Comments on: Misc: Reading Club on Ostler

By: Clark

Clark — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 20:23:36 +0000

I’ll be out of town for a week in San Francisco starting next Thursday. But that may actually open up more time for me. (Hotels and all) I’ll bring my copy with me and take notes.

By: The Yellow Dart

The Yellow Dart — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 20:04:01 +0000

Ok, my copy has arrived; but since the fall semester is starting soon for me, I will probably try to get a head start this week!

Best wishes,

TYD

By: CEF

CEF — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 20:26:22 +0000

I have not gotten a copy yet. I hoped to get one at the FAIR conference, but I could only attend on Thursday and they did not have them by the time I had to leave.

I will order one today and would love to follow along with any discussion here.

For what it is worth, I have been reading a book about Quantum Mechanics for really dumb people, and the next time Clark talks about “GUTs” I will know what he means. :)

By: Kent

Kent — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:57:54 +0000

Well, I’ve already read the book and will happily comment where I can. I especially enjoyed the first half which dealt with the ancient Near East.

By: Clark

Clark — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:15:53 +0000

Blake, pretty much all physical theory outside of some biology has remained constant. Even QM and GR were less an overthrow of Newtonian mechanics than finding a realm where they don’t hold. i.e. it was a question of universality. But most physics done today is Newtonian.

But your distrust of science is a huge epistemological difference and, I think, unfortunate.

By: Blake

Blake — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 14:49:55 +0000

All: Greg Kofford has a new bindery for the book and the binding problems have been resolved. Greg Kofford Books is willing to replace any of the first printing with a new copy at no cost. The new binding is a very good. Copies of vol. 3 are now available.

Thanks for the kind comments Clark. I agree that we are often much closer than our dialog tends to suggest. You privilege science (and physics in particular) much more than I do. I take it with a grain a salt. Are any of the physical theories from just 100 years ago still accepted? We know that GTR and quantum mechanics are inconsistent and there is going to be a major paradigm shift at some point if we can ever figure it out. I believe that we are much too full of ourselves and our confidence in our scientific way of parsing the world.

By: Clark

Clark — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 20:51:11 +0000

I had the impression that it was all of them which is partially why availability has been so bad. I mean the first run came out at the SMPT conference but I had to leave while they were just going for sale to pick up my kids. I've been trying to order them ever since unsuccessfully. I know at the FAIR bookstore they had a bunch but I couldn't tell you which run it was from. I know the guys at Confettibooks were only able to get it to me this weekend despite ordering it some time ago. They just got their shipment so if you have questions you might want to drop them a call. Aurelius, a schedule would be nice. However from past experience most reading clubs get delayed (if not outright dropped as happened with the Ricoeur Reading Club at LDS Herm. Looking at my reading club for the first volume I was reasonably consistent but going by an other reading club I had it started off strong and then few continued. (I've had several) I always like the reading clubs since people get more out of it. Let's see how much interest there is before I start and if there are people who want to join in but don't yet have a copy of the book.

By: Aurelius

Aurelius — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 19:49:53 +0000

I would like to join the reading club, if possible. Also, if this route is chosen, it might be nice to have a reading schedule. Thanks.