I keep buying books without thinking of mundane matters like whether I have time to read them. To make a bad analogy, I keep pushing on the stack (and it has overflown already, many times). So it was good to pop something after a long time (Thanks to the long weekend).
There are two sailors Joe and Moe, cast away on a deserted Island for years. One day, a kingsize bottle of Coca-cola is washed ashore. Startled, Joe calls Moe, "See this Moe, We've shrunk".
Thus begins Relativity Simply Explained by Martin Gardner. The point is of course that size is relative. But it also says something about the quality of the book. It's the first book length account I read of Relativity and the best one so far. With minimal use of math, Gardner beautifully gets the basic ideas across. Also covered is stuff like the tests of GR that have been performed, famous examples like Twins Paradox and models of Universe based on relativity. It shows it's age in some places (it was first published in 50s), but it's a must read if you have ever given a thought to Mr. Einstein.
Also finished The Search, by John Battelle. It's basically about Google, Yahoo and other search companies, and the rise of the 'Search Economy'. The idea I liked most from the book is 'The Database of Intentions'. As the search companies know what we are looking for, this database of our clickstreams is a very real window in what our culture thinks/looks for/avoids. We can certainly do better by keeping an eye over Google Zeitgeist. Also the story of Google changing it's algorithms and hundreds of businessmen going out of business, who were solely dependent on their pagerank, is compelling. It shows Google's power, but is so much dependence good?
There are two sailors Joe and Moe, cast away on a deserted Island for years. One day, a kingsize bottle of Coca-cola is washed ashore. Startled, Joe calls Moe, "See this Moe, We've shrunk".
Thus begins Relativity Simply Explained by Martin Gardner. The point is of course that size is relative. But it also says something about the quality of the book. It's the first book length account I read of Relativity and the best one so far. With minimal use of math, Gardner beautifully gets the basic ideas across. Also covered is stuff like the tests of GR that have been performed, famous examples like Twins Paradox and models of Universe based on relativity. It shows it's age in some places (it was first published in 50s), but it's a must read if you have ever given a thought to Mr. Einstein.
Also finished The Search, by John Battelle. It's basically about Google, Yahoo and other search companies, and the rise of the 'Search Economy'. The idea I liked most from the book is 'The Database of Intentions'. As the search companies know what we are looking for, this database of our clickstreams is a very real window in what our culture thinks/looks for/avoids. We can certainly do better by keeping an eye over Google Zeitgeist. Also the story of Google changing it's algorithms and hundreds of businessmen going out of business, who were solely dependent on their pagerank, is compelling. It shows Google's power, but is so much dependence good?
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