Book: God's Equation

[iceman (Mike)]

I just finished reading this book, called "God's Equation", by Amir D. Aczel (a mathematician).

Quite an interesting book - focused on Einstein, and his life and work around the field equation, and the general theory of relativity.

It's aimed at a general audience, but quite of a lot of it is Math's heavy and a lot of the explanations and theories went over my head. Still, I found it a very interesting read, learning about Einstein's life, and how he tried to prove the equation (unsuccessfuly) during the Solar eclipse of 1914.

It was Eddington in 1919 who used another Solar Eclipse to prove the equation, but taking photos of the background stars in Hydra during totality, and measured them against plates developed at other times to see how the position of the stars changed as light was "bent" around the massive object (the sun).

Some good information about modern cosmological thinking towards the back (the book was written in 1999, so it's a little outdated already).

I found a short (good) review here.

Not a bad read, especially if you're into cosmology and have some understanding of the maths and theories involved.

[stephenmcnelley]

Thanks for the quick post and reminder on that book Mike.. just one of too many that i keep vowing to read..

Have recently read a fantastic book titled 'The life and death of planet Earth'

Which basically dwelves into the new field of astrobiology. Cant remeber authors, but it was a joint effort between astronomers and biologists put simply. Not much maths in it but it really highlights the biological evolution of planets and solar systems from acreation disks stages to the systems eventual demise. They extrapolate on current knowledge to predict what will occur and when in a planets overall life, particularly the Earth. Scary stuff in many ways, and top reading in a not overly technical style.

[Shawn]

Have ither of you read any of Velikovsky's books, Someone suggested they are are good read, ?

...

[gaa_ian (Ian)]

Both sound like great books, the "Gods Equation" sounds a little overly mathamatical for me, but the life & death of planet earth" got me to thinking ?
If this cycle of birth & death of a planet is all part of the natural cycle, then perhaps our urge to explore beyond our own planet is something programmed deep within our genetic make up
An inbuilt survival mechanism that at some point in the evolution of our species, becomes active in certain individuals , so that even it takes Millenia to achieve it, we will eventually find a way to travel to the nearest star with a habitable planet .......
Then again it could just be the inner trekkie coming out in me

[stephenmcnelley]

Nah, that doesnt sound to trecky Ian, what you say does make logical sense in many ways- hard to prove- but logical and rational.

The old saying- You will know the tree by the fruit it bares- could be applied to biological life forms perhaps. If we are the Earths fruit then we all feel a part of the cosmos i would guess, so why wouldnt we go out into it eventually and further evolve and become more efficient along the way if all goes well.

Seems we will have no choise anyhow, one thing the astrobiology book had was a satellite image of the sun blasting the H2O away from our planet, we are getting slowly drier by the day as a planet.

[avandonk]

Another worth reading is Paul Davies book 'The Goldilocks Enigma' or why is the Universe just right for life. I bought at the same time Richard Dawkins new book 'The God Delusion'.

It is difficult to understand that before Einstein and the foundations of Quantum Mechanics the Universe was thought of in terms of Newtonian Mechanics. Utterly predictable due to the clockwork interpretation. Hence the ideas of predermination and or fate.

Are we stuck in our own paradigm? Almost certainly!

Bert

[gaa_ian (Ian)]

Thanks Stephen, makes sense to me too !
It is bound to happen eventually (leaving this planet behind that is )

[paninaro]

Yes, can't wait to get off this planet, I have always considered it a bit of a galactic backwater. I am sure there are much more fun places to be out there in the universe, I once saw a documentary on space, it was called "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy".

[neB]

Paul Davies has written a bunch of books in this area: About Time (on Einstein), Mind of God, Edge of Infinity, Are we alone.

Haven't read Goldilocks yet, but the above are all good reads.

[stephenmcnelley]

Originally Posted by paninaro

Yes, can't wait to get off this planet, I have always considered it a bit of a galactic backwater. I am sure there are much more fun places to be out there in the universe, I once saw a documentary on space, it was called "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy".

LOL... But i dont think i agree, this is a great place to be just now.

I think we can safely assume that Ian's and my musings take into account the fact that we will all be dust before any substantial evolution or migration of our species occurs.