Dof, pronounced - oh never mind*
Rumour has it I'm a fairly smart person. That is, people say so, but I'm not so sure because (a) I regularly miss my mouth with whatever liquid I'm trying to drink**, and (b) I Do Not Understand the basic stuff that smart people are supposed to know***.
Every so often I decide right, I really ought to make an effort, and I pick up a Clever Book that has sold millions of copies over the past few decades because of how lucidly it explains science (or maths, or logic) for dummies. I usually don't make it past about chapter 2, if that. Dancing Wu Li Masters waltzed right on by. Godel, Escher, Bach shook their grey heads in despair****.
My latest attempt (triggered largely by the publication of the third book in the series; nothing like an attack of completism to motivate) is The Science of Discworld. Now, after a rocky start, I did make it right to the end, so yay me. I don't feel enormously enlightened about most of the bits that really confuse me, like relativity*****, but some things make a bit better sense now. Like Schrodinger's Cat. Apparently Schrodinger meant for it to be wholly ridiculous. I get it now******.
Still, though, I suspect the authors of taking the piss out of their poor struggling readers somewhat. I present the following quote (p115) as evidence:
"Once the process has started, it is surprisingly rapid, taking about ten million years from start to finish."
Cheek!
_____
* See comments here, if you really must know.
** Purely an illustrative example, which may or may not be fictitious.
*** Actually I don't think that even the smartest scientists truly understand, however well they describe the processes, but that's another issue.
**** And when you consider the prominence of Carrollian nonsense in that book, it's even more shaming that I couldn't stick with it.
***** Please don't try to explain it to me. It'll only end in tears.
****** Again, if you disagree, be kind enough to keep it to yourself. I'm clinging to straws, here.
11 comments:
You have a post that speaks of USB, bluetooth, and other technobabble, but comments are not enabled?!?! You were finally speaking my language!!
OK, now I have to read this post, since I commented on it.
Whoopsies. Sorry. Don't know how that happened. Go comment.
Also: what do you mean, "finally speaking your language"? Why you read if you no get it? Huh?
"Why you read if you no get it." And again you inspire awe in me.
I tried GEB a couple months ago, but gave up. Although the concept intrigued me to no end, the author's style snuffed my interest. Maybe some other time.
One in which I recently failed to make any appreciable progress but wish I had: The Road to Reality by Roger Penrose. Most likely I'll try tackling its 1136 pages again. Soon. I think Penrose also uses some of those "rapid ten million years" devices.
Right, another one for the "Feel Stupid Fast!" reading list. Race you?
(ha ha ha... so a bad idea.)
As for inspiring awe, I'm now pretty sure you're messing with me. But, er, thanks anyway.
Yes, they do have that effect on me. Not sure why I keep trying to read them. Such behavior seems dysfunctional; maybe I should read up on it. :)
As for awe - no messing, honest. Your "Why you read if you no get it" line triggered thoughts of stereotypical language barrier communications, where someone (usually a pompous white male) tries pidgin English on a non-English speaking listener. Usually comical, typically pointless. I liked the connection, hence the awe.
*sits quietly contemplating own stupidity*
wow. I tried to wrestle this post down with a jackhammer and it still flew right by me. I'm assuming you're talking about the great Pratch and his discworld series. I felt fear just typing that. assuming isn't my strong suit.
anywho....yeah....*twiddle thumbs* I shoulda just said "good entry" and left.
Lou/Rainpuddles: hello, welcome, pull up a chair. White shirts are evil. They exert a mysterious cosmic force that drives you to spill when no spillage would otherwise have happened. Any day I wear a white shirt, it's pretty much a given that it'll be a spotted shirt by the time I arrive at work. Yet I keep trying. Why? Because I'm a special kind of stupid.
Syar: The great Pratch is indeed referenced, but only for the Science of Discword. The other books are far more serious (mostly) efforts to Explain Science. The Pratchett book (written with a couple of professional scientists/science writers; there's three in the series so far) made me feel marginally less stupid than the others, if only because I got to laugh at Rincewind and the Bursar every so often and feel superior. Until the Bursar started to evince signs of mathematical genius. And now I've started Science of Discworld II, and realised that all along I had no clue of what L-space was referencing, and that's made me feel even more stupid. Nothing like a missed joke to do that to you. But I keep on trying...
Oh, and Jam: I was in a bookstore yesterday and picked up that Penrose. Once I'd realigned my spine and braced myself against the nearest bookcase to cope with its incredible weight, I flipped it open. And found pages full of mysterious runic script - sorry, I mean mathematical formulae. That, plus the £30 price-tag, is why I left it on the shelf. Maybe one day, when I've graduated from Pratchett science kindergarten, through Bill Bryson primary school, and perhaps have even made it through Douglas Hofstadter high school, I'll tackle Reality 101. By then, of course, I'll be so damn smart I'll be packing Finnegan's Wake for light holiday reading, just like my dad. Penrose definitely looks like intellectual weightlifting. In a surprisingly literal sense.
but - but - but... :)
I distinctly remember Penrose assuring his reader he kept "that math thing" to an absolute minimum!
Then again I don't think I made two chapters' progress, so what do I know? But the concept, O Scrivening One: all of reality in 1100 or so pages!
:-)
"I had it all there; so; within reach of my hand." - Joseph Conrad, Almayer's Folly
"Absolute minimum" is such a flexible phrase, don't you think? For me, "minimum maths" could easily be "NO maths". For Penrose, a bit more than that. But yes, 1100 pages that explain reality? Very tempting.
Gersh - people who read your marvellous blog can type, they're just intimidated by the fact that you actually Write. The rest of us just chat. And occasionally beg for contributions in the form of, oh, bar jokes, say... quite an ice-breaker, that.
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