Arbie's Unoriginally Titled Book Blog
It's a blog! Mainly of book reviews.
Currently reading
Reading progress update: I've read 166 out of 244 pages.
The final chapter is on applications. This means fusion reactors and "space physics"; what he really means is naturally occurring plasmas, which, since they constitute ~99% of "normal" matter, makes them of great scientific interest.
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Reading progress update: I've read 25 out of 42 pages.
The fact that classical electrodynamics did not need to be modified because of the advent of Special Relativity where-as Newtonian Mechanics did is fascinating. Feynman casually introduces tensors without bothering to tell you what they are until after the event - much like my school maths teacher explaining differentiation before telling us it what we were doing was known as Calculus.
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Reading progress update: I've read 160 out of 244 pages.
A brief excursion into the realms of plasma instrumentation - exactly how does one measure what the density, temperature or electromagnetic field is in a plasma? Fairly superficial coverage but better than nothing.
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Reading progress update: I've read 248 out of 400 pages.
Whodunnit? Bernie thinks he knows but won't tell anyone!
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Reading progress update: I've read 192 out of 414 pages.
Jonah can't hide; God stirs up a storm!
Once again the Pearl Poet demonstrates great powers of description.
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Reading progress update: I've read 124 out of 400 pages.
An inordinate amount of time and dialogue spent setting up Bernie's English Country House Mystery...
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Reading progress update: I've read 176 out of 346 pages.
Religion; this debate doesn't seem to have changed at all between then and now.
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The Burglar who Studied Spinoza, Lawrence Block
So I just picked up all the Burglar Books the 2nd hand bookshop in Fredericton had, which was the first and two other random members of the series. Circumstances have changed a bit between the first book and this; the supporting cast is completely different apart from Ray the corrupt cop, Bernie runs a 2nd hand bookshop of his own (a money-losing business) and seems to be less sexist. On the other hand he still burgles and still ends up having to solve a murder...
Bernie's adventures are still amusing but in this example are also a bit confusing...how did not end up arrested, again?
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Reading progress update: I've read 1139 out of 1344 pages.
Time comes along and eats up 16 years in less than a minute!
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Reading progress update: I've read 24 out of 42 pages.
And so I skip circuit theory, transmission lines and waveguides to move on to electromagnetism fromthe perspective of special relativity.
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Reading progress update: I've read 95 out of 244 pages.
There was an interesting section on energy transport in plasma waves which feels like it ought to be practically useful but I can't actually think of an application...cogitation needed.
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Reading progress update: I've read 180 out of 272 pages.
Il Conde.
Another mysterious character introduced at the dinner table.
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Reading progress update: I've read 106 out of 320 pages.
Well, well! Rhodenbarr commits a burglary and ends up involved in a murder investigation - again! One has to ignore the preposterousness in order to enjoy these.
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