XPost: alt.usage.english, rec.arts.sf.written, rec.arts.books   
   From: snidely.too@gmail.com   
      
   Remember  Thursday, when  Peter Moylan asked plainitively:   
   > On 12/09/13 16:36, Snidely wrote:   
   >> on 7/25/2013, Steve Hayes supposed :   
   >>> On Thu, 25 Jul 2013 07:37:58 +0800, Robert Bannister   
   >>>    
   >>> wrote:   
   >>>   
   >>>> I would have thought that most people who read SF&F are aware that   
   >>>> FTL, time travel, telepathy, etc. do not work and cannot work. Back   
   >>>> when I was twelve, these were all thought to be possibilities.   
   >>>> Moreover, although only a few really knew the details of real science   
   >>>> at the time, it was possible to understand the broad ideas, and   
   >>>> Asimov and others spent a lot of time explaining them. Modern science   
   >>>> is way beyond the imagination of those not involved.   
   >>   
   >> Hmmm.  I'm not sure that Stephen Hawking is that hard to read, at least   
   >> in _A Brief History of Time_ and _The Universe in a Nutshell_.  I've   
   >> only dabbled in George Gamow, but his books made an impression on the   
   >> public, especially the public that was buying science fiction.   
   >   
   > I've read Hawking, but I've also met many people who gave up on his   
   > books, as being too difficult to understand.   
   >   
   > When we understand something ourselves, we don't always appreciate why   
   > other people can't follow it.   
      
   I don't claim to understand everything on the first read-through.  But   
   it is still pretty readable.  The general dirft of the argument is   
   clearly presented, even if the details don't always get assimilated in   
   one gulp.  And he has sense of humor that appeals to mine.   
      
   I do admit that I haven't read enough Feynman.  Mainly one of his books   
   of personal anecdotes.  There's a lecture series he did at a school   
   across the country from Cal Tech that I've seen a fair amount of, on   
   Youtube IIRC, but I missed his little red book even though a classmate   
   was finding it helpful.  (Our official textbook had Wheeler as one of   
   the authors, but it was a freshman text, so not a direct jump into a   
   black hole.  In fact, the cover was orange.) (( RF's little red book   
   had just come out in paperback, I think.  And though I was over a 1000   
   miles from Cal Tech at the time, I think the Physics students there had   
   stopped wearing ties.))   
      
      
   OT:  I follow the major (US) sports on a casual basis, but with enough   
   attention that this fellow's name caught my eye and ear:   
      
      
   However, he seems to favor west coasts for upbringing as well as career   
   moves.   
      
   /dps   
      
   --   
    Maybe C282Y is simply one of the hangers-on, a groupie following a   
   future guitar god of the human genome: an allele with undiscovered   
   virtuosity, currently soloing in obscurity in Mom's garage.   
     Bradley Wertheim,  theAtlantic.com, Jan 10 2013   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)