Books
Category archives for Books
The Inspiring Power of You’re Doing It Wrong
Posted by Chad Orzel on November 20, 2012 I’ve got a bunch of browser tabs open on my various computers that have been there for weeks, one of which is Alastair Reynolds on writing science fiction. This is mostly a response to a not-terribly-interesting complaint that the science fiction genre has been “exhausted,” but there was a bit in there that resonated with…
Hobbits and Prime Ministers: The Physics of Doors
Posted by Chad Orzel on November 16, 2012 
Over at Tor.com, Kate has begun a chapter-by-chapter re-read of The Hobbit, and has some thoughts on Chapter 1. It’s full of interesting commentary about characters and literary technique, but let’s get right to the important bit: Physics! Kate mentions in passing in the post that the Hobbit style round door with a knob in…
Twilight of the Elites and the Rise of the Culture
Posted by Chad Orzel on November 9, 2012 In which I use my double license as a physicist and a science fiction fan to engage in some half-assed futurism spinning off Chris Hayes’s much-discussed book. ————- I don’t read a lot of political books, because I tend to find them frustrating. They’re usually surprisingly ephemeral, trying to spin Deep Meaning out of a…
Gandalf Was Wrong: Spectroscopy and The Lord of the Rings
Posted by Chad Orzel on October 11, 2012 It’s a banner day for science explainer things I wrote, as a piece I wrote has just gone live at Tor.com: Why Gandalf Is Wrong Even as a kid, reading J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings at the golden age of twelve or so, Gandalf’s response to Saruman never sat well with…
10,000 New Ebooks, but Nothing to Read
Posted by Chad Orzel on June 20, 2012 In which we look at how the Brave New Publishing World makes it really hard to find something good to read. ———— In a recent links dump, I included a link to this post about the current state of publishing, which is a follow-up to an earlier post about the current state of publishing. Elsewhere…
The Perfection of Bay Area Dogphysics
Posted by Chad Orzel on June 14, 2012 Last night, as I was flying in to San Francisco, Matt Cain pitched the first perfect game in Giants history. Now, a casual observer might think these events were unrelated, but to ancient alien theorists, the connection between them could not be more obvious. Thus, you should come to Kepler’s Books in Menlo Park this…
Relativity for Bay Area Dogs, Among Others
Posted by Chad Orzel on June 11, 2012 Two How to Teach Relativity to Your Dog items: First and foremost, I’ll be appearing at Kepler’s Books in Menlo Park, CA, this Thursday, June 14 at 7:00pm. I’ll probably read a bit of the book, so if you’ve ever wanted to hear me do the silly dog voice live, here’s your chance. Provided, of…
The Vicious Cycle of Physics PR
Posted by Chad Orzel on May 29, 2012 In which I talk about why it is that particle physics and cosmology are so over-represented in popular physics, and why my own books contribute to that. [The too-short excerpts on the new front page are beyond my ability to change, so I’ll be doing Victorian-style “In which…” summaries at the start of posts as…
How to Teach Relativity to Your Dog in the New York Times
Posted by Chad Orzel on May 21, 2012 I was going to post something noting that the great WordPress transition will begin at 7pm tonight, and comments after that time will be lost like Roy Batty’s tears. However, I have much happier news: tomorrow’s Science Times (available on the Web already) will include a review of How to Teach Relativity to Your Dog!…
How to Teach Relativity to Your Bay Area Dog
Posted by Chad Orzel on May 18, 2012 So, you find yourself living in the San Francisco Bay area, and you maybe have a dog who would like to know something about relativity, or you maybe want to someday have a dog who will want to know something about relativity, or you maybe want to know something more about relativity yourself, in case…
