ISP

[Josh Kortbein]

Alexander Hague writes:
>I was especially wondering what you would recommend as
>a text for study on Teutonic myth, vector physics
>(plus other science), and other topics (and their

As I've thus far shied away from critical sources on GR after
just having finished it this summer (I want a chance to reread it!),
I couldn't tell you what the "official" (heh) word is on science in GR.

Long answer:

But, speaking independently: I'm just finishing a math degree and
planning to go on to graduate school, to study logic. I do have some
background in physics, but no chemistry. This summer, some friends and
I read GR, and one of those friends is a materials engineer (sort of
like a fancy chemist, in ways).

We (even the non-scientists among us) were of the opinion that the
science didn't matter _that_ much to a reading of GR. Of course it
can add/detract in various ways, but if anything else I think that
a scientific viewpoint is just something readers can bring, or not
bring, to the book, just as they can for other kinds of knowledge/
viewpoints.

Given that, sources on science won't really add much to your reading,
IMO. Conceivably, you could be reading actual (whatever level) science
texts, or books _about_ science as a practice, maybe even stuff from
the philosophy of science (perhaps critical of science). The science
texts won't help - it takes far more than a quick read through a text
to understand the scientific outlook. And as for the other texts,
I'm of the opinion that while they sometimes provide useful critiques,
they often misunderstand the scientific viewpoint, which I don't think
would be helpful for your reading.

I think the MOST help some technical information could be would be
in the matter, barely at the beginning of the book, where Pointsman
finds that the bombs fall over London according to a Poisson distribution.
And this, only because that is sort of odd, and understanding what
a Poisson distribution is might help one appreciate that oddness.
But only a little. It's not that important.

Short answer:

I don't think books on science will help you that much.

In fact, I'm all for making your first reading a "solo" effort -
just you (and maybe some friends) and the book. These other details
will just obscure things at first.




Josh

PS: "Vector physics" isn't AFAIK, a discipline of physics. Vectors
are a concept ("magnitude" with "direction") often USED in physics.
They're also used in mathematics, unsurprisingly, as in those areas
math and physics share a lot.

-- 
Following the tour, Mercury Rev again went their separate ways; its
members found menial jobs, moved in with their parents, or earned
money by participating in medical experiments.
     - from the AMG