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Robert G. Brown

goodreads author profile

born

March 29, 1955

gender

male

place of birth

The United States

website

http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb

genre

Science Fiction & Fantasy, Poetry, Science

influences

Heinlein, Rand, Zelazny, Farmer, Brin, Forward, Clarke, Asimov, Bradbury, E.E. Smith, Tolkein, Chant, Barth, W. B. Yeats, Tennyson, Shelley, TSE, Poe, Lovecraft, Derleth, and others too numerous to mention.

member since

October 2007

about this author

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My real biography is way too long and complex for a few hundred words, so this is the reader's digest version. I've lived in Skaneateles, New York, New Delhi, India, West Springfield, Virginia, and for 34 years now in Durham, NC where I teach physics at Duke. I'm married (to Susan F. Isbey MD) and have three boys. We live with three dogs, one cat, and sundry transient animals of all classes.

In addition to doing physics, math, statistics, computing, predictive modelling, and geekstuff like that, I write. A lot. Daily.

I write magazine columns and articles, usually in the field of computing. I've written lots of "learned papers" in physics, mostly published in Physical Review. I've written two books of ...more

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Robert G. Brown's Blog: Common Sense

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books by Robert G. Brown

avg rating: 4.12 | 16 ratings | 6 reviews | 1 distinct work | 5 fans

The Book of Lilith
by Robert G. Brown (Goodreads author)
avg rating 4.12 — 16 ratings — published 2007
2 editions

my rating:

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, perform a search.

rgb's writing

The Book of Lilith (Literature & Fiction)

1 chapters — updated Jan 25, 2008 08:32PM

description: Lilith was the first woman to be given a soul by God, and her purpose is to give all the rest of Creation a soul by means of her love, beginning with Adam. Adam has a job too -- to create the rules that define sin and bring about a world governed by reason and law. Unfortunately, Adam insists on being on top whenever they have sex, which leads to problems... Alternately funny, serious, and thought provoking, The Book of Lilith is just plain fun to read! Visit The Book of Lilith Website at: http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb/Lilith/Lilith.php to find reviews, previews, links, and much more!

rgb's recent updates (rss)

November 06

rgb made a comment in the group Atheists and Skeptics—Alternative to Christian Morals in Society?? topic:

rgb wrote: "Telling people that they can’t be atheists has offended at least four other posters on this group,...more "

rgb made a comment in the group Atheists and Skeptics—Atheism vs Anti-theism topic:

rgb wrote: "Coyle wrote: "rgb said "We can just focus on the morality if you like... example two chapters furthe...more "

November 04

rgb made a comment in the group Atheists and Skeptics—what do you believe in that you're not supposed to? topic:

rgb wrote: "It is a lot like it. Which is one reason that I think that religion can be quite useful, as long as...more "

October 28

rgb made a comment in the group Questioning Society—Drinking age topic:

rgb wrote: "Nathan wrote: "legalizing weed and taxing the hell out of it

You bastard!

had we been forced to go dri...more "

October 17

rgb made a comment in the group SciFi and Fantasy Book Club—Suggestions for lighter sci-fi reading? topic:

rgb wrote: "The Flying Sorcerers Gerrold and Niven.

The wizard "Purple" creates enormous problems for an alien w...more "

September 13

rgb joined the I live for Jesus and Jesus alone!! and Duke University Goodreads groups.

August 25

rgb gave

to:
Cartoon Guide to Statistics (Paperback)
by Larry Gonick

my rating:

read in January, 2003

rgb said: "I adore Larry Gonick's Cartoon Guide series in general, but that is partly because I clearly identify their purpose. Don't think of this as a College level textbook in statistics because it isn't. It is rather an illustrated, extremely easy to read...more I adore Larry Gonick's Cartoon Guide series in general, but that is partly because I clearly identify their purpose. Don't think of this as a College level textbook in statistics because it isn't. It is rather an illustrated, extremely easy to read conceptual overview of statistics, the moral equivalent of Cliff note or a course outline but with cartoons and a certain amount of humor and history mixed in.

Do not underestimate the value of this if you are a student wanting to learn statistics! For many students, the problem with statistics isn't the algebra or computations, which are straightforward if tedious. It is grasping the concepts of statistics -- the notions underlying probability, sampling, distributions, the central limit theorem and Gaussians, how they relate to estimates of error.

This is precisely where most college level statistics texts fall short. They may well present all of the equations needed (and then some). They may well derive them and present examples of their use. However, to my experience they do a fairly mediocre job of simply conveying the idea that underlies all of the algebra and computation. A student is left memorizing dozens of equations and relations without ever gaining a deep understanding of what they mean (or really how to properly use them).

Using the Cartoon Guide to Statistics as a supplement to a college text, however, gives the weaker student a conceptual bridge. Best of all, it is a bridge that they can cross in one sitting! They can read it, cover to cover, in a matter of a few hours, and then refer back to it when an idea confuses them for the rest of the term.

The other group the book is ideal for is younger students in high school (or even middle school), ones whose attention span is not yet up to the task of slogging through a serious book in statistics written in small print by a humourless author. Again such a student would be well-served by having another more mathematical reference handy, but if one's goal is just to convey the idea and methodology underlying the ideas of: distribution, mean of the distribution, variance of the distribution, standard deviation, and the central limit theorem (and what else is there, really?) you can hardly do better.(less) "

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June 01

rgb voted on the poll: The following statement is...
"This is one of those things I hate about girls, they can never tell you anything but the fact that there's something they can't tell. "

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Atheists and Skeptics — 493 members — last activity 4 hours, 15 min ago
This is a group meant for the discussion of atheism and skepticism and the books associated with both. Recommending books arguing for or against relig...more

Faith and Spirituality — 159 members — last activity Sep 10, 2009 12:21AM
Throughout history, people have justified horrific acts on the basis of faith-- theirs ir right and everyone else's has to be wiped out. This group wi...more

Questioning Society — 238 members — last activity 10 days ago, 04:33AM
Come Join>>We'd love your input.

I live for Jesus and Jesus alone!! — 332 members — last activity 13 hours, 0 min ago
We love Jesus with all our hearts and are proud to say so. We hope nonchristians who see this will come to know Jesus in their heart. If not, thats ok...more

¡ POETRY ! — 2777 members — last activity 1 hour, 3 min ago
No pretensions: just poetry.

Stop by, recommend books, offer up poems (excerpted), tempt us, taunt us, tell us what to read and where to g...more

Evolution vs. Intelligent Design — 53 members — last activity Sep 27, 2009 05:51PM
Debate away!

But please, no crude remarks, personal attacks, or language.

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Welcome to the SciFi and Fantasy Book Club!

SciFi Czar: Brad
Fantasy Czar: Brooke

Are you a GoodReads Author of SciFi or Fa...more

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An open forum for friendly discussion of books and anything to do with reading, movies and art.

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This is a place to give feedback about Goodreads. Feature ideas, bugs, or any other suggestion for improvement. The Goodreads staff monitors this gr...more