|
|
|
comradebillyboy
Skeptic Friend
USA
188 Posts |
 Posted - 07/29/2001 : 19:38:10 [Permalink]
|
quote:
Ok me only 14 makes me sound like a dummy when I talk about this stuff b/c I dont know as much as the rest of you here, but I still wanted to get my lick in.
-Megan-
I only do what the voices in my head tell me to do.
megan, you are off to a very good start. intellectual curiosity, a skeptical view of what you look at, willingness to engage in discussion with folks who may know more than you, asking questions-bravo. not enough of my students share those qualities. you certainly have my respect, for what its worth.
try john gribben's "in search of the big bang". a very readable discussion of the big bang and the undelying physical ideas. it will also give a very nice overview of modern physics.
comrade billyboy
Edited by - comradebillyboy on 07/29/2001 19:43:24 |
 |
|
|
The Bad Astronomer
Skeptic Friend
137 Posts |
Posted - 07/30/2001 : 14:24:11 [Permalink]
|
quote:
try john gribben's "in search of the big bang".
However, do not read Gribben's "The Jupiter Effect" unless you are ready for a romp through truly bad science. I kept having to pick my jaw up off the floor that a professional astronomer would say such outrageous things in a book. Maybe after 30 years I should forgive him for writing such a thing, but when his predictions of L.A. being destroyed by earthquakes didn't come true in 1982, he wrote a sequel claiming the effects were felt earlier, in 1980. Amazing.
*****
The Bad Astronomer
badastro@badastronomy.com
http://www.badastronomy.com
|
|
|
|
Zandermann
Skeptic Friend
USA
431 Posts |
Posted - 07/30/2001 : 14:33:15 [Permalink]
|
quote:
However, do not read Gribben's "The Jupiter Effect" unless you are ready for a romp through truly bad science.
chuckle...I had forgotten about The Jupiter Effect...truly nonsensical.
Megan, you might try Timothy Ferris' The Whole Shebang if you're feeling adventurous.
|
|
|
|
Megan
Skeptic Friend
USA
163 Posts |
Posted - 07/31/2001 : 12:44:36 [Permalink]
|
Thank you everyone for replying. I think that it would be hard for someone to explain how this whole thing got started!! Especially if no one really knows!
I will see if I can get ahold on some of those books you guys recommended, sounds interesting.
-Megan-
I only do what the voices in my head tell me to do. |
|
|
|
ljbrs
SFN Regular
USA
842 Posts |
Posted - 08/05/2001 : 09:13:40 [Permalink]
|
Megan:
A lot is known. The information is taken from observations and the theory is based upon observations. Although there are many ideas about other universes, I usually pay little attention to these, because there is never going to be any way of beginning to check on them. However, the accelerating universe (at least in our part of the *Universe* -- which means *everything there is*, by definition) seems to be holding its own. The astrophysicists who discovered the accelerating universe were actually looking for the opposite thing -- for a slowing down of the universe, perhaps eventually coming to a big crunch. Were they surprised! So, I trust the groups involved, because they are going with their observations and checking and rechecking them.
I have been interested in these things since I was very young -- before I was three, at least. I never remember a time when these things did not fascinate me. It ran in my family (long line of physicists/natural philosophers through many generations). Being female, I decided to keep it as a favorite interest and do other things where I did not need to buck the system. Times have changed somewhat in physics, so today, who knows?
ONE OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS is *Coming of Age in the Milky Way* by Timothy Ferris. It is in a revised printing now and has (I suppose) been updated, but it provided me years ago with a decent understanding of things. I also love Michael Rowan Robinson's many wonderful books (some of which are extremely difficult, such as *The Cosmological Distance Ladder*, one of my favorites). However, he has a number of books for the amateur. There is a book by Fred Adams and Greg Laughlin, *The Five Ages of the Universe* which might help.
Go to your library and look for yourself. I personally never read science fiction because I did not want to get my science wrong. My physicist father talked me out of science fiction (which seemed to be so much fun). However, most of it is baloney. There are some wonderful books which discuss science fiction: *The Physics of Star Trek* and *Beyond Star Trek* which can help the reader appreciate what should (but often does not) go into good science fiction writing.
Now, I have never been afraid of changing my understanding, but the arguments must be rock solid to have any effect for me. I am very careful as to how I filter the misinformation that comes in with the intent to befuddle rather than to enlighten.
So, do not give up. If some of these books are too difficult, learn about amateur astronomy and come back to them later. Read *Sky & Telescope* and *Astronomy* which can be found in most public libraries. You can count on their good information.
And stay skeptical about everything until you realize that the information is sound. And be willing (as was I) to change over to new information when it appears (such as my change-over to the accelerating universe from my rebounding universe ideas). And have fun doing it.
If your friends do not go along with it, make new friends.
ljbrs
Perfection Is a State of Growth... |
|
|
|
ljbrs
SFN Regular
USA
842 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2001 : 03:44:59 [Permalink]
|
Megan:
Oh, yes, I almost forgot. Avoid reading the LONGER posts (such as mine), because they can be mind numbing.
ljbrs
Perfection Is a State of Growth... |
|
|
|
bjones
Skeptic Friend
Australia
82 Posts |
Posted - 08/26/2001 : 15:49:11 [Permalink]
|
[verdana]
Yes I thought it would of been I neat tidy package if the universe recollapsed back into a big crunch as I read Stephen Hawking "Brief History of Time", but I must now accept that the current observations suggest the very opposite, so I voted for the first one.
Bob
[/verdana]
|
|
|
|
ljbrs
SFN Regular
USA
842 Posts |
Posted - 09/08/2001 : 09:43:35 [Permalink]
|
Bob, et al.:
Changing one's understanding of science becomes part of the fun. Scientific change happens all of the time (for instance, the recent very jarring finding of a change in the fine structure constant as having been .001% smaller when the light was absorbed billions of years ago). However, I am very careful about my selections. Not being a scientist, I leave the science up to the real scientists. However, for me, the science must be more than strictly *theoretical*, being in some way capable of being confirmed. I prefer solid observations with theory to back them up. The *accelerating universe* theory seems to be holding its own. At least, it was a refreshing change when it occurred.
ljbrs  
*Nothing is more damaging to a new truth than an old error.* Goethe |
|
|
|
Chippewa
SFN Regular
USA
1496 Posts |
Posted - 09/08/2001 : 12:46:49 [Permalink]
|
quote:
The *accelerating universe* theory seems to be holding its own. At least, it was a refreshing change when it occurred.
ljbrs
Oh yes. Interesting finding. That's where they had to reintroduce a variation on the cosmological constant.
Good old Albert, even when he thought he was wrong, he was right. (-;
Chip
"I'd never join an organization that would have a man like me as a member." |
|
|
|
ljbrs
SFN Regular
USA
842 Posts |
Posted - 09/09/2001 : 16:16:34 [Permalink]
|
Chip:
It is too bad and sad that *good old Albert* is not around to see his rejected *Lambda* enjoying reincarnation.
ljbrs 
*Nothing is more damaging to a new truth than an old error.* Goethe |
|
|
|
Computer Org
Skeptic Friend
392 Posts |
Posted - 05/13/2002 : 10:08:12 [Permalink]
|
Ahh. Now isn't this Democracy at its finest?
I wanted to vote "There is no Universe--it's all an illusion." but there wasn't such a choice.
Do thou amend thy face, and I'll amend my life. --Falstaff |
|
|
|
Chippewa
SFN Regular
USA
1496 Posts |
Posted - 05/13/2002 : 10:29:29 [Permalink]
|
quote:
Ahh. Now isn't this Democracy at its finest?
I wanted to vote "There is no Universe--it's all an illusion." but there wasn't such a choice.
This is how the "write in" ballot was born. 
"Speaking without thinking like shooting without aiming." - Charlie Chan |
|
|
 |
|
Topic Locked
