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Friends: AnthonyPeake, jeremyarp, kwamikk, leoban, Makifat, Michael.Sherbon, mkjones, Sevin, Smethers, ssciencegal

Interesting libraries: cshalizi, daubentonia, kevin2kelly, knowthyself, mkjones, moshido, penguinG, yapete, yeschaton

LibraryThing authors: Andrew Brown (seatrout), Rufus C. Camphausen (rcc), Laurie McCanna (wdlaurie), Jennifer Trainer Thompson (Jenniferjumpup), Carl Zimmer (cwzimmer)

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Member: gregfromgilbert

CollectionsYour library (2,262)

Reviews54 reviews — see reviews

Tagsbiology (274), @finished (257), mathematics (223), philosophy (204), history (201), psychology (191), fiction (164), literature (135), science (130), evolution (119) — see all tags

Cloudstag cloud, author cloud

GroupsA Pearl of Wisdom and Enlightenment, Consilience, Entheogens, Evolve!, FAQ, History at 30,000 feet: The Big Picture, Mathematics, Mystical & Spiritual., Pro and Con, Psychology — show all groups , Recommend Site Improvements, Science!

Favorite authorsA. G. Cairns-Smith, Hermann Hesse, Carl Jung, Stuart Kauffman, Ray Kurzweil, George Lakoff, Terence McKenna, Edward O. Wilson (Shared favorites)

Favorite bookstoresChanging Hands Bookstore

About meI'm a project manager at ASU's Biodesign Institute. Our lab uses genetic engineering techniques to develop new vaccines for humans and animals. I have masters degrees in Computational Bioscience (ASU in Tempe AZ) and Computer Science (Bradley University in Peoria IL) and a B.S. in Mathematics.

I like reading in many diverse topics but always come back to biology, philosophy, and mathematics as my core interests. I love discussing ideas and welcome comments or book suggestions.

Currently reading:

Recently read:

About my libraryIt now covers all four walls of my office and even goes over the door (see photos in Flickr, link below). Overflow goes in a large bookcase out in the living room.

I own almost all the books listed in my catalog (exceptions are tagged @borrowed and @sold) but I’ve only read or started about 15% of them (tagged @finished or @partial). Almost all my books are of the paper variety although I have a few books on tape and electronic versions (tagged @audiobook and @ebook).

Also onFacebook, Flickr, MySpace

LocationGilbert, Arizona (a Southeast suburb of Phoenix)

Emailgregfromgilbertyahoo.com

Account typepublic, lifetime

Connection NewsConnection News

URLs http://www.librarything.com/profile/gregfromgilbert (profile)
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/gregfromgilbert (library)

Common KnowledgeSeries (187), Awards (154), Characters (1324), Places (343)

Member sinceAug 19, 2006

I'll be interested to see how our libraries connect once you do separate out some collections. And thanks for the kind words about the history group -- I'm glad you joined, and hope you enjoy it!

posted by stellarexplorer at 2:05 am (EST) on Jun 25, 2009

Using the new "Collections" feature, I created a collection that excluded my fiction and science fiction. These had previously skewed my connections. The result was that you popped up at the top of my MWYB list. I look forward to taking a good look at your library!

Our tag clouds bear some resemblance as well.

posted by stellarexplorer at 11:51 pm (EST) on Jun 24, 2009

Yes, my life has been interesting, but I wish I would have done a lot of things differently. Sorry it took me so long to respond to your comment on my page, but I didn't see it until today, and there wasn't any notices. Take care, John

posted by Smethers at 1:21 pm (EST) on Mar 14, 2009

You're right - "bactra" is the handle I use for selling books on Amazon. (I'm purging my collection, trying to get it down to things which either have sentimental value or I'll actually use enough to justify keeping as tools.) The one you bought is interesting, but I've realized I'm deluding myself if I think I'll "get around" to working on regulatory networks.... Anyway, thanks for buying it, and even more, thanks for the kind words!

posted by cshalizi at 8:00 pm (EST) on Jan 17, 2009

Hi, I LOVE that series. So interesting and with such beautiful illustrations. I particularly like the one on Twins and Doubles (I am forgetting the exact title and too lazy to look). I also loved the book on androgynes and the one on different conceptions of the afterlife. Oh, and the one on creation myths. I have a passionate interest in myth and folklore and the whole series is wonderful for that.
Cindy

(I see you have the complete Art and Imagination series. I think some of these are amazing ("Magic", "Sacred Geometry", "Alchemy", etc.). I'm slowly collecting them and was wondering what your favorites are. The ones I own are tagged "@Art&Imagination".)

posted by malinablue at 6:08 pm (EST) on Dec 16, 2008

hey Greg
Hat tip for showing me the pearl. I joined on your rec.
Thanks, E

posted by obeehave at 7:10 pm (EST) on Jul 1, 2008

Howdy,

I noticed "Logic Machines" on your page. I have seen references to it before but I thought it was to do with the tinkertoy computers that he had featured in "Mathematical Games" years ago. I have since picked up a copy from the library.

Thanks for the tip on the tags. I have spent some time cleaning up my tags to make things a little more systematic.

thebigbeluga

posted by thebigbeluga at 6:51 am (EST) on Jun 9, 2008

Howdy Greg from Gilbert,

Thanks for the comment, we do indeed share a number of interests and I have been perusing your collection for ideas. At the moment I am still entering books that I have read, for now I am going to restrict it to non-fiction entries. There are a large number of Math and Computer Science books that I have not entered simply because I have only read parts of them or scanned through them. I suppose it would be simplest if I just entered the ones I want to keep track of and not worry about whether they have been read or not. I noticed that you have devised a method of distinguishing these. When I started the tagging process I did not realize that the tags were case sensitive so now I see that there are a lot of duplicate tags, eventually I will cull these out and re-organize.

Currently I am reading about the History and Philosophy of Science, in particular logic. By profession I am a Forensic Scientist and an important aspect of that job is communicating the nature of Science. I have become fascinated by the relationship between induction and deduction and the entire scientific process. That and lifetheuniverseandeverything.

thebigbeluga

posted by thebigbeluga at 7:31 am (EST) on Jun 5, 2008

"My gut tells me that there is something to the combination of complexity (nonlinear dynamics) and evolution, and so I keep exploring these areas that for now are on the fringes of "real" science."

I completely agree. The origin of life is a hard nut to crack, but some answer will come from the direction you mention. All it takes is some patience. Not all questions in science can be answered tomorrow. But there is some progress and I love to keep up with it.

posted by yapete at 1:28 pm (EST) on Jun 4, 2008

I actually read one of Kauffman's book a while back, in German translation. I can't remember which one, that's why I didn't put it into my library. What struck me though is his suggestion of self-catalyzing chemical networks (which is of course how life works). But it is tough to see how you can get something like that started with simple chemicals, without getting to chemical equilibrium with some brown goo as an endproduct (in live we are talking about very complex stuff, like RNA and proteins). So while his ideas are good (and probably there is some truth in it), there is as of yet not much experimental evidence how this would have worked in the origin of life. But maybe you can correct me on this or point me in the right direction.

Thanks!

posted by yapete at 12:36 pm (EST) on Jun 4, 2008

With your book interests, you might enjoy the annual conference of the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science. The topic this summer is Emergence. Check it out, www.iras.org.
KatsBooks

posted by KatsBooks at 8:51 am (EST) on Apr 23, 2008

Greetings, I came across you due to the similiarities in reading tastes. I have got to get me a copy of "Where Mathematics Comes From"!!!

posted by kwamikk at 11:21 am (EST) on Apr 15, 2008

Thank you!! I will let you know. I need to look a little more.

posted by leoban at 10:00 pm (EST) on Apr 14, 2008

I hit the library sale shelves whenever I get the chance, Scottsdale most frequently. I picked up a great copy of "A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom" at the Phoenix Main Library several months back, but that venue seems to usually be quite picked over. I think it was in Scottsdale that I saw "Consilience" and another Wilson book for 10 cents apiece, and foolishly let them lie. I ended up paying the exorbitant price of $1 fpr "Consilience" a few days later...

Et in Arcadia ego. Or close to it.

posted by Makifat at 1:42 pm (EST) on Jan 16, 2008

The name of the blog I mentioned is "Bioephemera".

posted by Makifat at 10:55 am (EST) on Jan 10, 2008

Just a quick hello. I noticed you are reading Lilly's "Center of the Cyclone". I remember enjoying this book many years ago. It also led me to spend a lot of time in isolation tanks back in the 80's! I wish I could find a good isolation tank now, but I suppose most of our isolation devices now are portable and begin with an "i".

I believe Lilly also wrote an introduction to Franklin Merrill-Wolff's "Pathways Through to Space", another book that was essential to my teenage years. Ah memories!

Anyway, let me know what you think of Lilly when you get the chance.

P.S. I'm kicking myself in an unmentionable place for not having picked up Wilson's "Consilience" at a library shop last week, when I had the chance. The sorrows of book browsing with a 3 year old...

P.P.S. There is a link to a wonderful blog relating to science/biology and art on my webpage. The name escapes me...another consequences of having young children. I'm not trying to blogwhore myself, but this is an interesting link that you might enjoy if you haven't seen it.

Cheers!

posted by Makifat at 10:10 am (EST) on Jan 10, 2008

Fortean is derived from Charles Fort who wrote several books on phenomena that could not explained by science. He got material for his books largely from old newspaper accounts. Topics include things like sea serpents, frogs and other objects falling from the sky, and anything strange. There is actually a Fortean Times magazine that has a web site that wil tell you a lot more.

posted by dhoyt at 5:05 pm (EST) on Dec 13, 2007

Nope, I haven't gotten around to it yet, so you're welcome to start the thread! It's definitely a huge annoyance.

posted by _Zoe_ at 7:23 am (EST) on Dec 10, 2007

Thanks for the recommendation, I'll have to pick that up.

I really like Hamilton, but you'll have to see if you can stomach the premise of the whole long, long, potboiler. If you can, then it's a fun read.

Otherwise, I prefer the ongoing Commonwealth Universe series. More technological, less supernatural. And, I enjoyed the Greg Mandel novels, and the one-off Count of Monte Cristo-like swashbuckler Fallen Dragon.

posted by yeschaton at 2:35 pm (EST) on Nov 16, 2007

LibraryThing keeps making improvements and I always seem to be discovering them much later

I hear ya. Once upon a time I read books. Now I read LibraryThing feature discussions.

posted by SilentInAWay at 9:28 pm (EST) on Oct 17, 2007

So I spent a while figuring out how to grab the LibraryThing images and uploading more of my own.

That's what I've done too (a least for a couple thousand books in my catalog). This has the added advantage of keeping the same cover image when Amazon changes theirs (e.g., for a new edition with the same ISBN). The only problem is that the only way I could really control appearance was to resize them to the default catalog size myself. Unfortunately, user-supplied covers are currently not resized using the '+' and '-' buttons in Cover View (only the amazon covers). Now that LT is saving the original uploaded cover files, however, I might consider re-scanning all my covers (argh!) at a larger size so that when LT properly handles resizing of user-supplied covers, at least I'll be ready. Or not...

posted by SilentInAWay at 9:05 pm (EST) on Oct 17, 2007

I'll have to give my "desert island" list a bit of thought, but that sounds like fun!

posted by yeschaton at 7:35 pm (EST) on Oct 17, 2007

Thanks. GreyHead has some good instructions on how to do this here. I set the height to 142, rather than 80.

posted by SilentInAWay at 3:06 am (EST) on Oct 10, 2007

Yep, I just got DMD's new book (special edition from his site), it's awesome and he's a really nice guy. I'm a big fan.

posted by daubentonia at 8:30 pm (EST) on Sep 18, 2007

Great book, "The Diamond Age". Nice refresher on wikipedia, for those of us that read it too long ago.

posted by mkjones at 5:52 pm (EST) on Apr 11, 2007

I will most definately check that out. Thank you for the recommendation! Yeah, alot of people have squeezed to the top of my weighted list because of Wheel of Time novels, so whenever I check their lists I don't seem to even show up since fantasy is more of an exception in my library than the rule. Hence my surprise at seeing myself pop up on yours. It seems we have similar interests in biology. I'm a huge brain nut, its sort of become my white whale (consciousness in particular, so much coming out about it!!!). I'll definately be perusing your reading lists for gaps in my own.

Cheers!

posted by Yiggy at 4:39 pm (EST) on Feb 15, 2007

Hot damn, I'm on someone's weighted users list for once! Nifty library! I'm gaining ground on your biology tag count though. >=)

posted by Yiggy at 5:36 am (EST) on Feb 15, 2007

you're welcome. I hope it's not rude of me to comment without introductions first. Your collection is lovely, btw, and if I ever get around to entering more of my titles, I'm sure we'll find some in common.

posted by Nycticebus at 10:44 pm (EST) on Dec 16, 2006

Not that it really matters, but your entry for The Social Construction of Reality has a somewhat garbled author field that seems to be confusing Peter Berger with Thomas. Is this because of some combining that happened (I don't really understand these things)?

posted by Nycticebus at 6:30 pm (EST) on Dec 16, 2006

Thanks for your comment on my poem. I see you have "Please Understand me." I have used the MBTI in my work to promote self-understanding and teamwork. I am INTJ. I retired 4.5 years ago. My library is a lot smaller than at other times in my life and will remain so. I tend now to give away novels and other books I will not read again. I bought The Knot Book for my seafaring oldest son. "Brainstorms" sound possibly interesting. I couldn't quickly locate a review. Given your professional interests I am moved to offer my youngest son's amusing web page: http://www.clas.ucsb.edu/staff/alex/ Another book of yours in the "random" box, Mystery Dance, reminds me of this poem I wrote, then I'll shut up. One becomes garrulous ,,,

The Dance
by Ronald A Pavellas

Between Man and Woman
Between young and old
Between and among one's many inner voices

Of the electron in its field of probabilities
Of the Earth among its solar partners
Of the pen across this page

The Dance is the fundamental unit
The atom of the Ancient Greeks
Of which all things are made

And Zorba is Its Prophet --
"Did you say -- Dance!?
Come on, my boy ..."

03/03/2004

Note: Zorba "The Greek" was a real person. The author of the book by that name (Nikos Kazantzakis) devoted a chapter to Alexis Zorba in his autobiography, "Report to Greco." I recently found a picture of Zorba in Helen Kazantzakis's biography of her decesaed husband (in my library). The quote is from the movie.

posted by rpavellas at 1:08 pm (EST) on Dec 9, 2006

I see you've recently finished DeLanda's "A Thousand Years...". I hadn't heard of it before, and it looks quite interesting. Did you find it worthwhile?

posted by mkjones at 12:05 pm (EST) on Nov 15, 2006

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