It'll be very quiet here for the next few weeks. Even though I'm not in school, summer break is not a bad idea.
Not sure what I'll be doing for my break reading. Thoughts about good summer reading, for me or others, welcome.
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Thoughts and notes on science from another blogging Grumbine.
Welcome
I'll be trying what seems to be an unusual approach in blogs -- writing to be inclusive of students in middle school and jr. high*, as well as teachers and parents (whether for their own information or to help their children). To that end, comments will have to pass a stricter standard than I'd apply for an all-comers site. It shouldn't be onerous, just keep to the topic and use clean language.
I expect it to be fun for all, however, as you really can get quite far in understanding the world, even climate, by understanding this sort of fundamental. If I get too much less fundamental, let me know where I went astray.
* Ok, I concede that not many middle school students will get everything. Even a fair number of adults will find some parts hard to follow. Still, some middle school kids will have fun. And almost everyone will follow a number of posts just fine.
Please see the comment policy for details. And the link policy for details about that. The latter is more open than you might expect.
I expect it to be fun for all, however, as you really can get quite far in understanding the world, even climate, by understanding this sort of fundamental. If I get too much less fundamental, let me know where I went astray.
* Ok, I concede that not many middle school students will get everything. Even a fair number of adults will find some parts hard to follow. Still, some middle school kids will have fun. And almost everyone will follow a number of posts just fine.
Please see the comment policy for details. And the link policy for details about that. The latter is more open than you might expect.
Translate
Posts
Share this blog
Science Links
Blogroll
-
-
-
-
Operationalizing Climate Science3 days ago
-
Historicism4 days ago
-
-
-
-
Climate Rocks Again9 months ago
-
-
-
-
Labels
doing science
(66)
project folder
(53)
sea ice
(46)
meta
(40)
being a scientist
(31)
mathematics
(31)
weeding sources
(30)
climate
(29)
misc
(23)
questions
(23)
modelling
(21)
reading
(21)
climate change
(16)
observations
(14)
weather
(14)
health
(13)
blogs
(12)
politics
(12)
running
(12)
concepts
(11)
data
(11)
astronomy
(10)
history
(9)
science
(9)
philosophy
(8)
temperature
(7)
young scientists
(7)
greenhouse
(6)
oceanography
(6)
antarctic
(5)
co2
(5)
genealogy
(5)
ice
(5)
Arctic
(4)
atmosphere
(4)
pseudoscience
(4)
sea level
(4)
spectating
(4)
sst
(4)
biology
(3)
experiments
(3)
ice age
(3)
media
(3)
recommendations
(3)
scientists
(3)
technology
(3)
travel
(3)
computers
(2)
earthquake
(2)
elements
(2)
engineering
(2)
evolution
(2)
ice sheet
(2)
international
(2)
news
(2)
opportunities
(2)
prediction
(2)
unreliable
(2)
clouds
(1)
faqs
(1)
lakes
(1)
laurentide
(1)
numerics
(1)
research discussion
(1)
satellites
(1)
About Me
- Robert Grumbine
- In my day job I work on the oceanography, meteorology, climatology, glaciology end of my science interests, but I'm interested in everything, science or not. So I've also been on stage in a production of Comedy of Errors, run an ultramarathon, and been to Epidaurus, Greece, to see a production of Euripides' Iphigenia among the Taurians Prior to starting the current job, I was a post-doc in oceanography in the UCAR ocean modelling program, and earned my doctorate from the Department of the Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago (1989). My undergraduate degree involved Applied Math, Engineering, Astrophysics, and Glaciology. Of course I don't speak for my employer, whoever that may be.
7 comments:
I still thing the best book I have read recently is The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, friend of Benoit Mandelbrot. Every scientist with a mathematical training should read it.
Another good read is a classic that you may not have heard of - Extraordinary Popular Delusions & the Madness of Crowds" by Charles Mackay (1840).
It begins "The personal character and career of one man are so intimately connected with the great scheme of the years 1719 and 1720, that a history of the Mississippi madness can have no fitter introduction than a sketch of the life of its great author John Law."
John Law introduced paper money into France, with similar results to those that occurred later when plastic money was introduced into the Western World.
Will we never learn :-(
Cheers,Alastair.
Thanks Alastair. I have read Mackay's Extraordinary Popular Delusions & the Madness of Crowds". I'll definitely second the recommendation to others as well.
One of these days, I'll get the Black Swan read.
I've been meaning to write a proper review, but will give mention now to Greg Craven's What's the worst that could happen?
UK - centered I know, but Silent Summer from Cambridge University Press may be of interest:
http://www.cambridge.org/uk/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521519663
Enjoy your break.
Chris S.
if you like lighter reading, been reading Reynolds recently. pretty hard, but still quite operatic scifi. not very many inconsistensies with the real world.
jyyh
a long time favorite of mine is 'definitely maybe' by strugatski brothers.
If you're a politics junkie, I recommend "Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime" by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin.
"The Emerald Planet" by David Beerling, Professor of Paleoclimatology at Sheffield University and Scholar at Yale would make a light summer read, and the 60 pages of scholarly notes could be studied on a second winter reading.
He shows how the evolution of plants fit into the new paradigm of Earth System Science.
Cheers, Alastair.
Post a Comment