. Thorne reluctantly concludes that things really don't look very good for wormholes, especially for time travel -- though he does leave a tiny ray of hope for some super-advanced future civilization to make wormholes for space travel [note 4]. Thorne notes that our grasp of basic physics is so crude that we can really only understand maybe 5% of the stuff that fills our universe -- the "normal" baryonic matter that makes up people, planets and stars. Thorne guesses that 35% of the universes's mass is in some unknown form of "cold dark matter", and the remaining 60% is some even more mysterious form of "dark energy" -- so there's certainly plenty of room left for discovery!
The book concludes with a nice explanation of why good popular-science books are needed, by noted pop-science writer Timothy Ferris, and with Alan Lightman's essay on "The Physicist as Novelist". Lightman, a former student of Thorne's, went on to write Einstein's Dreams and other well-regarded novels.
The Future of Spacetime is written for a general audience -- aside from Hawking's essay, everything should be understandable to any science-literate reader. I particularly recommend it to readers who've liked Thorne's earlier pop-science works.
______________________
Note 1). a clever play on festschrift, the traditional name for such a tribute volume.
Note 2). As Hawking cheerfully points out, "closed timelike curve" is just physics-speak for time travel, because you can't admit you're studying that sci-fi stuff in a grant proposal...
Note 3). Arthur C. Clarke notes that "the most convincing argument against time travel is the remarkable scarcity of time travellers..."
Note 4). As you may know, a faster-than-light spaceship could also be used as a time-machine, another reason why most physicists think FTL travel is very unlikely. I'd love to see a theoretical treatment of FTL travel that wouldn't violate Hawking's "Chronology Protection Clause"... Note also that there's no theoretical barrier to wormhole spaceships travelling a bit *slower* than light.
Peter D. Tillman
Consulting Geologist, Tucson & Santa Fe (USA)
Review first published at SF Site:
http://www.sfsite.com/11a/fs139.htm
Sorry, grandma, I won't be seeing you again anytime soon........2003-05-13
Time travel appears pretty impractical based on this book. Maybe it's mathematically possible to fold time and punch wormholes in it in theory, but I don't think NASA or Greyhound is going to be offering trips back and forth through our lives. However, it's always intriguing to read what really smart people come up with, because they make a lot of it seem so obvious, even though I could never come up with it on my own.
Garbage.......2003-02-28
It is incredible how they trust blindly in EVERY aspect of General Relativity. Space-time warpages and singularities happens ONLY in mathematics! There is no way out. It is funny how Scientific American gives credibility to such a kind of science-fiction. It is time to stop lying to the public!
Hawking and Thorne, grasp it: Time-travel is physically IMPOSSIBLE.
Book Description
Quality assurance (QA) in chemical measurement is one of the major challenges in the work field of chemists. It is hard for the beginner to find information on all those topics related to QA. This book contains a compilation from different areas which deal with QA. Topics covered in this book include: Accreditation - ISO 17025, Certification - ISO 9000, Proficiency Testing, Basic Statistics, Measurement Uncertainty, Glossary / Institutions, Fit for the purpose (Philosophy), Quality Manual, Validation of Methods, Accreditation vs. Certification, GLP, Calibration - Detection Limit, Reference Materials, Control Charts, Metrology/Traceability, TQM and Cost of Quality.
Standards such as ISO 17025, accreditation, measurement uncertainty amongst many others are topics which are often not covered in university classes. Especially first time employees or those switching to the field of analytical chemistry measurements are stressed by many special terms and requirements, they have not heard of before. Sometimes it might be necessary to introduce other newcomers to the field with some startup information.
It is the aim of this book to give a help to get started. It provides basic information in all fields that are of interest for quality assurance in chemical measurement regarding management requirements as well as technical requirements. It is also very valuable for all those leaving the university, before they seek their first employment and to get ready for the job interview.
Electronic reading is supported by a CD which accompanies the book. Material provided thereon can be used as memory card or as ready to use transparencies for teaching purposes in educational institutions and for in-house training of the laboratory staff.
Specialists from different fields have contributed to this book sharing their expertise with the reader to get started in QA.
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Quality in Chemical Measurements: Training Concepts and Teaching Materials
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This advanced EURACHEM textbook is designed for training, teaching and continuing studies providing an in-depth coverage of current teaching and training issues in the field of Quality Assurance in Chemical Measurement. The CD-ROM accompanying the book contains course materials of 15 experienced lecturers on more than 300 overheads (graphics and text) as ready-to-use Powerpoint R documents. The book will serve as a reference text and source of course materials for lecturers and as an advanced textbook for analytical chemistry students and professionals in industry and service labs.
Book Description
In a chest of drawers bequeathed by his grandmother, author Randal Keynes discovered the writing case of Charles Darwin's beloved daughter Annie, who died at the age of ten. He also found the notes Darwin kept throughout Annie's illness, the eulogy he delivered at her funeral-and provocative new insights into Darwin's views on nature, evolution, and the human condition.
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In a chest of drawers bequeathed by his grandmother, author Randal Keynes discovered the writing case of Charles Darwin's beloved daughter Annie, who died at the age of ten. He also found the notes Darwin kept throughout Annie's illness, the eulogy he delivered at her funeral-and provocative new insights into Darwin's views on nature, evolution, and the human condition.
Customer Reviews:
Charles Darwin: Family Man.......2006-03-03
Currently, there is a lot of talk about as well as charges being hurled at the theory of evolution. There are people who are evolutionists pure and simple. There are the doubters who go along with the theory because nobody has a better explanation. And, there is the intelligent design crowd. "Darwin, His Daughter, and Human Evolution" written by a descendant of Charles Darwin does a great service to the humanization of the misunderstood gentleman scientist. It also brings to light the social climate of Victorian England. But most of all it shows Darwin as a family man with the fears and self-doubt that all parents experience especially when confronted with illness of a child. You will learn more about the process of a genius at work as well as get to know a truly gentle man.
A lovely peek into Darwin's private life........2004-04-27
Not long ago I reviewed a book on Alfred Russell Wallace, In Darwin's Shadow, where I suggested that Wallace's life had probably been a happier one. A reader of that review suggested that this was not necessarily the case, and suggested that I do further research on Darwin's personal life. When I discovered the book Darwin, his Daughter, and Human Evolution by Randal Keynes, a descendant of both Charles Darwin (who was his great-great grandfather) and the economist John Maynard Keynes, I felt that I had found a gold mine. Privileged to the access to family documents and memoirs, Keynes was able to do a very thorough work on the private life of the Darwin family, and a creditable discussion of the effect of Darwin's experiences as a husband and father on his theory of evolution.
Above all the book is a charming visit to the Victorian era and a lovely story of a devoted family of that time. The more tragic events that occurred in the Darwin household were not unknown to many families up and down the social scale. The loss of their second child shortly after birth, the death of the ten year old Annie, the birth and death of a Downe's syndrome child later in their life, were all events that occurred in other households as well. Probably more unusual was the closeness of the husband and wife, and the involvement of Darwin with the upbringing of his children, although these aspects are similar to those of the lives of Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert. One wonders if these situations were just unusual or if one has a skewed sense of family in the Victorian age.
Above all, the intense observations Darwin made of his growing children and the sometimes painful conclusions with respect to evolutionary theory that these studies reinforced were surprising to me. I would tend to agree with the author that his family did have a profound impact on Darwin's theories.
I thank the individual who suggested further research on Darwin and his personal history.
For THOSE WRITING PAPERS: in biography, history, evolution studies, sociology. Compare some of the other biographies of Victorian era individuals. Can one create a sense of the character of a society by studying individuals? How might the fact that they were unique enough to rate a biography at all prejudice ones view of society by doing this? Were Darwin, Wallace, Victoria and Albert, and other famous individuals "characteristic" of their age? Look at biographies like In Darwin's Shadow, Victoria's Daughters, and Darwin, his Daughter, and Human Evolution and suggest how family has an impact on scientific discovery, politics, philosophy, or other aspects of the human endeavor. Do you think that the theory of evolution would have been the same had Darwin and Russell switched places socially?
Darwin the Man, Darwin the Myth.......2003-08-14
Having no real knowledge of Charles Darwin beyond myths and some sketchy memories of high school science, I was eager to read this book and finally become acquainted with the Charles Darwin, the man.
Randal Keynes did not disappoint. His access to a veritable treasure trove of family journals, letters, and records allows Keynes to develop a fully dimensional, complex individual who far exceeds the simple titles of "Evolutionist", "atheist," or any other ordinary label. Far from being a simple scientist (one of the myths dispelled in the book) or a once devout minister-in-training-turned-atheist (another myth), Darwin here is presented as a man of great warmth, devotion, and intellect.
Especially appealing to me was the emphasis Keynes places on Darwin's family life, as opposed to a lengthy discussion of his evolutionary theory. Darwin comes across as a fun, playful, adoring father whose very real grief over the death of his daughter may well have been a turning point in his thinking about God and the nature of the human condition.
Anyone who dismisses out of hand Darwin's theories as mere instruments by which to bring about the fall of Christianity must read this book. Darwin's struggles with the deepest philosophical issues, i.e. human suffering, the nature of evil, God, and redemption, are all discussed with sincerety even as they are backed up with evidence from Darwin's journals and letters. Those who insist on tagging Mr. Darwin with simple labels will be surprised by this revealing look at the real man.
The writing is clear, clever, and refrains from striking a tone either too sentimental or one inclined toward evolutionary apologetics. Definitely a worthwhile read.
Finally, Darwin evolves as a real man..........2003-08-08
My own ideas about Charles Darwin and his contributions to science were quite frankly limited to a week of study in high school natural sciences, long since forgotten. The ideas I had of him came from popular culture rather than my own investigations. Unsure whether to brand him a revolutionary atheist plotting to bring down Christianity or a zealous naturalist merely satisfying his own curiousity, I was eager to read what Keynes, a well pedigreed descendant of Darwin, had to say.
Privy to notes, letters, journals, and other information heretofor unseen, Keynes casts the familiar image of Charles Darwin in a new light. The man who emerges from this portrait is unexpected in many ways. A singularly devoted father and husband, Darwin's greatest joys came from ordinary family life. Romping with his large brood, noting details small and grand in their development and children, tenderly corresponding with his beloved wife Emma during their few seperations, Darwin was no cold and ruthless scientist out to cripple the faith of the believers. Keynes portrays him as a man brimming with affection, kindness, and love. Annie, the daughter alluded to in the book's title, remains mysterious in many ways; but what is entirely evident is that grief over her untimely death haunted Darwin until the end of his days.
Keynes so sensitively discusses Darwin's struggles with faith, God, and the human condition that he manages to obliterate the undeserved assumptions I carried with me to the biography. Darwin did not, as many assume, dismiss out of hand the notion of God. Quite to the contrary, he struggled with profound questions about God and lived out his life with a healthy respect for his wife and family's religious ideology even after he could no longer conscientiously participate in it. Darwin's struggles with the Christian faith were based on the central issue of human suffering, and its meaning. His firsthand knowledge of pain and suffering made him acutely aware of the human condition and indeed, of suffering of "all sentient beings... What advantage can there be in the sufferings of the millions of lower animals...?" Even at the end of life, Darwin remained uncertain about the existence and nature of God. Unwilling to use the framework that Neitzsche embraced by pronouncing "God is dead", Darwin instead admitted that he simply did not know and perhaps could not understand.
Keynes' portrayal of Charles Darwin is a welcome addition to any biography shelf, if only for the incredible amount of personal writings he is able to include.
Darwin and the problem of evil.......2003-06-30
This book touches only lightly on Charles Darwin's scientific work. If you are looking for a popular introduction to the basic mechanisms of evolution, try The Beak of the Finch by Jonathan Weiner or The Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins.
This book is primarily about Darwin's family life, his religious convictions, and how his scientific work affected both.
Nearly everyone in early 19th century Britain believed in a all-powerful, all-knowing God who monitored and regulated and judged everything that happened down to the smallest detail. (As in America's Bible Belt, where putting a Darwin Fish on your car is an invitation to vandalism, people who didn't accept the majority view tended to keep a low profile.) God had created all the species, exactly as they were, all at once about 6,000 years ago. Whatever you did, God was watching and might punish you in horrible ways for some small infraction. Most people accepted the idea that if your child came down with some hideous disease it was because God was punishing you for some transgression. (It didn't seem odd to anyone that they were worshiping a God who behaved like a vengeful psychopath.) However, if you followed the rules and did what you were supposed to do (if you were a woman, that meant endless pregnancies and utter, unthinking obedience to your husband, no matter what), after you died you got to go to Heaven where you would finally be happy.
Emma Darwin, wife of Charles, although her faith became strained, believed this. Charles, although in many ways a man of his time, is more complicated. He began as an orthodox Christian, a divinity student at that, went through a decades-long middle period - which takes in THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES - of being a deist, and ended up as an agnostic who found the positions of both believers and atheists untenable because both camps claimed to know for certain things we cannot know at all. The religious tension between Emma and Charles, always there, was thrown into stark relief by the long suffering and death from tuberculosis at the age of ten of their angelic daughter Anne. This book is a study in what theologians have called the problem of evil, and how Darwin, who did as much as anyone to create the modern, secular world, wrestled with it. More than that, it is a study in how a man who loved his wife, but did not share her faith, struggled to find some way to maintain his integrity and yet give her what she needed. Whichever side of that divide you are on, you will find something for you in this book.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Wordsworth Circle, published by Wordsworth Circle on September 22, 2001. The length of the article is 1742 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Victorian Sensation: The Extraordinary Publication, Reception, and Secret Authorship of Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation & Annie's Box: Charles Darwin, His Daughter and Human Evolution. (book review)
Author: Robert M. Ryan
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Wordsworth Circle (Refereed)
Date: September 22, 2001
Publisher: Wordsworth Circle
Volume: 32
Issue: 4
Page: 206(3)
Article Type: Book Review
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- Toolkit in Paradise: The Self-Helpless Guide to a Decade of American Wit & Wisdom
- Bob Medak, Allbooks Reviews
- This book is Hilarious
- Allbooks Reviews says 'Will have you laughing out loud', highly recommended
- EVERYONE Needs a Toolkit in Paradise
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Toolkit in Paradise: The Self-Helpless Guide to a Decade of American Wit & Wisdom
B. Elwin Sherman
Manufacturer: PublishAmerica
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ASIN: 1424105110 |
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Following the critical acclaim of his first book, The Miradors—Descensions of a Man, we arrive at Toolkit in Paradise, a decade of the best in American seriocomic reportage. Finally, we have “the last thing we thought we'd ever need in the last place we thought we'd ever need it.” Fine-tune your wit and wisdom, laugh until it hurts, and cry until it hurts less as you travel through these painfully funny passageways to our most intimate inner selves—from the domestic front to the world stage—and beyond. And, yes—you CAN take them with you when you go.
Customer Reviews:
Toolkit in Paradise: The Self-Helpless Guide to a Decade of American Wit & Wisdom.......2007-07-16
Toolkit in Paradise: The Self-Helpless Guide to a Decade of American Wit and Wisdom takes a humorous, somewhat cynical look at life in the modern world. The author calls himself an ultracrepidarian, a person out of his or her element. Much of his stories are based upon this viewpoint as the author looks at a particular situation as only an outsider can do. In doing so, he points out the silliness of the moment or a pattern of behavior that we'd never recognize (or rather admit to participating in). The results are often comical and always thought provoking.
Though this book is aimed primarily at the Baby Boomer generation, I believe that almost everyone will enjoy this book. The humor is smart often catching the reader off guard. There are so many great stories, lists, and one liners that the reader will find him or her self telling all his or her friends.
Some of my favorites include:
The ten-point checklist designed to restore order to the baby and hula boomer and hooper sides of our nature that yearns for simplicity, love and peace.
"If I am an agnostic male chin-nicker, I can live in the world with bearded female Baptists, as long as they don't hide my razors in their Bibles. Let me sing the clean-shaven body electric, and you can holy-roll your whiskers 'til the cows come home. There's room for all."
The two stages of male hormones.
The kiss.
Bob Medak, Allbooks Reviews.......2006-04-25
"Seems I find myself an ultracrepidarian." I had to read further.
The book is a series of short chapters with unusual titles and play on words.
I found Mr. Sherman's writing to be well laid out and interesting in his choice of words, and his play on them. He is a gifted writer and creates something different in this book. It borders on satire with a cynical look and might be considered humorous.
Mr. Sherman calls himself a seriocomic or Humorous? Satirist? Punster? Comedian? Lampooner? But, wishes us to look at the tapestry of wit and wisdom instead. He is from the North Country (But it is not really delineated). He does mention the state of Vermont in his book, perhaps this is what's meant by North Country.
Although this book is well written, I had to keep a word list and visit some online dictionaries for meanings. It is not a book I enjoyed reading. Perhaps other readers will find more humor and even enjoyment in reading this book. If you are a reader that enjoys the unusual, this book might just be the book for you. I found it, a difficult book to read. I can only give this book a qualified recommendation, and an average rating.
This book is Hilarious.......2005-12-05
Buy the book as a gift for all of your friends and family. It is so funny you won't be able to put it down. Extremely well written, lots of humor and satire rolled into one. Great book!
Allbooks Reviews says 'Will have you laughing out loud', highly recommended.......2005-12-03
Genre: Humor
Title: Toolkit in Paradise
AUTHOR: B. Elwin Sherman
Toolkit in Paradise is a collection of the works of B. Elwin Sherman, humorist, satirist and all around American boy. Subtitled "The Self-helpless guide to a decade of American Wit and Wisdom" the collection encompasses some of the best works of the author from 1996 to present day. Sherman is quoted as saying: "I might call myself a printable seriocomic; it's a given that nothing is funny without springing first from a grave consideration."
This collection reads like an episode of "Saturday Night Live" or a cherished collection of "National Lampoon," filled with wit and humor that will amuse even the most serious of readers. The author has an anodyne approach to any subject injecting humor and without insult or condescension. It is a coffee table book for the humor starved that will entertain time and time again.
The collection encompasses several formats including:
-Short stories of "Americana" like 30,000 Leaguers under the Sea where baseball enlightens the spirit of a cynical fan and takes him back to the innocents of youth.
-Card Tricks, a one act play of seduction and one- liners in a "pick-up" bar.
-Metaphoric Poetry in the The Galloping Ghost of Christmas Past or Driving on the Dotted Line and even includes some three line Haiku.
-A list of actual rock bands that includes: Chicken Charmers and Drunks with Guns or E Coli and Lost Underpants of Doom.
-much, much more.
All will amuse and entertain. Guaranteed to have you laughing out loud. Give the gift of laughter to your friends, family and yourself-pick up a copy today. Highly recommended.
Reviewer: Shirley Roe, Allbooks Reviews.
EVERYONE Needs a Toolkit in Paradise.......2005-12-03
Funny? You should try living with the guy like I do. Does that mean you should negate my review? Or at least view it with suspicion? I don't think so because in fact, I am the funniest person I know, and he makes me laugh. If you don't believe me, try "The Poet Laura Ate", or "Seuss vs. Nash at Poetry Hellweek", and you'll see what I mean. This is very funny stuff, running the gamut from wry to belly-laugh. It's a good read!
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- Wiley CPA Examination Review 2004, Auditing and Attestation (Wiley Cpa Examination Review Auditing)
- Wiley Not-for-Profit GAAP 2003: Interpretation and Application of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
- Working Papers, Chapters 17-24 for Gilbertson/Lehman/Ross' Century 21 Accounting: Multicolumn Journal, 8th
- Working Papers Plus for Use With Accounting: Chapters 12-24
- 2004 Original Pronouncements: Accounting Standards Original Pronouncements (3 Vol. Set)
- 2005 FARS CD-ROM - For Purchase as Stand Alone Only (Financial Accounting Research System)
- A Finance Approach to Accounting for Lawyers (University Casebook Series)
- Accounting Principles, with PepsiCo Annual Report, Working Papers, Chapters 1-19
- Accounting Procedures: The Recording Process-A Preparer's Perspective
- Ace your Midterms & Finals: Fundamentals of Mathematics (Schaum's Midterms & Finals Series)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
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- The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists
- The Hal Leonard Pocket Music Dictionary
- School Counseling Principles: Ethics and Law
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- The Irresistible Offer: How to Sell Your Product or Service in 3 Seconds or Less
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- The Economy of Europe in an Age of Crisis 1600-1750
- The apartment manager's desk reference
Anyone using this volume set pass the exam?.......2002-09-29
