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November 10, 2008
Books : Books 2008/11/10
Current count of books pending to be read: 75
Read two, purchased one
Books finished this week:
Lightness of Being: Mass, Ether, and the Unification of Forcesby Frank Wilczek
An interesting physics book by a Nobel Prize winner. The book is yet another survey of the current state of theoretical physics (I have read many of these); but takes a sufficiently different approach that it stays interesting and educational. The essential question of the book is – what is the origin of the property of matter known as “mass”? (Hence the pun of the book’s title.) While most physics books assume matter has mass (simply defining it as an essential property), this book asks the question “why?” and uses the examination of why matter behaves in the ways we associate with having mass to explore the current state of physics and to propose the author’s own approach to creating a grand unified theory. I very much appreciated the different perspective presented by the book, and it did allow me to see “the same old equations” in a new light.
The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy: One Book to Rule Them All
edited by Gregory Bassham and Eric Bronson
I’ve read several books from the “Popular Culture and Philosophy” series, and have almost universally enjoyed then. While they tend to be far more focused on philosophy and less on the popular culture (some of the essays barely use the popular culture material as an excuse to present philosophical ideas), they do to tend to be educational, and occasionally have been my first exposure to some of the minor historical philosophers. This book is no exception. Some of the essays are deep examinations of the philosophical questions raised by Tolkien’s works, while others use minor points in the stories as launching pads for philosophical digression. Either way, the points made are interesting and enjoyable.
Computer Games Played: Fallout 3
DVDs Watched: none
Next Book: TBD
Posted by Steven at November 10, 2008 05:00 AM
