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The stuff he writes about science is probably flawed but OK-ish. However, the stuff he writes about the scientists is ****ing hilarious. It's a great book.
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The genesis of the "evil Finn" concept- Evil, evil Finland -
Unfortuantely it doesn't do this very well either, because Bryson leaves out a lot of the theories which turned out to be wrong, and only gives really good coverage to the ones which in retorspect turned out to be right. It's biased towards a modern view of scientific progress.Originally posted by Sn00py
From what I gather, Bill has written it not from the perspective of himself, but from the perspectives of the minds that made the discoveries first. Which is a brilliant way of doing it, it makes the book unbiased, it shows you in a sort of step by step form how things progressed over time.
It also makes it easy to visualise what they understood back then, and what we understand now.
So yeah, his science isn't excellent, his history of science isn't excellent, but his descriptions of scientists is great.Concrete, Abstract, or Squoingy?
"I don't believe in giving scripting languages because the only additional power they give users is the power to create bugs." - Mike Breitkreutz, FiraxisComment
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Eh. You guys have intrigued me enough that I requested the book from the library. Should get it in about a month.12-17-10 Mohamed Bouazizi NEVER FORGET
Stadtluft Macht Frei
Killing it is the new killing it
Ultima Ratio RegumComment
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Am reading this now.
His first section on cosmology is full of holes and half-truths (too numerous and requiring too much detail to list here). He also makes some egregious errors in calculating "wow the Universe is big!" facts, including the one where he claims that in a model in which the Earth was the size of a pea that Pluto would be the size of a bacterium. There are others, but that one is the furthest off. In actuality in such a scale model Pluto would be about the size of a largish grain of sand.12-17-10 Mohamed Bouazizi NEVER FORGET
Stadtluft Macht Frei
Killing it is the new killing it
Ultima Ratio RegumComment
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List the half truths
"Compromises are not always good things. If one guy wants to drill a five-inch hole in the bottom of your life boat, and the other person doesn't, a compromise of a two-inch hole is still stupid." - chegitz guevara
"Bill3000: The United Demesos? Boy, I was young and stupid back then.
Jasonian22: Bill, you are STILL young and stupid."
"is it normal to imaginne dartrh vader and myself in a tjhreee way with some hot chick? i'ts always been my fantasy" - DisComment
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OH, HOW MY ILLUSIONS ABOUT THE UNIVERSE HAVE BEEN SO BRUTALLY SHATTERED!!!!!Originally posted by KrazyHorse
Am reading this now.
His first section on cosmology is full of holes and half-truths (too numerous and requiring too much detail to list here). He also makes some egregious errors in calculating "wow the Universe is big!" facts, including the one where he claims that in a model in which the Earth was the size of a pea that Pluto would be the size of a bacterium. There are others, but that one is the furthest off. In actuality in such a scale model Pluto would be about the size of a largish grain of sand.The genesis of the "evil Finn" concept- Evil, evil FinlandComment
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Hah. He mentions WMAP (the PI of which I work for, and whose data I spend my time analysing) on p. 170, but doesn't mention Bennett by name
The section on quantum physics is also a piece of crap.12-17-10 Mohamed Bouazizi NEVER FORGET
Stadtluft Macht Frei
Killing it is the new killing it
Ultima Ratio RegumComment
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No, because I'd heard all the stories before.12-17-10 Mohamed Bouazizi NEVER FORGET
Stadtluft Macht Frei
Killing it is the new killing it
Ultima Ratio RegumComment
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The biology/geology/paleontology ones were mainly new to me so they were good at least.
Bryson seems to me like a poor man's James Burke...12-17-10 Mohamed Bouazizi NEVER FORGET
Stadtluft Macht Frei
Killing it is the new killing it
Ultima Ratio RegumComment
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Take 45 university level classes in mathematics and physics and you'll have lots of time for amusing anecdotes too.Originally posted by Lazarus and the Gimp
All of them? Blimey.12-17-10 Mohamed Bouazizi NEVER FORGET
Stadtluft Macht Frei
Killing it is the new killing it
Ultima Ratio RegumComment
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J B S Haldane was the best. The bloke was certifiable.The genesis of the "evil Finn" concept- Evil, evil FinlandComment
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I'd believe it. Remember the undersea pipe which the crab got sucked through? A thread with the video was floating around here some where. Anyway supposedly the oil and natural gas pipelines are very high pressure so any break or damage would really suck. I believe the job is so dangerous and expensive to hire humans that now the oil companies mostly use robots.Originally posted by KrazyHorse
And some of the stuff is amazing. Divers getting sucked through pipes the size of garden hoses?
Horse****.
Edit: Drake found it. Also didn't Bill Bryson write "A Walk in the Woods"? I read that in 2000 and he jazzed me all up to do a really long hike like the Pacific Crest Trail or the Appalachian trail. Not that I actually did it.Try http://wordforge.net/index.php for discussion and debate.Comment
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Oerdin... this IS the thread you're talking about
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