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Totul Are O Explicatie (vol.1) (2013)

by John Brockman(Favorite Author)

3.68 of 5 Votes: 1

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Nemira

review 1: This book is chock full of all of the fascinating scientific ideas I read about when I was younger, PLUS dozens more that opened my mind and made me want to learn more. I dog-eared the heck out of this one.Some of the entries are dry, but overall, most of the writers did a good job of explaining their favorite theories in layman's terms. (I still don't quite grasp the theory of relativity, but that's a failure on my part).Editor Brockman did a great job of arranging the 200+ entries into a logical flow of intriguing topics.
review 2: Contrary to what the title implies, reading this book may not lead to satisfied feelings of "Oh, I get it. That really does explain everything." It incites as many questions as it answers.And candidly, that may be why I rated it on... morely a 3 - not because it lacks value, but because reading it takes some work. In the book, researchers, other academics and experts tell us things like: how electricity and magnetism are two sides of the same coin, and why it's cool; why species with two sexes tend to have 50/50 male-female ratios, and why that's a stable strategy in evolution; why it's bad strategy to "plan for the worst" by only referencing the worst *past* experience, not considering the worst *possible* one that might await; what kind of theorizing might unify quantum physics with more classical physics; why epigenetic stuff (molecules and processes that turn genes "on" and "off") are sooo important, etc.Also, many of the contributors love to talk about natural selection. A lot. And even when they don't choose it as their topic, they refer to it. Congratulations, Darwin and Wallace.The tough part about reading this book comes if you're not an expert... and you can't be - not in everything here. While some writers do an excellent job of explaining or skirting jargon, some do not. So reading the book may be an exercise in humility, if you're like me - someone who hates to feel ignorant but, well, is just that about some topics.Give the book a try, if only to give yourself new Google quests. And if you're a current science student, focusing day-to-day on some of these research frontiers, definitely try reading this. Use it to bother your professors. less

Download links for: Totul are o explicatie (vol.1)

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