciousness-Transcendence/dp/1594204225
I've already started listening to it on audiobook and love it! (Reviews told me Dr. Fadiman's book is better written because if some of the technical sections).
I really think you should read How to Change Your Mind. It dives into the details of how psychedelics help with depression and you'll probably be able to relate to some of it. Turns out most who use it for depression find that it doesn't last long term for them either, but does provide a break usually at least for a few months. To me that seems like a good enough jumping point to be able to reconnect with emotions. Michael does a much better job of analyzing and theorizing the functions and possibilities.
I truly wish you had the ability to use this medicine with an experienced therapist who maybe could've made the experience more enjoyable and rewarding.
I heard the book "How to Change Your Mind" is very good and might be what you need to convince your friend. :)
Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Change-Your-Mind-Consciousness-Transcendence/dp/1594204225/
Stay in your home, read this book and slowly work toward recovery and healing. Do yoga. Maybe find a therapist that works with psychedelics. You can read about that here. Not really interested in hearing all the reasons you think that won’t work. Besides, your resistance is stuff you should work through with your therapist, not on Reddit. Go heal. Yeah it’s hard. Walk through the fire and get to the other side.
> My goal as a police officer is not to make the most busts, or arrest the most perps. My job is to serve the community, and at all times I strive to be as open-minded, compassionate, and fair as possible.
Intentions are great, but this can't really work out in practice because there's a massive gap of cognitive dissonance between what you DO and what you WANT TO DO.
Even if you want to be open-minded and "fair", you eventually have to go along with your department otherwise you'd be an outcast.
At the end of the day, even if you wanted to be mother Teresa, your job depends on enforcing the law... which as it pertains to drugs essentially translates into babysitting adults.
For example, in the United States:
So, from where I stand, the central question is: Does an individual have the right to put anything into their body for whatever reason they please?
The answer of course (rationally and philosophically) is YES.
Because to imply otherwise is to say that after age 18, you are not an adult.
...and even if you say no, then the above examples are clear indicators of the contradiction.
So, systematically, you and your friends are financially and morally incentivized to punish NON-VIOLENT adults who choose to put a substance inside their body (which is no different than fast food, alcohol, cigarettes etc.) for their own reasons.
Thus, implying that THEY HAVE NO RIGHT TO THEIR OWN MIND AND BODY.
In the case of psychedelics: most people's lives are actually HEALED IMMENSELY (with Ayahuasca, various forms of DMT, Psilocybin etc.) yet most of those substances are schedule I along with drugs like heroin.
Meanwhile, pharmaceutical companies are legally peddling heroin (in the form of Oxycontin etc) and getting around the system.
Make no mistake, you are going to be on the WRONG side of history.
While I appreciate your post and ability to be open-minded, after this AMA/post dies down, you'll be on the street "doing your job" because that's what you have to do put food on your table.
"Doing my job" is just a modern-day version of the Nuremberg Defense.
...and the police will inevitably abuse their power as shown in the famous Stanford Prison Experiment because it's not a police thing... it's a human nature thing.
So, the problem lies in the incentives of the police.
Unfortunately, the incentives ARE NOT to be as open-minded, compassionate, and fair as possible - it's to enforce the law without question.
...and to make matters worse, cops generally only hang out with other cops. I have yet to met a cop who has given another cop a ticket for the SAME violation made by a civilian.
I know cops have a slogan that says "TO PROTECT AND SERVE" on their squad cars.
But, as a citizen, I think it would be far more accurate to say "TO INTIMIDATE AND EXTORT" .... because I can't remember the last time I felt "protected or served".
So, as far as solutions, other than walking away from it and making an honest living in the private sector, I don't have a clear-cut solution.
LEAP, however, is an excellent start.
...and if you are SERIOUS, check out these resources:
How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594204225/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_1IKRDb6C9CZW2
As a longtime Christian, I came to a point in my life where I was desperate for a solution to my depression season (7 years in total). After suffering, prayers, therapy, and antidepressants as a last ditch effort I started to explore the possibility of psychedelics. I spent 6 months reading medical studies from Johns Hopkins and NYU as they studied for treatment to those with PTSD and cancer induced depression. Nothing but flying colors and no potential for addiction. I was interested.
I’ve had spiritual and mystical experiences in the past and had no idea what to expect. I had some hesitation because of its legality and the notion of “bad trips.” After time and consideration and the consultation of deeply trusted friends and a therapist I decided to give it a try.
To prepare, I spent time praying and writing my intentions for the time as a sacred space. I made of list of the things I wanted to explore with God including past relationships and trauma. I dimmed the lights and played minimalist music. I was ready. It was 4 hours of pure connectedness and healing to my heart sans an ego to combat the felt experience.
Doctors and scientists say that the experience is pneumatic (or a deeply fear spiritual experience). It certainly was. They also say it’s a very hard experience to describe (but I’ll give it a whirl). I felt known by God. I saw memories, heartbreaks, and traumas flash in my mind. I saw that God was there with me. I felt that he cared more than I ever thought possible. I felt a deep love of God. I felt one with God and it was nothing but beautiful. It felt kin to other spiritual experiences I’ve had at church or out in nature. Now on the other side of it, my depression is gone and my heart is open. I feel more connected to God after feeling disconnected for quite some time.
I believe that I had that experience because of my prayers and intentions. I hear that many people “manifest” their unconscious and emotions that they carry into the time. This is why some people have “bad trips.”
If you decide to proceed, I recommend doing a lot of therapy (preferably somatic based, EMDR) to uncover your trauma and unconscious triggers. Then, do your research. I’ll list a couple links below. Next, find a therapist (ideally the same one) to be with you while you are using. They can guide you back to the right space and keep you focused. That will help ensure a good experience.
Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions.
“How to Change Your Mind” by Michael Pollan
https://www.amazon.com/Change-Your-Mind-Consciousness-Transcendence/dp/1594204225
“The Mind Explained: Psychedelics”
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt10948426/
https://www.google.com/amp/s/tim.blog/2019/09/10/largest-psychedelic-research-center/amp/
https://podcastnotes.org/2019/07/15/psychedelics/
https://hopkinspsychedelic.org/publications
Recommend that they read "How to Change Your Mind" by Michael Pollan:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594204225/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_5KpRCbYAR7M98
He makes a well researched argument for the use of entheogens (psychedelics) by older people and those facing terminal illness. The author decided at 60 years old he wanted to try psilocybin, LSD and a couple of other entheogens. He went out and did the research then documents his experience with each. It's an interesting read if you want to understand the potential benefits of psilocybin.
How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594204225/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_1lBWCb6TTW869.
Good luck!
I was just listening to a podcast the other day about this. They talked about this book. I haven’t read it, but maybe it could help you.
I think that, in general, it's a pretty bad idea to use it recreationally. However, there's some very promising medical research happening around LSD that would seem to contradict your assertion that it's "awful."
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1594204225/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/lsd-a-wonder-drug-once-again/
The Ghost Map.
Okay understood especially if she seemed to be chasing something for the wrong reasons. The Carl Hart book and his podcast appearances definitely (check the Joe Rogan ones) provide an alternative perspective on drugs (including the comparison with the damage of alcohol) thats worth consideration. Looking back I wish I would have been a lot more open minded in high school as I would have probably had a bit more of a positive experience overall (zero social life lol).
Micheal Pollan is worth a check as well https://smile.amazon.com/Change-Your-Mind-Consciousness-Transcendence-ebook/dp/B076GPJXWZ. His Joe Rogan podcast was pretty informative too.
Here is a newer book on the subject.
Rabid, The Demon in the Freezer, and The Ghost Map are all books I've found fascinating about various diseases.
I would second /u/Amprvector's suggestion of both The Emperor of all Maladies, and The Selfish Gene as well.
If anyone wants to read more on this, I recommend The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World.
That's a question that can't easily be answered in a quick comment. I highly recommend this book called "How to Change Your Mind" by Michael Pollan: audible and amazon links. One of my favorite reads so far this year.
Michael Pollan recently wrote a book that deals a lot with the recent studies and trials that are investigating the credibility of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.
He went on a big book tour, and some of the interviews are up on YouTube.
With Sam Harris
With Joe Rogan
Map of the world shower curtain
Scratch Map if she travels
Maybe a book of interest?
The story is told in The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1594482691/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_gRDOBb2CXD58R
You may be confusing issues. (latitude, altitude, longitude)
Sailors wanted an accurate way to know the "time at port" to compare against local time (observable via stars or sun) so that they could compute their longitude (east or west location on the globe). (The difference in minutes would be equivalent to the relative difference in minutes of arc east/west.)
Grandfather clocks (eg, pendulum clocks) wouldn't work for this, because the rocking of the ship would throw off the pendulum timing.
If I recall from the documentary based on Dava Sobel's book [Longitude(Amazon)] (http://www.amazon.com/Longitude-Dava-Sobel-ebook/dp/B003WUYE66/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395258934&sr=8-1&keywords=longitude+dava+sobel) (looks like the documentary is available on youtube), the guy (John Harrison in 18th century) who rose to the challenge to make a clock that worked at sea had all sorts of problems with the pendulum motion, and somehow miraculously actually made a "pocket watch" to solve the problem.
Strangely Mann didn't sue when whole blogs and numerous books were written about the dubious statistical machinations of the Hockey stick. Many of his fellow scientists agree with that.
This case seems to be about him being compared to a child molester.
Climate scientists have a sordid history of academic fraud and collusion, often circumventing the scientific method in favor of political activism.
Stop second-guessing your choice of major. Keep your eyes on what you actually want, and remember that the steps along the way will all build there eventually. Check in on your plans when you're picking classes each semester, to make sure you're still on course and still want that ultimate goal. The REU and some lab time will all help.
Try reading some science-related books, not actual science but stuff about scientists themselves or stories about specific scientific discoveries. Like The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Double Helix, Eighth Day of Creation, The Disappearing Spoon, and Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman. Your school should have copies of most of them, and they aren't textbook-heavy (though not quite as light as fiction novels).
Don't forget to stay at least a little rounded. Someone on just about every recruitment weekend for grad school will ask about your hobbies. I'm pretty sure they're required to do so :) Or you'll discover you and your interviewer both do ceramics and can chat about that, leaving a stronger impression than if you were yet another person talking about science. It's good to be done with the requirements, but make sure you keep up something outside your major, even if it's just ultimate frisbee.
>Sure but I'm not revealing who I am.
Did you think I asked you to?
>Name one then.
Richard Lindzen. Shall I name another, or is this counterexample sufficient for you to change your post?
>Again you have very very few and most did not gain widespread acceptance. Do you have an example
The expanding earth theory was replaced by plate techtonics not all that long ago, and with much ridicule of the latter by geologists who adhered to the former.
Tabula rasa in psychology was established science that was finally overturned.
Einstein's static universe has been almost universally rejected.
Luminiferous Aether was universally accepted until photon theory of light was established.
Most recently, the idea that eating fats leads to body fat is undergoing a major revision.
>One example is not really worth anything.
One example is sufficient as a counterexample to your assertion of the saintliness of all scientists.
>I know plenty of professors who have challenged the norm and won.
Please share.
>Without details I can't even check your story or if that guy was right (not that I'm even in astrophysics).
Halton "Chip" Arp.
>There is data from different parts of the world if you read carefully parts have been shown to cool during the medieval warm period.
Cite, please.
>McIntyre isn't a reputable source.
Why?
>McKitrick I've never heard of.
He wrote the paper debunking Mann with McIntyre.
>Got a link?
The whole story of how M&M refuted Mann can be found here
>The IPCC does not use that much paleontological evidence. Mostly it's based on models.
Is it your assertion, then, that the climate sensitivity derived from paleontological evidence that you were so keen on may not be as reliable as you implied?
And that's why people drafted against their will would fake illness at MEPS.
If you ever get around to reading "surely you're joking, mr feynman" he talks about draft dodging during WW2 IIRC.
First, congrats! THat's amazing!!
Second, THe Ghost Map of London. I figure the chillyness of London, combined with the scaryness of the book will keep me cool in the Texas son. Also, I didn't do any ghost tours while I was in London and I'm kicking myself over it and would really like to try to relive it this way. :)
No, this one:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Ghost-Map-Terrifying-Epidemic/dp/1594482691
This one is sort of a biography (of John Snow), but more of a mystery/case study that he was central to solving. Certainly worth reading if you are planning to work with water supply at all: The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World
http://www.amazon.com/The-Ghost-Map-Terrifying-Epidemic/dp/1594482691
"Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!": Adventures of a Curious Character
A Short History of Nearly Everything basically what the title says;
Where Men Win Glory about the Afganistan War and Pat Tillman, or really anything by Jon Krakauer (I loved his Everest book and the one on radical Mormon religion);
Newjack by Ted Conover, Conover became a corrections officer at Sing Sing prison and wrote about his experiences,
The Ghost Map about the start of epidemiology and how we started tracking viruses.
All of them are great reads where you also learn.
I like Journey Through Genius. It is completely elementary, requiring nothing beyond perhaps a semester of basic algebra. It presents some amazing theorems and emphasizes both the creativity and the logical rigor required to achieve them. I can't remember every theorem, but I know it includes Pythagorus' Theorem, the irrationality of the square root of two, Euclids geometry, the infinitude of the primes, some number theory of Fermat, Isaac Newton on the Binomial Theorem, the quadratic equation and the solution of the third and fourth degree polynomials by radicals and why this requires complex numbers, an exploration of complex numbers, and some non-Euclidean geometry. All that whilst requiring, as I said, no mathematical maturity whatsoever, and being quite easy and enjoyable to read. I highly recommend it.
To answer your second question, KhanAcademy is always good for algebra/trig/basic calc stuff. Another good resource is Paul's online Math Notes, especially if you prefer reading to watching videos.
To answer your second question, here are some classic texts you could try (keep in mind that parts of them may not make all that much sense without knowing any calculus or abstract algebra):
Men of Mathematics by E.T. Bell
The History of Calculus by Carl Boyer
Some other well-received math history books:
An Intro to the History of Math by Howard Eves, Journey Through Genius by William Dunham, Morris Kline's monumental 3-part series (1, 2, 3) (best left until later), and another brilliant book by Dunham.
And the MacTutor History of Math site is a great resource.
Finally, some really great historical thrillers that deal with some really exciting stuff in number theory:
Fermat's Enigma by Simon Sigh
The Music of the Primes by Marcus DuSautoy
Also (I know this is a lot), this is a widely-renowned and cheap book for learning about modern/university-level math: Concepts of Modern Math by Ian Stewart.
Dunham, Gleick, Pagels, Bell
I got halfway through your post and immediately thought of Journey through Genius. It really is an excellently-written text which presents precisely what you're looking for. I'd definitely check it out.
Journey through Genius: The Great Theorems of Mathematics - Willian Dunham
Very accessable walk through of about a dozen famous proofs from Euclid to Cantor.
The Christian Bible, the Quran, and the Torah. Don't read them as though these are hostile texts that are trying to impose upon you, read them as though they're mythologies that can be enjoyed, and appreciate their content, as you will have a better understanding of culture and the people around you. You might be surprised just how much of the common and mundane is actually in reference to the bible in our lives. You need to understand people and this is how you do it.
Outside that, I recommend a few good books on math history, not necessarily math education books. Try out Flatland (and it's sequels by other authors) and The History of Pi. I particularly enjoyed Journey Through Genius.
I read this book https://www.amazon.com/Journey-through-Genius-Theorems-Mathematics/dp/014014739X and programming helped!
If you are interested in the history of mathematics I highly suggest reading Journey through Genius: The Great Theorems of Mathematics. It's a wonderful book that gives you insight about the persons behind the maths we take for granted today and what tools they had available at the time.
Your specific questions about ellipses and hyperbolas is not covered but parabolas and cones are mentioned.
Journey through Genius, by William Dunham
I highly recommend Journey Through Genius.
/u/tick_tock_clock's list includes Euclid's Elements, and I second that recommendation. I read the first couple books of that when I was taking Geometry in 9th grade and found it very interesting.
Computer system design. http://www.amazon.com/The-Soul-A-New-Machine/dp/0316491977
Two books that permanently changed how I code are:
The exercises in: A Discipline for Software EngineeringAnd some of the advice in Software Inspection
A lot of it is about Data, QA and ROI.
​
Some of the Steve McConnell books did have a long term impact, but very minor compared to the above 2 books.
Edit: Hardware books - The Soul of A New Machine is both fun and educational, it is fly on the wall style, I could not put it down.
Check out The Soul of a New Machine if you're at all interested in computers. It was pretty amazing.
Aside: you might also find some of the equivalent books about the early tech movements interesting; I got into them when I had trouble finding good retro-gaming books several years. Two neat examples would be Exploding The Phone and The Soul Of A New Machine. I never would've guessed that early phreaking or the development of a mainframe could be fascinating, touching and suspenseful, but those books managed to make it seem that way.
I have one book recommendation that I hope you would enjoy based on your interests. It is called The Soul of A New Machine, and it outlines the development of a computer back in the 80's. It is a little slow to start, but I thought it was a wonderful book that shows how engineers really work.
Can I ask what your level your astronomy knowledge is at? Taken any classes or read any book? Are you fairly new to the subject? That would really affect any recommendations.
[The Soul of a New Machine] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Soul-A-New-Machine/dp/0316491977/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342493295&sr=8-1&keywords=the+soul+of+a+new+machine) by Tracy Kidder is a great read also, it was recommended by one of my professors.
Severo Ornstein's book Computing in the Middle Ages: A View From the Trenches 1955-1983
Contains some neat gems and is a neat read
http://www.amazon.com/Computing-Middle-Ages-Trenches-1955-1983/dp/1403315175
The Soul of a New Machine by Tract Kidder is also a lot of fun
http://www.amazon.com/The-Soul-A-New-Machine/dp/0316491977
Before you commit to it, read Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software by Charles Petzold. If it fires your imagination then computer programming may be is for you.
Another one to read is Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder which is much older, but easily readable by non coders. Again if it fires your imagination then coding might be for you.
CS can lead to many many careers - many more than when I did my degree (80s), but you need to understand where the world of computers is moving to and where you want to be in that space.
If you're just looking for more money, then perhaps you shouldn't be looking at coding as a panacea. Don't get me wrong, coding is fantastic thing to do - if it floats your boat. However it's main problem is that you constantly have to keep yourself up to date with new technologies and techniques. This requires you to have the passion and self motivation to do that training.
I'm been coding since I was 11 (1978) and have seen many many aspects of the industry and the trade. I will concur with some of the comments here that indicate that the degree itself isn't the answer, but could be part of it.
Either whatever you decide - good luck!
You mentioned game theory but not exactly at what level he would want to read (textbook level, popsci level) etc. If you want a good textbook level (that is also readable), I would go with
http://www.amazon.com/Game-Theory-Analysis-Roger-Myerson/dp/0674341163/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1324407308&sr=8-5
If you wanted more of a popsci book, I would take a look at
http://www.amazon.com/Prisoners-Dilemma-William-Poundstone/dp/038541580X/ref=pd_sim_b_7
I haven't actually read this one (I flipped through it a while ago) but I like Poundstone's writing style. It might frustrate you if you actually know some game theory.
In my opinion (as someone who is getting a phd in game theory), game theory really sounds a lot cooler and more profound than it really is. I don't think it really has the same type of allure once you peel away the fact that it has an awesome title.
My actual recommendation for this area would be
http://www.amazon.com/Networks-Crowds-Markets-Reasoning-Connected/dp/0521195330/ref=pd_sim_b_8
which is not strictly game theory but a really awesome way to view the world. I am biased since this book is a great primer for my research area but I think this might be interesting and a much better compromise between popsci and textbook.
For an introduction to game theory you might try reading The Prisoner's Dilemma by William Poundstone. It's very digestible (if a bit verbose) and a good introduction to the concept of you like story telling. This is no a technical book at all and misses out on a lot of meat of the idea.
For a free and more direct inrroduction to game theory you can go to the website ncase.me/trust. Of course there is also Wikipedia.
As for evolutionarily stable reproductive strategies, I sent know if inner singular source. I watch an inordinate amount of nature documentaries. Wikipedia has a good article on evolutionary game theory. I think watching a lot of nature documentaries is helpful because animals obviously don't care about human morality, but sometimes demonstrate behaviors that could be said to align with our moral systems due to evolutionary pressures. Most animals aren't monogamous, but in species that are there are clear environmental pressures that encourage monogamy. Emperor penguins are monogamous, not because it is most, but because they nest far from their food source during the harsh winter. Without a parent to keep the egg warm, the chick would definitely die, but while holding the egg that parent is unable hunt. A single parent could not raise a chick, it takes 2. The parents then trade off watching the chick and eating. For other animals, raising young isn't such a huge investment. See turtles will burn their eggs and then just crawl off the beach to never see ether again, because they are going for quantity over wishlist. Skink mothers sometimes eat their own eggs if too many predators around, because it's better those nutrients go back to them than to a predator.
As for modifying human behavior, lookup skinner boxes and operant conditioning. It simply demonstrates that animals (including humans) will do more of the things you reward them for and less of the things you punish then for. We don't punish thieves because they deserve it, we punish thieves because it prevents thievery.
Is it this one? I can't find one called just Game Theory
Prisoner's Dilemma: John von Neumann, Game Theory, and the Puzzle of the Bomb https://www.amazon.com/dp/038541580X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_qB2EzbYH25WTR
Google for game theory and Cold War or read: https://www.amazon.com/Prisoners-Dilemma-Neumann-Theory-Puzzle/dp/038541580X/ref=nodl_
Prisoners Dilemma? though it seems more of a biography than a text book
A couple of books that focus maybe a little more on the people that developed game theory than the theory itself, but I'll throw them out there anyway:
> The fact that you've convinced yourself that people can't have decent vocabularies without the help of Google says a lot about you.
Nope. Not people. Just you. See, I looked at your previous posts before calling you out. You're as pretentious as they come. You use words that do not belong to daily vocab and are clear indicators of being synonym look ups. This isn't an assumption. It's an observation. You're a pseudo.
>Once again, these aren't some esoteric words. They're common. You gotta move past comics and children's book like Harry Potter.
This is why it's hard to take you seriously. Your analysis of me is entirely based on an assumption you made. No indicators anywhere of my reading habits. Still, I humored you in my previous response. I thought it would be fun to take you down a notch or two. But now you're just boring me. In any case, Harry Potter is a classic. I think I might up pick up the series once again. You gave me the hankering. Thanks!
> I've seen the channels you've mentioned. But they're not a valid substitute for actual textbooks. Watching a 30-minute video isn't commensurate with working through a textbook with exercises and practice problems.
Do you comprehend my entire argument at all? Forget that. Did you even read my responses in their entirety? Or are you just debating for the heck of it? When did I say youtube videos are substitute for actual textbooks? They're not. But they are excellent diving points. Also, there are plenty of youtube videos that deep dive into topics eloquently and comprehensibly. Your silly stance that youtube videos are sciolistic (cue eye roll for the synonym lookup) and vapid is what got me going. That and the fact that you really do sound like a miserable, failed college professor.
My final, unrequited advice to you is this - get off your high horse. If you're trying to put a point across and you use vocabulary that is incomprehensible by a majority, then you've failed. Look up Richard Feynman's technique and use it not just to learn but also to put your point across. The TL;DR version of this technique is this - use simple words. Also, while you're at it, pick up Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman. - a great book about the most glorious human being to have ever lived! Atleast in my opinion. Fair warning, it uses vocabulary more suited for simple folks like me. :)
Two books comes to mind, first we have Skunk works by Ben Rich wich chronicles his years at Lockheed, Developing among others the U2 spyplane and the SR-71, giving you lots of practical glimpses into acctual engineering problems, like say dealing with poor supplier quality etc,
And then we have my all time fauvorite, Surely you're joking Mr Feynman, by Ralph Leighton and Richard Feynman. This isnt as much engineering as science and humour in one, but its still a good read!
yes in the physics community Feynmans like a god
He's well known for many things in popular culture. He was on the committee that investigated the space shuttle Challenger disaster and on live TV he showed that the o-rings lost their elasticity in the cold by simply dumping the o-rings in ice water.
He was also an artist and a very good bongo drum player. He was instrumental in popularizing Tuvan throat-singing in the West. Back Tuva Future https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00000GC1U/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_H01vDb1JENG4N
He was perhaps the father of nanotechnology. He wrote a very famous paper and presented at a conference called "there's plenty of room at the bottom" it sparked people's interest and imagination in the field of nanotechnology.
But of course the most interesting aspect to Feynman was his combination of genius, intellectual honesty, and curiosity. One book that I couldn't recommend highly enough is the one I mentioned earlier
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393316041/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_D31vDbF44F7T1
Along with some really great critiques of modern science such as "Cargo cult science"
and of course if you like physics he wrote a great book called "six easy pieces" along with a three-volume set called the 'Feynman lectures of physics"
Here you go.
I'm a fairly new subscriber to this sub and you might have already answered this in a previous post, but I didn't see it right off...
Are you trying every number, or are you skipping every other number or something? Do you have an idea of what kind of precision/tolerances the combination pins have?
Just finished listening to Feynman's book where he describes cracking safes and only needing to test every 5th number... An 80% decrease is pretty significant if you are brute-forcing every possible combination. It looks like that is how the robot in a YouTube video you linked a while back works.
This is great. I remember reading the book this came from 7 or 8 years ago but I don't remember this at all. I do remember really enjoying the book though. I seriously recommend it to everyone. It's his autobiography and he's a really great story teller. The Book on Amazon.com
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! It's "laugh out loud" funny and highly recommended.
To add a bit of non-fiction to the list:
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman
I was thinking "I wonder if anyone will mention Feynman", and bingo!
If anyone finds that post interesting, read Surely you're joking Mr. Feynman, its full of stories about his fascinating life.
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman by Richard Feynman
Columbine by Dave Cullen
http://www.amazon.com/Surely-Feynman-Adventures-Curious-Character/dp/0393316041
You will notice the absence of A short history of nearly everything, which is a good book, but frankly it didn't speak very much to me. Bryson is almost only interested in geography.
Awesome! I recommend taking whatever physics classes your High School offers along with as much math as possible. I also suggest taking advantage of the website Kahn Acadamy. Another good site for asking questions and learning more is http://www.physicsforums.com/ it's very active and you can learn a lot there. For keeping up with physics and science, I like the site http://phys.org/
A good book I would suggest starting with, while non-technical, but is an interesting read is Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynmann. Another good resource is the Feynmann Lectures on Physics, you can read them for free online now here: http://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/
And another awesome resource would be the Physics teachers at your school. Talk to them about what your interested in and they might be able to talk to you more about it!
If your high school doesn't have what your looking for you could also look into taking classes at your local community college as well.
I got your list right here:
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho - great story about finding your way in life, destiny, etc. One of my personal favorites and a real life changer for me personally (read it when I was 14, very impressionable)
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominigue Bauby - memoirs of a magazine editor who has a stroke and goes from being a hot shot playboy to being paralyzed. He loses all motor function and the whole book is written by him blinking out the letters. Despite it all he has a razor wit and such a positive outlook it really makes you think about your own life and what is important to appreciate.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig - kind of an interesting book that gives you a historical breakdown of philosophy all through a somewhat biographical story about a motorcycle trip with his son. Has some really insightful views on what is quality and what is the point of education. Highly recommend for anyone just starting college.
Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman by Richard P Feynman - Autobiography/memoir of one of the greatest minds to ever live. From learning how to pick locks while working on the manhattan project, experimenting with acid, and learning the bongos. Dr. Feynman has such a passion for life, science, and learning it's contagious. Seriously, just see how excited he gets about rubberbands.
First off, read this book! Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! Richard Feynman made some really important discoveries in the particle physics world and I think it's cool (and hilarious) to look at the way he thinks about everything, not physics alone.
Secondly, make sure you understand math. Don't kill yourself over it, just remember "physics is to mathematics as sex is to masturbation."
Third, enjoy what you're doing. It's hard to get a lot out of a class or a book if you are just struggling to get through each assignment. Try to make it fun for yourself.
Also, making friends in the field and study groups help a lot. I firmly believe that the classroom is not the ideal place to learn physics. It is a science about discovery and understanding the world around you. Even though other people have done so before, it really helps to sit around with a few people at about the same level as you and help each other find solutions. There's a good reason these guys smoked pipes. It's simply the perfect thing to do while sitting around with others thinking.
Overall, be sure to enjoy yourself. Being a physics major is tough, no doubt, but it's also super interesting and a ton of fun!
The world would be a better place without Dan Brown.
Can I suggest an alternative piece of light reading?
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character)
The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell
Thomas Jefferson: Author of America
Read "Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman" by Richard Feynman. You will read it in two days, be throughly entertained, and have a different view of the world by the end of it.
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character - Richard P. Feynman
No book has made me want to get more out of life and to experience as much as possible.
If you enjoyed Cosmos, I would also recommend Demon-Haunted World. Excellent for cutting through some of the bullshit that surrounds our day to day lives.
I would recommend reading some Richard Feynman too. Surely You're Joking is one of the favorites. He doesn't talk about lofty subjects or anything. He was just a down to earth guy from a working class family in Queens who happened to be a Nobel-prize winning physicist and a great storyteller. He was a genius without the facetious smartypants attitude.
This is a famous lecture of his if you want to get a feel for what his writing is like.
Yeah. I read Surely You'er Mr. Feyman a long time ago.
Dude was brilliant. He was a devoted husband to his wife who was dieing of cancer during the Manhattan project. He valued her opinions so much and wanted to keep her in the loop of what he was actually doing that they developed a special code for their letters so he could tell her about the less critical aspects of the project and get around the censors.
I remember after my divorce from a marriage of 10 years, I was bombing big time with women. A friend of my gave me similar advice to Feynman's and it worked. When I read the book a few years later I was like "Damn that's where Rick got his advice". In the end it doesn't mean you ain't a nice guy, you are just learning to give what is really wanted and not fall into the White Knight, Chivalry trap.
In a similar vein, I really enjoyed Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman.
It's an autobiography of Fenyman's shenanigans. Lighter on the physics, but if he's a Feynman fan, he'll love it.
I dont think so buddy
http://www.amazon.com/Surely-Feynman-Adventures-Curious-Character/dp/0393316041
Well, I'm not super well-versed in physics tbh but I use to really want to be a physcisits so I know a little stuff here and there.
I've read:
https://www.amazon.com/Surely-Feynman-Adventures-Curious-Character/dp/0393316041
https://www.amazon.com/Genius-Life-Science-Richard-Feynman-ebook/dp/B004LRPQIO/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=genius+feynman&qid=1569787475&s=books&sr=1-1
https://www.amazon.com/QED-Strange-Princeton-Science-Library/dp/0691164096/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=QED+feynman&qid=1569787491&s=books&sr=1-1
Also, Feynman is related to philosophy because quantum physics makes many epistemological and metaphysical claims and Feyman made many advances in the quantum physics field. Look up some interviews online, his thought process is really cooled and really makes you wonder about the natural world and how its works/structured
If you don't know much about physics I would recommend The Dancing Wu-Li Masters by Gary Zukov. That's one of the main books that got me interested in the field. Clearly written enough for a 9th grader to understand. Also, It explores some philosophical parallels to physics which I enjoyed quite a bit (don't worry, it's nothing like What the Bleep)
Also, if you'd like some insight on how a genius thinks, I would recommend Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman? It's one of my favorite books of all time. There's actually no science in this book - it's basically a collection of anecdotes from Richard Feynmann's life. He talks about his experiences in college, grad school, and working on the A-bomb in Los Alamos among other things. Incredibly entertaining stuff.
I believe it's a reference to the book "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" (amazon), as he called a woman “worse than a whore” for not exchanging sex for sandwiches.
> “OK,” he says. “The whole principle is this: The guy wants to be a gentleman. He doesn’t want to be thought of as impolite, crude, or especially a cheapskate. As long as the girl knows the guy’s motives so well, it’s easy to steer him in the direction she wants him to go.
>
> “Therefore,” he continued, “under no circumstances be a gentleman! You must disrespect the girls. Furthermore, the very first rule is, don’t buy a girl anything -- not even a package of cigarettes — until you’ve asked her if she’ll sleep with you, and you’re convinced that she will, and that she’s not lying.”
>
> “Uh… you mean… you don’t… uh… you just ask them?”
>
> “OK,” he says, “I know this is your first lesson, and it may be hard for you to be so blunt. So you might buy her one thing — just one little something — before you ask. But on the other hand, it will only make it more difficult.”
Not exactly what you're looking for but I promise it's a good read as well. http://www.amazon.com/Surely-Feynman-Adventures-Curious-Character/dp/0393316041
Discusses Feyman's experiences working on the Manhattan Project.
So nobody else has read Surely You're Joking, My Feynman?
I weep for the future.
It may not fit exactly what you're looking for, but my first thought was Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!
It's essentially a bunch of anecdotes throughout his life. It's easy reading, highly entertaining, and covers a wide enough variety of topics that it shouldn't be too hard to annotate. Even if it doesn't fit the requirements for your project, I'd recommend you read it anyway.
Until you manage to get that book, I'd recommend getting "Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman!":
http://www.amazon.com/Surely-Feynman-Adventures-Curious-Character/dp/0393316041
It's a great book about curiosity, knowledge and research from a great mind.
I'm fairly certain several of these machines were used at Los Alamos to speed up the calculations. Feynman describes chaining several differential calculators together to get the math done faster in one of his books. I don't remember which book, maybe Surely You are Joking?
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman
Buy this and read it
Yup. Check out his book, you won't regret it.
Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman...The life and times of a truly amazing guy.
The very same. He was quite a character. There are many books about him, such as Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!. Unfortunately, I don't have a link from Google Books for you, but you should definitely look him up. =)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0393316041
No problem, and let us know if you check it out! Also, the book "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman" got me interested in this stuff. If you've never read it, I highly recommend it - really amazing guy with incredible stories.
Predictably Irrational - Dan Ariely
The Tao of Pooh - Benjamin Hoff
Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman! and What Do You Care What Other People Think? - both wonderful collections of Richard Feynman talking about his life, the way he thinks about things, and lessons he learned.
Those are really the first four that come to mind that have had a noticeable effect on the way I think. Might do the same for you, as well.
Einstein's books about relativity written by Einstein for the non-expert
-Helps you understand not only his theories well, but piques your interest in science a lot, and improves your way to approach all problems. His essays (in particular The World As I See It, be careful of edited versions on the internet which cut out parts they don't like about God, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y0_aNvH0Wo) are amazing as well.
http://www.amazon.com/Relativity-The-Special-General-Theory/dp/1619491508/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1347758889&sr=8-3&keywords=einstein+relativity
Middlesex By Jeffrey Eugenides
-A novel, Pulitzer Prize winner in fiction (called the great american epic), will increase your understanding of those with LGBTQ considerations, but mostly an amazing book
http://www.amazon.com/Middlesex-Novel-Oprahs-Book-Club/dp/0312427735/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347759265&sr=1-1&keywords=middlesex
Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers By Robert Sapolsky
-Entertaining book, will increase your knowledge of a whole lot of things, and increase your interest in psychology and statistics. Also Freakanomics by Levitt/Dubner and Outliers/Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. All good to get your foot in the door to approach the complicated world we live in logically.
http://www.amazon.com/Why-Zebras-Dont-Ulcers-Third/dp/0805073698/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347759102&sr=1-1&keywords=why+zebras+dont+get+ulcers
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! by Richard Feynman
--Autobiography of a nobel prize winning physicist, very funny. Will (again) demonstrate how a brilliant person approach the world. Very funny and easy read.
http://www.amazon.com/Surely-Feynman-Adventures-Curious-Character/dp/0393316041/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347759305&sr=1-1&keywords=Richard+P.+Feynman
Surely you must be joking Mr. Feynman one of my favorite books of all time.
two excellent books by John Derbyshire:
Prime Obsession regarding the Riemann Hypothesis
Unknown Quantity which is about the history of Algebra
Para quem tiver tempo, recomendo também: https://www.amazon.com/Prime-Obsession-Bernhard-Greatest-Mathematics/dp/0452285259
As an introduction to Algebra I can recommend https://www.amazon.com/Algebra-Israel-M-Gelfand/dp/0817636773/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1486044711&sr=8-1&keywords=Shen+Algebra You may be also interested in https://www.amazon.com/Prime-Obsession-Bernhard-Greatest-Mathematics/dp/0452285259/ref=sr_1_1?rps=1&ie=UTF8&qid=1486042204&sr=8-1&keywords=prime+obsession+derbyshire
Moreover, it would be nice to watch these 'Youtube' channels: https://www.youtube.com/user/Vihart https://www.youtube.com/user/njwildberger
thanks for the link, anyone who liked this might like (more suggestions welcome)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00srz5b/episodes/downloads
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Godel-Escher-Bach-Eternal-anniversary/dp/0140289208
https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/Prime-Obsession-Bernhard-Greatest-Mathematics/0452285259
Great video! Keep going!
Also, for those who love math, but are not mathematicians (like myself) I could recommend to read the book Prime Obsession by John Derbyshire. It is gonna blow your mind!
https://www.amazon.com/Prime-Obsession-Bernhard-Greatest-Mathematics/dp/0452285259
Prime Obsession
http://www.amazon.com/Prime-Obsession-Bernhard-Greatest-Mathematics/dp/0452285259/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1261458431&sr=1-1
It explains the Riemann Hypothesis mathematically and historically, alternating every chapter. It explains it at a level that people with a decent ability to understand math can follow.
I've not finished it, but I have gotten 2/3rd through and I've really enjoyed it.
I read somewhere (I think it was Derybshire?) that it really should be called a conjecture, but it's been labeled a hypothesis because of its importance/fame.
Edit: nope, here it is.
Here's another.
https://www.amazon.com/Journey-Ants-Story-Scientific-Exploration/dp/0674485262/ref=sr_1_1?crid=JSDRVFU09F20&keywords=journey+to+the+ants&qid=1565978249&s=gateway&sprefix=journey+to+the+ants%2Caps%2C235&sr=8-1
https://www.nhbs.com/the-ants-of-central-and-northern-europe-book
If you want to know EVERYTHING about ants, I recommend E.O. Wilson's The Ants.
However, this book is quite expensive and very dense. Journey to the Ants,also by Wilson, is a much better option for laypeople. It has almost all the information you're looking for, nice pictures, and is honestly very exciting to read. It captures the imagination and is very... inspirational! Check it out from a library if you can.
This book is fascinating.
http://www.amazon.com/Journey-Ants-Story-Scientific-Exploration/dp/0674485262/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1348442082&sr=1-1&keywords=journey+of+the+ants
its been a while since i've read it but i recall them mentioning this competition in this biography of feynman, http://www.amazon.com/Genius-Life-Science-Richard-Feynman/dp/0679747044 .
Complain to James Gleick about your issues with this characterization
https://www.amazon.com/Genius-Life-Science-Richard-Feynman/dp/0679747044
Have you read Gleik's book on Feynman? It's absolutely outstanding!
http://www.amazon.com/Genius-Life-Science-Richard-Feynman/dp/0679747044
I also recommend Genius by James Gleick
Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman
Yes I would highly recommend it. Especially if you have even the slightest interest in physics. And famous people who frequently...well...had loose morals.
What the hell is up with the insults? I understand what they're saying, I just have a problem with the way they say it. I doubt that anyone outside of Harvard or Yale has thoughts in wordy language, and I highly doubt that people who spend hours on reddit (like you and me) talk like that. Why should we pretty up our language, when we can easily say what we mean? I recommend this book if you want to hear how good a genius sounds without fluffy words. This debate is very subjective, so let's keep it light, and not come to conclusions about each other.
I did a double major Electrical Engineering / Physics at the undergrad, and did advanced study in quantum mechanics. Look at the Nova series The Elegant Universe. The book is also very well written and highly recommended. Brian Greene is very good at explaining the flavor of advanced physics.
Honestly, I would learn this level of physics, and be satisfied. You can dive deeper and learn proofs and equations, but that won't really enrich your understanding. At a certain point, most of what you do are looking at is just equations that describe things that are true, because the numbers tell you are, but don't have any macro correlation.
Here is an example: it's neat to know what the impact of something "spinning" one way means in terms of what other elementary particles it can pair up with, but this doesn't help you understand quantum mechanics. Spin has no meaning at these sizes, yet they have angular momentum. Why? Because the numbers tell us it does.
If you do want to dive deeper in to physics, like people have recommended, the Feynman lectures are the go to standard for Physics texts. In fact, "surely you're joking, mr. feynman" is a great biography of an interesting man.
So TL;DR - you can get a good understanding of quantum mechanics at a high level, but diving deeper won't really teach you much more at a fundamental level.
Yes. Have you ever had a psychedelic experience? It's pretty much guaranteed. :)
​
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076GPJXWZ/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
Sure, I'll bite. Mann's stupid Hockey Stick used tree ring data that was cherry picked to exclude any indication of the MWP or the LIA. Because those would make our current warm period look like more of the same.
Then he tacked on temperature data from a dataset skewed upward by urban heat sources. Unhappy with how slowly the graph was "spiking", his cronies at CRU "fix" the numbers by applying a correction -- in the wrong direction.
Mann and his UVA cronies refuses to disclose how much he tweaked his data, but more than one book has been written about his junk science. But he keeps clinging to it: “there’s not just a hockey stick — there’s a hockey league.” The mann is an embarrassment to real researchers everywhere.
I'm not going to defend their lack of publishing. In my opinion lot's of low-end stuff can slide through peer review, since peers are human. It's healthy to be skeptical of that process, which has long been deemed inadequate by many. It's why a website like retraction-watch exists. Politics has long swayed science.
Especially when it comes to matters climate/climatology, there has been much controversy surrounding establishment scientists, journal editors and peer-review panels / process : The Climategate Emails, The Hockey Stick Illusion
These guys may have trouble getting published in a major journal (remains to be seen), but I argue it is not going to be because of their science.
Watching this video is not going to make anyone's head explode. It's just two scientists presenting a study they've been working on for years. It goes against a proclaimed "scientific" consensus but many believe that consensus is not scientific at all, but political.
That's a Cornellian for you.
/year 2000 grad
Plug: Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman is one of the best autobios I've ever read.
Don't touch pharmaceuticals for BPD. Practice mindfulness meditation so you get good at watching your mind and explore any past trauma. You can listen to Sam Harris' guided meditations, for example. Recognize that the inability to feel connection is just maladaptive brain mechanisms and trust that there are people you can trust and love/feel-loved-by if you search. Learn about and avoid relationships with psychological dysfunctional people - it's easy to attach to them and get hurt.
Try cannabis, and if you don't suffer paranoia or a "psychotic break" on it, use it to help with the meditation. If you do suffer paranoia or a break, lay off for a bit and continue meditation. You can keep trying cannabis as you get better at dealing with your issues.
Try MDMA if you can get a hold of a pure dose. Don't use too much too often because it's toxic - but you'll feel love unlike anything. If you've felt you've made progress with cannabis, consider psychedelics like psilopcybin starting with tiny doses. Work up to a full experience. LSD can be wonderful, but there are risks. Understand that bad trips are possible, but can be learning experiences.
Again, do not touch standard pharmaceutical solutions, which are lousy for BPD anyway. Read Micheal Pollen's book on psychadelics and the resurgence in research.
I have BPD as well (I'm male). The sensitivity of your emotions can be used for good. Focus on the empathy and learn to control and direct the anger. Avoid alcohol and cigarettes like the plague.
This process will take years, but can be done.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Illusion-Climategate-Corruption-Science-Independent/dp/1906768358
You're perfectly free to repair your own laptop.
You have a right to repair your own laptop.
But you haven't got a right to get Apple to help you.
--------------------
Richard Feynman told the story of the old electrician who was upset at these new microchip things. Because the guy couldn't understand how he was supposed to get in there with this soldering iron to fix a transistor.
You don't. You don't fix it. You can try, but the fact that you can't is your problem.
They're perfectly free to use technology that you cannot repair; that's the way it goes.
>Ok, what are his misconceptions?
When it was written, how it was written, who he is talking to. I pointed that out already. And that is a start.
>He thinks it's a shame that these young men are spending their time only worrying about how to apply science to interpreting their holy book. Is this a misconception of rabbinical students' interest in science?
Well, that it is about interpreting a Holy Book is also a misconception. In their view, and their view is quite important in understanding what they are doing, they are trying to understand God's Law. Oh, and in Judaism, which is not Christianity, there is more than the "Book" that gives God's Law. There is Written and Oral Torah, both from God.
>he in fact tried to help the students settle whether electricity was fire and to prevent any sparks.
Unfortunately there is no evidence the he tried to understand what "fire" meant in the Torah. And that is what matters here, not what modern science talks about.
>I recommend The Meaning of It All for anyone really interested in Feynman's world view. He's actually quite open-minded.
I agree, but he was not perfect or a saint. I would recommend Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman as a start for those who don't have the math. But Meaning is quite good.
> If done right, science is science.
THAT'S THE KEY. SOCIOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY ARE NOT DONE RIGHT.
SCIENCE DEMANDS THINGS LIKE REPEATABILITY. THIS IS RARELY DONE IN PSYCHOLOGY STUDIES.
SCIENCE ALSO DEMANDS THINGS LIKE THE ABILITY TO OBJECTIVELY OBSERVE THINGS. BUT YOU CANNOT DO THIS IS SOCIOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY. YOUR OWN PERCEPTIONS DEEPLY COLOR YOUR INTERPRETATION OF OTHERS.
SCIENCE ALSO DEMANDS MATHEMATICAL RIGOR. AS ANOTHER POINTED OUT, THIS STUDY INVOLVED SOMETHING LIKE 311 INDIVIDUALS, WHICH IS AN ASTONISHINGLY SMALL NUMBER.
NEUROSCIENCE WILL BECOME THE PROPER SCIENCE THAT PSYCHOLOGY CURRENTLY CLAIMS TO BE.
THIS BOOK HAS AN INTERESTING SECTION ON THE SCIENTIFIC SHORTCOMINGS OF PSYCHOLOGY.
PSYCHOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY ARE GREAT THINGS, AND I'M HAPPY FOR THEIR EXISTENCE. BUT PEOPLE WHO CLAIM "SCIENCE IS SCIENCE" NEEDED MORE CLASSES ON MATHEMATICS, PHYSICS, AND CHEMISTRY.
EDIT: HERPADERP "SCIENCES" ==> "STUDIES". ALSO, WHEN DID REDDIT BECOME SO STUPID?