David’s Comments (group member since Dec 13, 2009)

David’s comments from the Science and Inquiry group.

CatReader wrote: "I recently read Atomic Dreams: The New Nuclear Evangelists and the Fight for the Future of Energy about the battle over California's last remaining nuclear power plant - here is my..."

Thanks for the mention of this book, CatReader. I've put it on my list of books to read!

I just finished reading Origin Story: A Big History of Everything, by David Christian. It is actually light reading, with subtle humor, which makes the book entertaining.

But if you are looking for an informative history, this book may not be to your liking. The book covers all of history in a brief manner, but glosses over just about everything. I could only give it three stars. Here is my review.

Meaningless wrote: "Hello!
I'm Liam from British Columbia in Canada.
I primarily read literally any topic that's nonfiction, with my favorites being biology, particularly brain and health sciences, philosophy, biogra..."

Welcome to our group, Liam!
Are there any books about nutrition that particularly connected with you?

Jessica wrote: "This is a big question and it's a lot to ask of any book which I think is why people are hesitating to answer it. When I was young, I read any book about Astronomy that I could get my hands on and ..."

Interesting ... when I was young, I was also deep into reading all books I could find about astronomy. I think it started one day, maybe I was 10 or 12, when my father came home with a half-dozen paperback books about astronomy. That was my jump-start.

I just re-read the book 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Harari. He talks about many current issues about the challenges that will be faced during this century.

One of the challenges is to improve people's understanding of science and science issues. Of course, he says the best approach is for people to read peer-reviewed articles and books about science. By insisting on "peer-reviewed", the reliance on pseudo-science would be reduced.

The problem, is that most people just are not inclined to read about science, if they are going to read at all. So, in order to inform people about science issues, the next best thing is to watch good science fiction movies.

Why? Well, people are stirred by stories. Good science fiction movies contain good stories. Not stories about robots rebelling against humans -- that is a false issue. There are some real issues, Harari explains. For example:
o the elite will buy technology that will allow them to become superhumans, and overshadow unempowered people
o Technology can be used to control human behavior, like in "The Matrix"
o the effect of climate change on the world, as in the movie "Interstellar"

Harari mentions the Disney movie "Inside Out", which is a comedy but between the lines is about control and the lack of free will. He also mentions Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World", where the government controls people, not by fear but by artificial joy.

Any thoughts on the use of sci-fi movies and stories to help the larger population better understand the science issues of this century?

I just finished reading A Silent Fire: The Story of Inflammation, Diet, and Disease by Dr. Shilpa Ravella. Inflammation--especially chronic low-level inflammation, does not seem to get a lot of attention by the general public. It turns out that inflammation is an extremely important component of our health. This book delves into the history of research into the topic, and contains valuable insights into how to reduce inflammation.

Here is my review.

I finally finished this book. It's a wonderful tour of the sights of the universe. Highly recommended! Here is my review.

I am still working on the book -- enjoying it, but slowly.

I just started reading this book. It's fun!

Hello Victor -- welcome to our group.
Please feel free to enter into any of our discussions, or to start up a new one!

I finished the book. It starts out great, with interesting mathematics puzzles and problems. But then it goes into philosophy, and becomes repetitious and boring.

I've been thinking about the problem, to prove that if there are 5 points anywhere on a sphere, at least 4 of them will be on or inside a hemisphere.

I can see this intuitively, but to prove it? Not so easy for me! (I'm still thinking about it ...)

Jessica wrote: "David wrote: "Hector wrote: "Nice one! Don't know if the book mentions this but you can do a similar trick to elevate to the power of 2 any two-digit number."

Here's another little trick you can d..."

As I read the book further ... this trick is mentioned, along with many others!

It was my father who planted the seed. He was a medical doctor, and he helped me develop book reports and demonstrations about science, when I was in elementary school. I remember one day he came home with a bunch of small paperback books about astronomy. That really sealed the deal. My parents and aunts took me to a number of museums and planetariums. I became addicted to science.

In undergraduate school I majored in astronomy (and physics). Then in graduate school I studied meteorology. Then in my job, I concentrated in oceanography. You could say that it has been downhill all the way!

Hector wrote: "Nice one! Don't know if the book mentions this but you can do a similar trick to elevate to the power of 2 any two-digit number."

Here's another little trick you can do in your head (maybe with a bit of practice). Ask someone to pick a multiple of 10 from 10 to 100. (Call it "a"). Now them to pick a number from 1 to 10, (Call it "b"). Then say that you will multiply a+b times a-b. Then you can immediately state the product, because it's simply a^2 - b^2.

For example, if a = 60 and b = 3, then the product of 63 x 57 is 3600 - 9 = 3591.

Hector, I don't know of any books that cover exactly what you are looking for.

I found this book to be very good: Absolutely Small: How Quantum Theory Explains Our Everyday World

I also loved this book: A Beautiful Question: Finding Nature's Deep Design

Hi Macarena -- welcome to our group!
Please don't be shy -- start right away by getting into some of our discussions!

Martin wrote: "I would like to propose Turning to Stone - Discovering the Subtle Wisdom of Rocks by Marcia Bjornerud. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
This is part autobiographical and part an explor..."

Martin, this book was just published in August. Please wait a few months, allow the number of ratings to exceed 500, and nominate it again. Thanks!

Erica wrote: "Interesting conversation! I live in China, am a science teacher, and am very skeptical of Traditional Chinese Medicine, but my husband is Chinese and studying TCM part time. He’s learned acupunctur..."

Erica, I agree with everything you wrote. I am also a skeptic, but my wife studied Chinese medicine and acupuncture, and practiced it for quite a while.

Like you, I used to suffer from heartburn. Years ago I switched to a plant-based diet. My heartburn stopped, and has never come back. Is that just a correlation or causation?

Susanne wrote: "https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1..."

The book The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth looks fascinating. However, it was just published last month. I would suggest nominating it again in a few months from now.