Science and Inquiry discussion

Steven Jay Gould - always a good read.

I just finished Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World. I enjoyed this book, but I frankly skimmed large portions of it. It is a cross between a polemic favoring mushrooms generally, a textbook on how to grow them, and a catalog of specific mushroom varieties. I recommend it, at least the first part of it. The variety of powerful uses of mushrooms is fascinating. Here is my review.

But what's the bottom line? Can they save us????

If they can save us, I'm in good shape (I have this little mushroom addiction...).

From what Stamets says, I think he believes it. My take is, mushrooms have incredible potential, but I wonder whether the solution is scalable to the extent that we need in the time period we need.

This book was published in 2005. I also wonder what's happened since then. Were mycelium used in the Gulf oil spill? or in the Kalamazoo spill? or after Fukushima? Were they used to mitigate the southwest drought? That supposedly is possible but would probably take many years. If any of these uses have even been contemplated, I wonder why I haven't seen anything in the science news.

Thanks Betsy!!!! I'm with you there.

Susanna wrote: "If they can save us, I'm in good shape (I have this little mushroom addiction...)."

Susanna, you might find this book worth looking at if only for the occasional recipes. I'm not a big fan of mushrooms, but some of his recipes sounded really interesting. And Stamets has another earlier book on gourmet and medicinal mushrooms.

Just finished reading the new book by Michael Moss called Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us. The book explores the history and practices of the processed food industry. It’s an eye-opening look at just what goes into our food (and why), and how this is contributing to some of our most common and serious health issues, like obesity, diabetes, heart disease and even some types of cancer. I’ve written a full executive summary of the book available here: http://newbooksinbrief.com/2013/04/17...

Cheers,
Aaron

I just finished The Monk in the Garden: The Lost and Found Genius of Gregor Mendel, the Father of Genetics, and I loved it. I got the book at a second hand store, and I didn't have really high hopes for it, but I felt like the author did a great job of keeping the story interesting. I learned a lot about Mendel, and also several other scientists that were active around the time of Mendel. Very worth the read!

Wolff has been running a web site on this idea for years. I'm a PhD in Physics and my view is that his derivations are circular arguments. He inserts relativity implicitly (the gamma factor) into his equation and - Bingo - discovers relativity. Similarly for his derivation of the de Broglie wavelength. No physics graduate would take his maths seriously. I've been through his maths in detail. The real physics is far deeper and more fascinating than this!

Geoff wrote: "Wolff has been running a web site on this idea for years. I'm a PhD in Physics and my view is that his derivations are circular arguments. He inserts relativity implicitly (the gamma factor) into..."

Geoff, I'm sorry, but I'm not sure what idea you're referring to.

Dear Betsy. I posted that with ref to a book by Milo Wolff: "Schroedinger's Universe and the Origin of the Natural Laws", which two reviewers had commented on. As I mentioned, I have been through Wolff's theories and believe the mathematics to be flawed, although it is good that he gets people to realise how interesting and radical quantum mechanics can be.

Thx i was confused also.

by Amy Stewart No story line or plot in this book. Just one or two paragraphs about many different bugs. There are lots of odd life cycles and dangerous creatures out there. Interesting.

I have this book on my TBR list. I think the author started as an essayist and commentator for magazines. It might be her preferred writing style.

Kenny wrote: "Thx i was confused also."

Yes, so was I.

Whoops - I clicked the wrong button. Apologies.

Geoff wrote: "Whoops - I clicked the wrong button. Apologies."

No problem. We've all done it.

Geoff wrote: "Whoops - I clicked the wrong button. Apologies."

You trying to push my buttons again? :) :) :)

I'm about 2/3 through The Story of Earth by Robert M. Hazen. All I can say is WOW! Five Stars (I can't believe he'd blow it in the last few chapters). An incredible tour-de-force of the first 4.5 Billion Years of planet Earth. Very Highly recommended.

The Story of Earth: The First 4.5 Billion Years, from Stardust to Living Planet

I loved it too, Kenny. If you haven't already, you must also read Hazen's Genesis: The Scientific Quest for Life's Origins. I plan to read it again at some point.

Steve wrote: "I loved it too, Kenny. If you haven't already, you must also read Hazen's Genesis: The Scientific Quest for Life's Origins. I plan to read it again at some point."

Will put it at the top of my list.

I read Huw Price's Time's Arrow and Archimedes' Point: New Directions for the Physics of Time in March. Here's my review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

And I've just finished Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla: Biography of a Genius, the group read for May.
Link to my review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I haven't read much lately :( I did tear through A Force of Nature: The Frontier Genius of Ernest Rutherford the other week, but it was very short. A great read though, and I recommend it if you're unfamiliar, as I was, with Rutherford's pioneering role in nuclear physics.

I wanted to mention a couple of other things. There was some talk of Big Data on the previous page. I was going to take a (free) online course called Introduction to Data Science with Coursera. The prereqs are fairly light, but (some/any) programming experience is required. Anyway I thought some folks my be interested. As it turns out, I'm not going to take the course right now because I just landed a new job and I'm going to be busy learning new things there for a while. :)

And, as Betsy was on the topic of mushrooms, I watched a TED talk a while ago on the amazing properties of certain fungi, 6 Ways Mushrooms Can Save The World, and perhaps it will be of interest. It really is a fascinating talk.

Thanks, Matt. I'll check out both the TED talk and the course. I think we live in amazing times. Think how many resources we have for learning.

Good luck with the new job.

BetseaK - You seem to be in a hurry. :)
Like a good group member I will be starting 'Wizard' tomorrow.

Matt - Thanks for the link to the course. It was actually something I have been meaning to do. Although, a course on Hadoop in particular was my preference.

Finished Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us; a first class read, if a bit nauseating.

And I've gotten A Short History of Nearly Everything out of the library again.

There's a good bit about Rutherford in the first half of Richard Rhodes' The Making of the Atomic Bomb. He must have been quite a man.

Just finished reading the new book by Ramez Naam called The Infinite Resource: The Power of Ideas on a Finite Planet. The book explores our current resource shortages and environmental problems, and argues that the power of innovation is equal to the task of overcoming them--based on the history (and present) of innovation, as well as a theoretical understanding of what drives it. It's a brilliant book, and has gone straight into my top 10 of all time. I've written a full executive summary of the book available here: http://newbooksinbrief.com/2013/04/30...

Cheers,
Aaron

I finished The Power of Habit. It's mostly personal anecdotes. This is geared for general public consumption, so is light on the science of habits, and the how to change them. Nothing I didn't get better information on from my science news feeds.

BTW, the display of what the group is reading this month needs to be updated on Science & Inquiry's home page.

Aloha wrote: "I forgot to mention that I finished Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla: Biography of a Genius, next month's read. Terrific read!"

You beat the group. Do you have a review up yet?

Aloha wrote: "BTW, the display of what the group is reading this month needs to be updated on Science & Inquiry's home page."

Thanks for the heads up, Aloha.

Meenakshi wrote: "Aloha wrote: "I forgot to mention that I finished Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla: Biography of a Genius, next month's read. Terrific read!"

You beat the group. Do you have a review up..."

I haven't had time to write reviews lately, and there's this monster Proust review that is clogging the pipe. Wizard is a terrific book.

Betsy wrote: "Aloha wrote: "BTW, the display of what the group is reading this month needs to be updated on Science & Inquiry's home page."

Thanks for the heads up, Aloha."

You're welcome, Betsy.

I finished The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail - But Some Don't, another terrific read. He gives detailed and intelligent differences between over fitting the data in a prediction, and what is the most plausible scenario considering the complexity of events. This is going on my favorites list.

Aloha wrote: "Meenakshi wrote: "Aloha wrote: "I forgot to mention that I finished Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla: Biography of a Genius, next month's read. Terrific read!"

You beat the group. Do yo..."

That's alright. Will wait for it.

I just finished "How the Universe Got Its Spots" by Janna Levin. Overall, it was well-written, but the format didn't work for me. Interspersing thoughts about space-time, topology, etc. with her personal life left me happy it ended.

Thanks Kevin!

The Quantum Universe.

It's ok, but I much preferred *The Sun's Heartbeat*. It was entertaining and informative.

Just finished reading "Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us". It's a great read. Here is my review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Just about to start Wizard, this month's group read. Must say the number 542 (no. of pages) isn't helping.

Rohan wrote: "Just about to start Wizard, this month's group read. Must say the number 542 (no. of pages) isn't helping. ..."

I wouldn't worry about that. It's an engrossing read and will go quick.

Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us was first-rate. I recommend it.

I recently finished Packing for Mars and The Disappearing Spoon. They were both a lot of fun. I just checked out Spook from the library, and I'll probably get to that in the next week.

Not a book, a long article. Do No Harm: The People Who Amputate Their Perfectly Healthy Limbs, and the Doctors Who Help Them is a Kindle single or can be purchased as an audio book. It was very interesting and well written, but the author's sympathy for the sufferers of body integrity identity disorder was pretty obvious. Maybe that's good; the people were treated with respect. However, I felt that it was a little one-sided. Although the objections of the medical establishment were covered that coverage seemed brief and rather perfunctory. However, definitely worth reading.

Betsy wrote: "Not a book, a long article. Do No Harm: The People Who Amputate Their Perfectly Healthy Limbs, and the Doctors Who Help Them is a Kindle single or can be purchased as an audio book. It was very i..."

I've never heard of that! I'll have to look into that, although that is creepy.

I just got it. It's free on the Kindle.

I really enjoyed both Packing for Mars and Spook, and also Mary Roach's Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers.

I really enjoyed Stiff, too. We've read both that and Packing for Mars as group reads. I think Mary Roach is a favorite.

I just learned that Goodreads doesn't do well with discussions that have more than 500 posts, so I'm going to freeze this thread and start a new one as a continuation.

The new thread is at http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1....