Beyond Quantum!

Hi Everybody!

I am totally new at this, so please bear with me as I figure this out. I read a lot for work, and then I read some more to relax, and I am a list-maker, so this group seems like a good idea!

I work in the theatre as a creator and a teacher. Right now I am researching a play about particle physics, so am reading a lot of stuff out of my area of expertise, but loving it! At the moment, when I am not reading about Planck lengths and black holes, I relax with anything from juvenile fiction, sci-fi, and chic lit.

I'm not exactly sure how the list works, so I'll start by listing the books that I know I have read (and finished) so far this year. Is there a master list somewhere else? Or do I just keep adding onto my own thread?

Anyways, here goes...

1. Warped Passages, by Lisa Randall
2. The Fabric of the Cosmos, by Brian Greene
3. The Food of the Gods, by H.G. Wells
4. Cocktails for 3, by Madeleine Wickham
5. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
6. Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins
7. Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins
8. Persuasion, by Jane Austen
9. Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen
10. Friends, Lovers, Chocolate, by Alexander McCall Smith

I know there are more, but that's it off the top of my head. Looks like I've been doing more relaxing than researching!!! I have been traveling quite a bit, and the physics does take a bit longer for me to digest....

I am open to suggestions and looking forward to seeing what folks are reading!

V

I should also add that I am currently reading....

Parallel Worlds, by Michio Kaku
Alice in Quantumland, by Robert Gilmore
and
Journey to the Centre of the Earth, by Jules Verne.

I think I'm starting to get how this group works.

Read on!

V

Different people do different things, but typically you add to your own thread, with possibly a single list in one post (or split into each month), and reviews/comments about each book as you complete it. There are also "What We are Reading" threads for various genres, but these are not master lists. The wiki page http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/Groups:75booksin2011 keeps things organized and may be an easier place to start than the group talk page.

I have The Hidden Reality by Brian Greene on my TBR soonish stack. A friend had a duplicate copy so gave one to me, and I feel obligated to prove that I deserved it.

Welcome! You're doing fine. I usually just add a new message when I finish a book and include my review or comments on it. Others just list what they've read. The main thing is to do what works bet for you!

Welcome to the group!

Good to know that I'm 'doing it right'!

qebo - I really enjoyed reading Brian Greene. He explains things with a lot of great, real-world-ish examples. Although, when talking about particle physics and extra dimensions, the real-world is sometimes up for grabs! If you're really interested in grasping the theory, I think that Greene balances nicely with Lisa Randall and Michio Kaku, since they have different writiing styles and different areas of interest. Randall reallly gets into the question of 'How do physicists work and what have they done,' Greene explains things very well and doesn't get quite as technical as she does, and Kaku is the most playful of the three. I'm really enjoying reading him at the moment.

That said, I get to a point with all of them when I just have to put the book down, close my eyes, and think, are people really arguing about time travel and interdimensional wormholes???

It's interesting, to say the least. Mind boggling is more like it.

Happy reading!

I should add that I am also reading La's Orchestra Saves the World, and enjoying it very much!

V

Favorite quote of the moment:

"The worthy couple cheated and robbed us like a Swiss innkeeper, and made us feel, by the sum we had to pay, the splendors of their hospitality." - Jules Verne, A Journey to the Centre of the Earth

I am currently living and traveling in Switzerland, so this quote struck a particular chord that perhaps it wouldn't have had I not had fresh memories of Swiss inns and keepers on the brain.

I do enjoy Switzerland, however, and to that end, the following books are also on my currently reading shelf, but probably won't make it to the big list of 2011, because although I refer to them, I'm not reading them cover to cover:

Fodor's Switzerland
and
Lonely Planet Switzerland

I like Lonely Planet for the maps and cheap (affordable) places to stay, but Fodor's is nice, too, with extensive lists of attractions and places to eat!

V

Just finished La's Orchestra Saves the World. So good. Quiet and forceful. And, yet another story about life after divorce. I don't know how, but these books seem to jump into my reading list, uninvited. And then there they are. And this one was strong.

Update for February!

I joined this group late in February, so thus far my list consists of books read in 2011 before joining, and what I finished at the end of the month.

Here it is:

2011 pre-Challenge books:

1. Warped Passages, by Lisa Randall
2. The Fabric of the Cosmos, by Brian Greene
3. The Food of the Gods, by H.G. Wells
4. Cocktails for 3, by Madeleine Wickham
5. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
6. Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins
7. Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins
8. Persuasion, by Jane Austen
9. Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen
10. Friends, Lovers, Chocolate, by Alexander McCall Smith

and

Finished in February 2011 post-joining:
11. La's Orchestra Saves the World, by Alexander McCall Smith
12. Journey to the Centre of the Earth, by Jules Verne
13. The World of Particles, by Brian Southworth and Georges Boixander

Although I'm not sure that the last book counts. It's a fairly short, graphic book sold in the CERN bookshop. That being said, it packs a punch and is a helpful and amusing guide to particle physics for the beginner, so I'm putting it on the list.

Still chipping away at Parallel Worlds, by Michio Kaku, which I am anjoying immensely. I am particularly impressed with his praise of the underdogs in physics as well as the well-known nobel-prize winners. For instance, while I had read Lisa Randall's book, Warped Passages, I was unaware that her research into parallel braneworlds was as groundbreaking as it was until reading a section completely devoted to her work in this book by Kaku. 11 cheers for giving credit where credit is due!

I am trying to mix business with pleasure by reading some novels about journeys into
other 'dimensions', hence the Journey to the Centre of the Earth addition. Any recommendations regarding juicy reads under that category are very welcome!

Two popular quantum physics books I read last year, that I really liked, were The Matter Myth and Dreams of a Final Theory. I'm reading The Fabric of the Cosmos now, too. I've not read any of Lisa Randall's, so I will look for those. :)

I recently finished up Gaiman's Neverwhere that plays a bit with space and time. Also, The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers is one of the better time travel books I've read.

Great recommendations (technical and non-technical)!

I haven't read either of 11's recs, but I have found that each author I've read so far explains the theories in sllightly different ways, so you develop a better understanding through different interpretations.

I have read Neil Gaiman's American Gods, but nothing else by him. I will check out Neverwhere for sure, and add Anubis Gates to the list as well.

Thanks!

Some other Tim Powers I really liked were Declare and On Stranger Tides. I couldn't get into American Gods.

Hi! I am just browsing through the threads and was wandering how did you like Journey to the Centre of the Earth? I have it on my TBR shelf but haven't gotten around to it.

Just finished Parallel Worlds. I liked it. Although what I am finding, as a physics novice, is that these authors get overly technical when discussing their own research, but they describe other people's research in a very succinct manner. I guess the same can be said for any profession. What I liked best about this book was the optimism and open-mindedness that Michio Kaku presents even when discussing the end of the universe. And he presents many different and unconventional theories without being too terribly didactic.

15 - I enjoyed reading Journey to the Centre of the Earth as an adventure story from its time. I hadn't actually read Jules Verne before, so it was interesting. Although the drawback of reading from a kindle (I'm traveling) is that I sometimes download a weird version. Mine had a lot of distracting notes woven into the text that I don't think are in most editions of the book.

14 - OK! My 'to read' book listis growing! Which is good - part of the reason why I decided to join this group. What didn't you like about American Gods? I am a sucker for modern twists on mythology themes, so I ate it up. Have you enjoyed other books by Gaiman

Hi! Just stopping by your thread to say that I am also a theatre teacher! I mainly teach kids ages 6-18. I also direct and act. Good luck with your particle physics piece! I'd love to read about the progress of it.

Happy reading!

Sandy K

Sandy - I have been mostly teaching at the university level for a few years now, but I love teaching younger kids in the summers. Their enthusiasm and imagination help me to remember why I fell in love with theatre in the first place! What are you working on?

Thanks for asking about the progress of my play! It's called 'Particle Play' and I'm blogging about it at http://particleparticulars.blogspot.com. Although the blog is mostly a travel blog, there are some research bits in there, too. The play itself is coming along. I'm hoping to share some scenes with folks around here at the Dimitri School (in Verscio, Switzerland) in a few weeks, and then do a workshop with Viewpoints at the end of April.

Grant writing and finger-crossing, will hope to produce it/have it produced in 2012 (New York or Philly or Pittsburgh, depending on everything...)!

Also, should add to currently reading:

599851::Almost Heaven: The Story of Women in Space, by BettyannHoltzmann Kevles, and

9979198::The Shape of Inner Space, by Shing-Tung Yau (although I have no expectation of actually finishing this one, since it's the most specialized physics books I've tried so far. I'm a little bit afraid...)

Right, back to work! Or, back to Carnivale! We'll see what wins out at the end of the day...

I finished an odd, but enjoyable little mystery, Regarding Ducks and Universes, by Neve Maslakovic yesterday. This book appealed to me in my need of a novel to rest my brain while also satisfying my current obsession with theoretical physics. It's a piece of fiction, written by a physicist. A mystery that plays with Hugh Everett's Many Worlds Interpretation of quantum physics. Maybe a bit repetitive at points, but it was nice and light, and yet I could almost call it research!

I have been looking for books recommended to me, but almost none of them are available on kindle at the moment. Frustrating!

Current relaxation novel = The Sunday Philosophy Club, by Alexander McCall Smith.

OK. Back to Shing-Tung Yau, which is turning out to be not as intimidating as I feared. Probably because it is co-authored with Steve Nadis and they seem to keep each other in check. So far...

#18 Hi Vivian! I checked out your blog--what lovely photos you have on there! I loved the one of the little donkey on your most recent post. I am so envious that you are in Switzerland! It's someplace that I've always wanted to visit.

I'd be very interested to hear about how the Viewpoints workshop goes. I've read the Viewpoints book, and worked on some of the exercises with my teen summer acting program, but I'd really love to take a class in Viewpoints. You can only get so much technique from books.

Thanks for asking about what I'm working on. Right now, I'm in a little bit of a rest period. I will be directing the musical Tintypes for a local theatre in early June. In the summer, I am the director of a musical theatre camp for kids and teens, and also the director of a summer acting intensive camp for teens. So, March is just a month of prep work for me. A lot of my prep is just sitting around and THINKING about what I'd like to do. I get quite of bit of inspiration by working directly with the actors, so this kind of germinating period is necessary for me. Kind of hard to explain! The creative process is a mysterious animal.

I'm still in awe that you are writing a play about...particle physics!

Sandy K

Hi Sandy!

I will definitely blog about the workshop. Right now, I'm writing a lot and trying to figure out how to play with Viewpoints in it. I have my dog-eared Viewpoints Book with me for reference. And I'm also reading And then, You Act for inspiration. Anne Bogart's writing is full of good reminders about theatre-making. I was able to take a Viewpoints/Suzuki workshop with members of the SITI Company several years ago and it was totally worth it. I'd like to take the big workshop someday when the great conjunction of time/money happens! It's such a useful tool.

Enjoy the germination period. Spring is coming!

V

Oooh, I am so jealous that you were able to take a workshop with members of the SITI Company! Wonderful.

I hadn't heard of And Then, You Act. Off to look for it in the library catalog!

Sandy K