The Science of Doctor Who by Paul Parsons

Title: The Science of Doctor Who
Author:  Paul Parsons 
Genre:  Non-Fiction
Length:  307 Pages
Weight:  1.2 lbs
Date of Completion:  February 23, 2013

Thoughts:

This is one of many science-related books that I love to read.  Although not as technical as Kip Thorne or framed as nicely as Neil DeGrasse Tyson, I loved it.  As a hard-core Whovian, it was interesting to read about how the "science" of a science fiction television show might not be so far from reality.  Parsons does a great job of keeping the book light and stays away from majorly in-depth explanations of certain scientific explanations.  But, in doing so, it follows the same path as many science-for-the-non-scientist books do.  At times, (especially on topics that I had greater understanding) I felt as though the author dumbs down the science to where it isn't science anymore and at times almost misrepresents some of the material in order to keep is more accessible.  

Those complaints aside, I did love the book.  As opposed to some other science related books I've read (such as The Physics of Star Trek by Lawrence M. Krauss), this book explores further topics of biology, chemistry and engineering, instead of just physics.  It takes many of the far-fetched ramblings of a writer with a decent imagination and explains that while we will never get exactly what the Doctor ordered, some of the ideas are based in fact.  Rather clever if I do say so myself.  

Reading books like this reminds me why I got into physics, and science in general, in the first place.  Is speaks to the imagination of a human consensus and decision to push beyond that into the unknown.  We chase after the impossible with logic and hope.  It encompasses the way that Doctor Who tugs at my heart (besides when RTD and Moffitt make me cry).  Like Galileo, Kepler and hundreds before me, I too was filled with wonder and awe when I gazed up at the night sky.  Stars and galaxies shown, illuminating my eyes and imagination with light from a hundred, thousand lifetimes ago.  As a frontier of human knowledge, space represents the vast unknown into which we expand, and it calls to the explorer in all of us.  My heart reaches out to answer that same call, and I know that I will always ache for the vast and incomprehensible beauty of the universe stretching out before my eyes.   

The Sorcerer's Companion by Allan Zola Kronzek & Elizabeth Kronzek

Title: The Sorcerer's Companion:  A Guide to the Magical World of Harry Potter
Authors:  Allan Zola Kronzek & Elizabeth Kronzek
Genre:  Fantasy
Length:  286 pages
Weight:  1.4 lbs
Date of Completion:  February 17, 2013

Thoughts:


There are a huge variety of Harry Potter-related books on the market.  This one has no official affiliation with  J.K. Rowling or her publishing company, and is really just associated with the world she created.  Technically, this book is formatted like an encyclopedia;  it goes alphabetically through the creatures and people that make up Harry's world and explains their historical context and importance.  This would be the perfect time to insert some joke about how reading this book equates, therefore, to reading an encyclopedia.  As some would note, this is not so far out of reach for me.  Case-and-Point:  I am the only person I know who has actually read the Simarillion.

This is nowhere near as dry.  While not the most academic or in-depth reference, I found it entertaining and fun to read.  The content of the book, as well as the organization, made it a great bedside companion.  I was able to read a few sections every night before bed without feeling that continuous pull to continue that often accompanies a novel.  For a book my Mom got at a library sale for 50 cents, I think it was a great deal.

A Dream of Armageddon by H G Wells

Title:  A Dream of Armageddon:  The Complete Supernatural Tales
Author:  H.G. Wells
Genre:  Sf/Fantasy
Length:  363 pages
Weight:  1.5 lbs
Date of Completion:  February 9, 2013

Thoughts:

I have always loved to read Wells.  He has an impeccable command of the English language and is a great writer.  More than that, though, he is a storyteller.  This book is a compilation of Wells' short stories, and a large majority are told from either a first person POV or a retelling of what occurred to another person (as was told to him).  The tales range from slightly macabre to humorous and are full of supernatural themes.  Wells is a master of the sensible and thrilling as he pursues the illogic of fantasy to its logical extreme.  As a series of short, unrelated stories, this is the type of book I like to keep by my bedside; it can be read all at once, or in short snippets, as time permits.  I definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes science fiction!

Read Your Weight in Books

I have a confession to make.  I am a class A bookworm and bibliophile-have been since birth.  There are few things in the world more wonderful and fulfilling than to be able to dive between the covers of a book and disappear from the world.  It is a practice as necessary to my survival as breathing.  If you were to search my backpack or purse, you would find at least one poetry book and one novel in my possession at all times.  My first purchase of nearly every paycheck is a new book, even if I haven't finished the one I am currently working on.  This results in an ever evolving stack of 4-5 books "in-progress" scattered around my house and car.  My nightstand, dresser, and desk are covered with battered copies of Jane Eyre and the latest Orson Scott Card.  The bookshelf is overflowing; books stacked two deep and piled on top.  I'd say I suffer from bibliophilia, but in truth, I love every minute of it.

I take pride in my obsession hobby and the volume of literary materials I consume.  In the words of Barbara W. Tuchman "books are the carriers of civilization...They are companions, teachers, magicians, bankers of the treasures of the mind.  Books are humanity in print."  There are also studies that show direct, positive correlation of  intelligence (as well as vocabulary size) to the amount of time an individual spends reading.  As an individual who places a great amount of importance on intelligence and literary competency, a passion for reading is both necessary and fitting.

I've never been big on the whole "new year's resolutions" thing, but this year I found one that I think I have to try.  While trolling Pinterest (biggest time suck known to man), I came across a funny pin with a tagline that read "Most literary doctors say you should read your weight in books-every year."  My initial response was nod and agree. I, of course, made the internal assumption that I was meeting this recommendation.  When I matched my annual book consumption against a scale, however, I found myself sadly lacking.  I was horrified and stunned.

Somewhere between work, college and social activities, my precious books had slid down my priorities list; no longer was reading in a constant battle against the need to sleep.  Instead, it had come to rest somewhere between watching a movie and surfing the internet.  I experienced that unpleasant, but necessary revelation that perhaps I was spending too much of my time attached to my computer and my phone. In the process of becoming a more extroverted person, I don't believe that I have to give up my bookish tendencies.  I'd much rather give up Facebook than a piece of my soul.  There is much more to be found between the pages of a book than on any back-lit screen.  (This would be a good time to explain that I'm also a purist-I prefer REAL books over any Kindle, eReader or tablet.  There is something more about the feel, the smell, the comforting weight of a book.  It feels more old fashioned that way, more honest.)

Ashamed, I turned to the nearest book on my nightstand and refused to reappear until I felt more like the bookworm I profess to be.  As expected, this resulted with a finished book at 2 am.  However, as any book lover worth their binding will tell you, staying up till all hours of the night to finish a book is ALWAYS worth it.  In the weeks that followed, I re-organized my books and my 4,000+ title long to-read list-no mean feat, I can tell you.  I plan to use this blog, if I can figure out how, to chronicle everything I read this year.  I'll keep an updated list of what I have read (and comments about the books) and what I am currently reading.  My scale doesn't register the weight of a single paperback, so I'm still working on how to record the weight.  I found that using a kitchen scale, or finding the shipping weight of the book on Amazon are the best ways to keep track of the book weight.  I hope that by the close of this year, I will see a re-emergence of the girl who used to get in trouble because she would sneak a book into class, instead of the woman who has momentarily forgot who she really is.

Wish me luck and happy reading!

“You should date a girl who reads.

Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes, who has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag. She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she has found the book she wants. You see that weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a secondhand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow and worn.

She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee.

Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas, for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry and in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.

She has to give it a shot somehow.

Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.

Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who read understand that all things must come to end, but that you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.

Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilight series.

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.

Or better yet, date a girl who writes.”

― Rosemarie Urquico

In Defense of Harry Potter

We found the Sorcerer's stone,
We entered the Chamber of Secrets,
We freed the Prisoner of Azkban,
We entered our names in the Goblet of Fire,
We fought alongside the Order of the Phoneix,
.We discovered the Half-Blood Prince,
We mastered the Deathly Hallows,
With pride and love, we are the Harry Potter generation.
It will never die, but live on through us.
There is now, and will always be magic in the world because of Harry Potter.

 I recently had a friend tell me that it was sad to say that Harry Potter was the defining moment of our generation.  My first, knee-jerk reaction was that he was just a jealous muggle.  But after much thought, I came to a more logical and consicse argument.:

What else would you have define it? Jersey Shore, Teen Mom or any other ridiculous and embarrassing TV shows? The current economic crisis? Decreased marriage rates and rising suicide occurrence? Faceook/Myspace/Twitter? It is true that there are great technological and scientific advancements that could also "define" our generation, and I would whole-heartedly agree with such sentiments. But saying that Harry Potter defines a generation does not mean to the exclusion of those things.
In defense of Harry Potter, if it were a primary thing that could be said defines our generation, I would not think it sad in the slightest. First because it is first and foremost a book. In a world that is fast becoming indiscriminately (and not in a bad way) intertwined with technology, the fact that a book is primarily reaching its audience in the form of literal printed word is never a bad thing. In fact, it is a true testament to its literary heritage. This series has had a phenomenal influence on literacy rates and school work as well as increasing the interest of the general population (specifically children, teens and young adults) in the written world. About 450 million copies of Rowling’s novels are in circulation in almost every language under the sun. She has inspired our generation to pick up a book and read again! (In a slightly scientific side note, it has also been shown in several research studies that an increase in fluency and literacy, which come from an increase in reading, are directly related to increased “intelligence” as is classified by academic achievement and academic interest.)
Second, the simple but constant messages of this story have left a lasting impression on those who participated in the phenomena. Harry Potter is about hope, courage, friendship, self-sacrifice, family, loyalty, hard work, choosing good in the face of evil, and above all love, not just for our friends but also compassion for our enemies and those considered of less worth by society. In a world constantly bombarded by the media with deceit, hatred, intolerance, greed and cruelty, this is a surprising and most welcome change. There are all sorts of charities, organized, funded and run by our peers striving to apply this series towards changing the world. With mottos like “love is our weapon,” and acting to help the down-trodden of society (donations of thousands of books, raising money for Haiti and Darfur, etc.), Harry Potter has given a “raison d’etre” for our generation to stand and fight for what is good in the world.

Marathon

I have realized recently that my masochistic streak may be getting out of hand. I say this because a little over a month ago, I ran a full marathon. I have never been a fan of running-in fact it has been one of my least favorite activities since I was little. Although I could probably link this to a few rather terrible experiences on junior league soccer teams, I have never cared to develop the talent or skill of a runner.
However, when my brother ran the St. George Marathon after he came home from his mission, it inspired me to try. I do have to admit that part of it was because I couldn't stand to be one-upped by him either. Having zero experience in training to run period, let alone train for an endurance event, it was a quite a journey for the first few forays I made into running. I entered my name in the lottery for the St. George Marathon the following summer(2009), and was not selected. As I had just begun my training regimen, and was not liking it very much, I wasn't heartbroken to be handed an excuse to stop.
Alas, I had another friend plan to try again for the next summer (2010) as well, and I began a much more serious attempt to articulate a schedule and diet plan. As fate would have it, I was selected to participate in the SGM that summer, and jumped head first into it. I was not prepared, and was taking a full course of summer classes while working full time. I was miserable, and after consulting with my parents, I decided to drop out. I felt like a failure. I don't quit anything I start, if I can help it.
All of this brings me to about last February (2011). Having officially added "run a marathon" to my bucket list the previous year, and with the fresh and painful humiliation (in my perspective) of having to quit the year before, I was once again contemplating a marathon. Ironically enough, in the intervening time I had never really kept up any sort of running training or entered myself in other events. It never occurred to me that this would be the intelligent and most helpful course of action during the interim.
I found a training buddy and, with the help of the internet and several expert opinions, I came up with a 27 week training plan that allowed me to start from scratch. By the time I could enter the lottery (for the third year in a row) I was just starting to hit my stride in the programs and was experiencing my first real "long runs." I feel the need to reiterate my feelings towards running at this point. They are still the same as they were 4 years ago. I don't like running, and it took every ounce of willpower I possessed to force myself out of bed, early in the morning to train. But I was far enough into the plan that I wanted to finish what I had started. But silly, naive little me: I had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into.
When I was not picked in the lottery, I found myself in a dire situation. I needed to find a full marathon that wasn't half-way across the country that I could run in that fit into a 2 week window I had planned into my schedule. In a stroke of perfect luck, I found the Layton Marathon, which was exactly a week after St. George.  With a little bit of wiggling I was able to readjust my training schedule to accommodate the change, and I keep moving forward.
Unfortunately, that is the best that could be said for some of my runs.  I finished them.  When I started hitting distances like 15, 16, 17, it literally became my goal simply to finish the distance, be it at a run, jog, walk or crawl.  Fortunately, I never had to crawl home, but there were times when I wished I could have.  I sacrificed sleeping and other creature comforts that I had grown to love over the summer that I couldn't otherwise indulge in during school.  I finally began to understand what all of my long distance runner friends meant about how disgusting their feet were.  At one point, I had blisters on every toe of both of my feet.  Sometimes there would be blisters on top of blisters.  )It took quite a while of this before I realized that cotton socks are the devil!)
My family thought I was crazy, but they supported me anyway.  Even when it meant I had to miss out on things and went running when we were on vacation.  By the time I started tapering, my body still hated me for running, but I was much better than when I started.  As is my luck, on my last long run (20 miles) I was nearly unable to complete it--my left knee hurt so bad by the time I finished I was limping.  After tapering and freaking out for two weeks that I was actually going to have to run 26.2 miles, I found that my race day had come at last.
I had to meet up to catch a bus to the place we had to meet to catch a bus to the start line at 4:30 AM.  I guess it was a good think I had been awake since 3 AM.  It was freezing cold and rainy driving all the way out to Antelope Island to the start, and I realized during the 40 minute ride (during which they got lost at least twice and had to turn around) that the only way I was getting of this dreary and smelly island was to run the 26.2 miles back.  I was officially past the point of no return.
As a small blessing, I made friends with the woman who I sat next to on the bus.  She turned out to be an experienced marathoner who had even run St. George the week before.  With her assurances that I would do fine, she graciously kept me company as we stood in the freezing drizzle for 45 min.  I find it incredibly ironic that a group of people who are planning on running 26.2 miles are made to stand around for nearly an hour before the beginning of the race.  Great way to save your legs....
We parted ways with a quick hug and wished each other luck as the race began.  And thus I commenced what would become the most challenging experience of my life (to that point).  It was monotonous and etched with lake stink, and the gray sky did nothing to lift my mood.  I did reasonably well until I reached the halfway point.  To realize that I was only halfway done at that point was disheartening and only served to increased my bad mood which was creeping up with the return of my knee pain.  This pain got worse and worse until it became almost unbearable, ~17.5 miles into the race.  My pace slowed to a pitiful jog/walk and I watched others I had self-righteously judged myself to finish before now pass me.  As I neared the 20 mile mark, I hit what could only be "the wall."  As I hadn't encountered it in my long runs before, I had no idea what to expect.  I was freezing cold, wet, exhausted, starving, light-headed, and all I wanted to do was sit down and cry.
I may be a crazy, enthusiastic, slightly spastic, masochistic, and borderline insane, but I am not a quitter.  So I did not give up, but kept putting one foot in front of the other, crying the whole time.  When my parents drove by to cheer me on, I think I yelled at them to go away.  I knew if they stayed even a second more, I would crumble and tell them to take me home while I tried to forget that I had ever had this crazy idea to run a marathon.  I guess they took the hint, because I finished the race without another sight of them.
When I rounded the corner in to the park, and the finish line was in sight, I blasted the most pump-up song I could find on my play list and tried to run.  My knee almost gave out twice.  I couldn't hear a thing when I finally crossed under the arch, but according to my mom, they announcer over the loud speaker who I was, and that I was finishing my first full marathon.  At that point I didn't really care.  I took the medal they handed me and literally collapsed on my mother, sobbing.
I managed to hobble to the first aid tent, where they gave me a big bag of ice for my knee, and it was all a blur going home.  I do remember asking my dad to stop for Arby's--I got curly fries.  It was the first time I had eaten anything from a fast food restaurant in close to a year.  Apparently in my delirium I made a comment to athletic trainer on how I couldn't believe that people chose to do this for fun.  With my experience, I vehemently stated that I would never do it again.
Since then, I have received some treatment for my knee (severe IT band syndrome and popliteal tendonitis), and might be able to start training again soon.  Its funny, but I find that I miss running just a little.  But I have a hard time owning to it, and will deny it if you ask.
So, in the end, I was able to cross "run a marathon" off my bucket list.  I told myself that this was a once-in-a-lifetime thing that I NEVER wanted to do again.....which means I'll probably talk myself into running another one next summer.