[FRIAM] two books

[Frank Wimberly]

We decided that The Road to Reality was unreadable because it's neither
here nor there.  It was very Advanced without being mathematical enough.
Kind of like a long badly written Scientific American article.

To make a long story short, we finally read Gauge Fields, Knots and Gravity
by John Baez more or less successfully.  The first part of the book covers
manifolds, differential forms and, in general, the math you need for
general relativity and quantum field theory.  If you want another opinion
ask Jon Zingale or Barry Mackichan.

Frank

Or travel back in time and ask Hywel.
-----------------------------------
Frank Wimberly

My memoir:
https://www.amazon.com/author/frankwimberly

My scientific publications:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Frank_Wimberly2

Phone (505) 670-9918

On Tue, Dec 4, 2018, 11:21 PM Nick Thompson <nickthompson at earthlink.net
wrote:

> Hi, Dave,
>
> Missed this note the first time.  Frank and Hywel had a go at this a couple
> of years ago, and I bought the book and tried to join them.  Whew!  It was
> at that point I gave up on the notion that I could read anything if I tried
> hard enough.  Hywel has since died, but I think there was at least one
> other
> person involved, who, with Frank, might be able to give you some guidance.
>
> Nick
>
> Nicholas S. Thompson
> Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology
> Clark University
> http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Friam [mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com] On Behalf Of Prof David
> West
> Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2018 10:26 AM
> To: friam at redfish.com
> Subject: [FRIAM] two books
>
> I just finished reading What is Real? by Adam Becker. A straightforward
> discussion of Quantum Physics and the "Copenhagen Interpretation," and the
> arguments surrounding it. it offers an indirect but scathing study of how
> science is really done and how far the practice of science is from the
> ideal
> of a "scientific method." Also an interesting discussion of the
> relationship
> between 'science' and 'phi8losophy'. Might be of interest to several
> FRIAMers.
>
> Starting to read Roger Penrose's, The Road to Reality: a complete guide tot
> he laws of the universe. I would really like some advice / comments from
> the
> mathematicians in the community as to the value of the book and the likely
> hood that I might gain sufficient understanding of manifolds, symmetry
> groups, etc. etc. to understand some of the conversations on the list and
> at
> the mother church.
>
> dave west
>
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> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
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