Daily Thoughts 7/1/2011

Marshall, Henrietta Elizabeth (1908). Stories of Beowulf. black and white illustration of a mother and son reading a book on a chair.

Daily Thoughts 7/1/2011

I read some more of How The Hippies Saved Physics this morning.  The author is writing about the idea of the observer effect in physics. 


Library Journal sent me some Advanced Reading Copies of books; Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, A Sound Among the Trees A Novel by Susan Meissner, The Double Life of Alred Buber by David Schmahmann which has an interesting cover, The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh which is coming out in September, Child Wonder a novel by Roy Jacobsen told from a child's perspective, The Harvest of Grace by Cindy Smallwood  which has an Amish element to it, and The Crossing A Novel by Serita Jakes.  I think I am going to read Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, it seems to have that bits versus atoms thinking which is starting to crop up among the digerati.  Also, Child Wonder looks quite interesting.

Today, I worked on writing a number of flyers for events including a wills workshop and a workshop on mortgage law.  As always, I checked the Twitter account and the displays and looked over the book sale.

I also checked out the book, HBR's 10 Must Reads On Strategy which is published by the Harvard Business Review.

How The Hippies Saved Physics is become more interesting as I read it.  It is describing how the Fundamental Fysiks Group got funded and tied in with new age and eccentric groups and places like Esalen, Werner Erhard,  and Henry Dakin.  There is a touch of spoon bending with Uri Geller, psi, fringe science, and pseudoscience thrown in to make it even more fascinating.  We get descriptions of quantum physics in relation to remote viewing, underground newspapers from the 1970s, and makeshift laboratories.  The list of ecceentric physicists is interesting including Richard Feynman, Fred Alan Wolf, and Jack Sarfatti.  At points it makes me laugh and smile because at the same time as it is very serious, it touches on the outlandish.  There are points where icons of counterculture get woven into the story like Ram Dass and Ira Einhorn. It is a great read, especilly if you are interested in how fringe science becomes accepted or counterculture.

Web Bits

Crowdfunding: When the Publisher Doesn’t Cover the Creator’s Expenses
By Todd Allen

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/book-news/comics/article/47781-crowdfunding-when-the-publisher-doesn--t-cover-the-creator--s-expenses.html%20%20