Mark Reynolds > Recent Status Updates

"The theoretical minimum originated with the great Russian physicist Lev Landau. The theoretical minimum in Russia meant everything a student needed to know to work under Landau himself. Landau was a very demanding man: his theoretical minimum meant just about everything he knew, which of course no one else could possibly know."

"But mountains are not merciful. Neither are they vengeful. They just are, and it's a simple equation that the longer one spends moving through them, the more one will experience the range of what can befall humans amid their heights."

So far, very good intro on some of the climbers's early years, when sexism and misogyny was rampant. It's amazing that any of them were able to keep climbing.

On the 1967 expedition - old style - to Denali:
"Of the nine who started, five men and Grace remained."

Intense and riveting. War should be outlawed.

So far so good. I like the narrator.

Life is not a zero sum game.

"Philosophy [physics] is written in this grand book – I mean the universe – which stands continually open to our gaze. But the book cannot be understood, unless one first learns to comprehend the language, and read the letters in which it is composed. It is written in the language of mathematics."
Galileo, 1623

So far pretty good. I'm wondering why Harrison publishes groups of 3 novellas. Are they related? I'll find out.

After only 3 chapters, all the classic problems have been stated, answers given, and a few terse solutions outlined. Physics is a subject to be engaged with, not read about, and so solving these problems is integral to learning - in any kind of detail - classical mechanics.

I saw the movie Lion, and that inspired me to read the book. The movie was excellent, and so far the book is too.

Regarding the asymmetry of matter and anti-matter, "we don't know enough to rule out the possibility that it is anti-matter instead that would have survived, but, in such a case, anti-physicists on anti-earth would naturally call it matter, not anti-matter."

Dark Cosmology Center, Copenhagen University

It was paradoxical that the building housed the offices of international scientists doing research into the dark matter of the universe, since the Dark Cosmology Center was brightly illuminated by exterior lights.

... And always, the test of any theoretical preconception is in where it leads. The standard model of the early universe has scored some successes, and it provides a coherent theoretical framework for future experimental programs. This does not mean that it is true, but it does mean that it deserves to be taken seriously."

"In following this account of the first three minutes, the reader may feel that he can detect a note of scientific overconfidence. He might be right. However, I do not believe that scientific progress is always best advanced by keeping an altogether open mind. It is often necessary to forget one's doubts and to follow the consequences of one's assumptions wherever they may lead –

"During his very first week in India, Giuseppe had learned not to look at the poor. Not to look them in the eye. ... But if you kept your eyes fixed straight ahead and remained ice cold, they left you alone. In India, it was a matter of ignoring the poverty when you were out in the streets and waiting to weep until you were alone. Otherwise it would tear you apart."

The way of life means continuing. Continuing means going far. Going far means returning.