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What is the "most challenging" book

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Old Mar 26, 2006 | 06:50 PM
  #41  
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Originally Posted by matrix,Mar 26 2006, 11:24 PM
Same book....let me guess the chapter - when he starts discussing particle spin or string theory? I know I had to re-read these chapters....

I should dig that book up again and re-read it - maybe this time I may actually understand what he was talking about!
Marco,

It has been years ago, so therefore I do not remember which chapter I gave up on. I do know that I was lost with trying to grasp the concept. I guess that I am just not that much of a abstract thinker? As my IQ should not have been the issue? Well, maybe it is?

I can state: That I am impressed that others have read it all the way through. I have never been much of a reader. That is one of my "short falls". Perhaps, because I never took physics, I was starting out on the short end of the stick to begin with?
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Old Mar 27, 2006 | 04:59 AM
  #42  
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You all may enjoy Dr. Brian Green's, The Fabric of the Cosmos. Its a very interesting book. +1's reading it now, so I grab a chapter or two when he's not home.
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Old Mar 27, 2006 | 01:16 PM
  #43  
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Originally Posted by Ed_Grant,Mar 25 2006, 10:23 PM
James Gleick's "CHAOS - Making a New Science" is an interesting read. Did you know that the slow dripping of a faucet is chaotic?
Have you read another book of his, called Genius? It's about the life of Richard Feynman, who was an amazing guy.
If you're into science at all, his own books are well worth reading. He was the one who figured out why the Challenger blew up, and demonstrated it with a small o-ring and a glass of ice water.

I think my 'no way' book was Finnegan's Wake. My mind just ground to a halt on that one.
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Old Mar 28, 2006 | 07:29 PM
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On Feynman ... I've got audio of some of his lectures as well as "Surely you're Joking.." and "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom". I'll check out "Genius." Feynman was a very interesting guy.
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Old Mar 28, 2006 | 07:47 PM
  #45  
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Originally Posted by DiamondDave2005,Mar 27 2006, 02:16 PM
Have you read another book of his, called Genius? It's about the life of Richard Feynman, who was an amazing guy.
If you're into science at all, his own books are well worth reading. He was the one who figured out why the Challenger blew up, and demonstrated it with a small o-ring and a glass of ice water.
I'm not quite sure you can say Feynman "was the one who figured out why the Challenger blew up". The o-ring issue was in fact already known to some of Thiokol's engineers even before the aciident, and they tried to stop the launch but were overruled. However, the demonstration with the ice water really caught everyone's attention.
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Old Mar 29, 2006 | 03:59 AM
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Originally Posted by mikegarrison,Mar 28 2006, 11:47 PM
I'm not quite sure you can say Feynman "was the one who figured out why the Challenger blew up". The o-ring issue was in fact already known to some of Thiokol's engineers even before the aciident, and they tried to stop the launch but were overruled. However, the demonstration with the ice water really caught everyone's attention.
Mike, you could be right on that one. It's been quite a while since I read about it, and many brain cells have died since then
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Old Mar 29, 2006 | 05:32 AM
  #47  
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Originally Posted by paS2K,Mar 25 2006, 06:57 PM
I look fwd to more reading after I stop working, but I'll have to do it in a hard, straight-back chair
If you are anything like me, I wouldn't hold off reading till then. I no longer have the interest to dive into books like I did at one time. I have the time for it but the motivation has gone. I am not exactly sure why but my attention span is not there. When I do read now it seems to be in short bursts rather than hours on end. For example, I have a book on a subject I love (vintage sports car racing) by an author I love that has not been opened yet in 5 years. Maybe it's the attitude "I'll get to that in good time since I have lots of it". Maybe it's simply "I'm so relaxed I don't need to escape like I once did." Or maybe, it's my eyes are not as good as they were.
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Old Mar 29, 2006 | 07:40 PM
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^^^ Dave you make some good points.

I have never been much of a reader. I did pick up a book once about procrastinators. It had a membership form to join Procrastinators International, but I never got around to joining. When I thought about it again the font on the membership form was too small for me to read. I had forgotten where I left my reading glasses and by the time that I found them the price of mailing the application went up to .39 cents and I only had .37 cent stamps. I have thrown my .02 worth of comments into various threads here over the years, that I could not find the two cents that I needed to buy a two cent stamp to put on the envelope along with my .37 cent stamp.
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Old Mar 29, 2006 | 07:42 PM
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Originally Posted by matt_inva,Mar 30 2006, 12:40 AM
^^^ Dave you make some good points.

I have never been much of a reader. I did pick up a book once about procrastinators. It had a membership form to join Procrastinators International, but I never got around to joining. When I thought about it again the font on the membership form was too small for me to read. I had forgotten where I left my reading glasses and by the time that I found them the price of mailing the application went up to .39 cents and I only had .37 cent stamps. I have thrown my .02 worth of comments into various threads here over the years, that I could not find the two cents that I needed to buy a two cent stamp to put on the envelope along with my .37 cent stamp.
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Old Mar 30, 2006 | 03:48 AM
  #50  
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I don't know what I'd do without my book fix. Even with the baby around I still manage at least six books a week
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