The Inexplicable Universe with Neil deGrasse Tyson

The Inexplicable Universe with Neil deGrasse Tyson

Recently, I completed viewing Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Teaching Company lecture series The Inexplicable Universe which is currently available on Netflix streaming. Dr. Tyson is one of the great communicators of scientific ideas to the general public since Carl Sagan. He evangelizes proper science frequently on television shows such as The Colbert Report. His most recent exposure to the public was in the form of the revamped, contemporary version of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, the original version of which was hosted by the aforementioned great astrophysicist Carl Sagan. Dr. Tyson has distinguished himself through his great willingness to make scientific ideas (and more importantly attitudes toward science) more palatable and relatable than they might otherwise be.

The Inexplicable Universe is divided into six 30-minute lectures: 1) History’s Mysteries, 2) The Spooky Universe, 3) Inexplicable Life, 4) Inexplicable Physics, 5) Inexplicable Space, and 6) Inexplicable Cosmology. As I said earlier, I watched this series on Netflix which means I could only view the lectures. Should you choose to purchase the course from The Teaching Company, it will, like all of their courses, likely include a course outline with more in-depth notes and bibliographical references for further reading. Of course, you choose your level of involvement, so it is not essential to complete the readings or view Dr. Tyson’s notes and comments to understand and benefit from the lectures.

I’ve seen Dr. Tyson lecture and sit for interviews numerous times and I must say that in this Great Courses series he is at his finest. With the first lecture, “History’s Mysteries,” Dr. Tyson reviews myriad problems from the history of science. These puzzles were only solved through the application of modern science and its focus on experimenting rather than pure reason. Dr. Tyson walks us through the solution to many of the mysteries of the past which were solved using science and have become almost mundane at this point. A great example is 18^th century scientists’ insistence on the existence of ether, an invisible substance through which sound waves travelled. This was later proven to be wrong. That is, scientific rigor in experimentation (specifically, the Michelson-Morley experiment) demonstrated that light travelled at the same speed all of the time; therefore, the ether that was supposed to transmit light in wave form didn’t do it.

Lecture 2 is titled “The Spooky Universe” and generally covers quantum mechanics and fundamental particles, explaining how fantastical many of our accepted concepts are. The third lecture, “Inexplicable Life,” talks about the uniqueness of human life in the universe and the conditions that allow life to flourish, as well as the possibility of life outside of our Earth-bound existence. Lecture 4, “Inexplicable Physics” might be the most interesting of the six-part series. Dr. Tyson reviews the development of the field of physics and the search for a unifying theory such as “String Theory.” The fifth lecture is “Inexplicable Space” and it reviews humankind’s search for understanding of the cosmos. The most fascinating bits in this lecture cover dark energy and dark matter as well as the theoretical experience of being at or near a black hole. The final and sixth lecture “Inexplicable Cosmology” goes into depth about the current edges of study in cosmology. The multiverse, antimatter, tachyons and other theoretical advances of the past few decades are covered in Tyson’s inimitable style.

So that is a brief review of some of the content of The Inexplicable Universe. I had been exposed to most of its ideas from other books, lectures, and even podcasts; however, I have to give a strong recommendation for this lecture series because of its accessibility. It is one of the few series that talk about such complex ideas that requires no previous exposure to mathematical or scientific ideas. All you need is an attentive and open mind and you will gleam something or many things from the lectures. As always, happy learning!

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

Recently, I stumbled upon an article on the Web (http://www.listmuse.com/how-well-read-short-novels.php) that purports to help one to be “well-read” through a list of 40 books. I find such lists very appealing; however, I have my own general idea about the kinds of “classics” that make one well-read. I browsed through the volumes composing the list and discovered I had read approximately 1/3 of them already. It seemed a reasonable conjecture, based on this correlation, that this list might prove very useful. This idea is not unique. A close friend of mine had the collection The Harvard Classics or the essential bookshelf or something like that. I read a couple of volumes from his collection, most notably The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, which made a considerable impression upon me.

The first volume on the list that I had not read before was To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf. Going into the reading, the only familiarity I had with Ms. Woolf was through the 1966 film, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? That film struck me as an intense study of the breakdown of a relationship, particularly a marriage of two intellectuals. It had even been quite a long time since I had seen the film—on AMC when AMC actually showed more quality, classic films instead of original programming like Mad Men or Breaking Bad. Let me be clear, I have no problem with either of these shows and the latter is one of my favorite series of all time. I mean simply that AMC and Bravo channels used to function as a sort of distance study film school but original and reality programming has changed that forever.

I didn’t do much investigating about the character of the author Ms. Woolf prior to tackling the novel. That might have been a mistake. Ms. Woolf writes in what is generally referred to as a “stream of consciousness” style. Thus, To the Lighthouse is filled with page after page of interior monologue—the “self talk” that goes on and on. I mean that literally, the voluminous verbosity of each of the significant characters in the book makes you wish these people would take up Buddhist meditation, to try and quiet the mind a bit.

To the Lighthouse runs around 320 pages and was first printed in 1927. More than anything, the novel is a character study of what appears to be an intellectual, upper middle-class family during the period between World War I and World War II. The central characters of the novel are Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay. Mr. Ramsay is highly intellectual and keeps his focus on the few achievements in his life. He wonders whether anything he’s done will have lasting value for the human race. At one point he says that even a stone will outlive the works of Shakespeare. Mrs. Ramsay, on the other hand, seems to “suffer in silence” at the behest of her husbands tremendous yet fragile ego. She takes comfort in caring for her children, supporting her husband, and making sure their house guests (many of whom are frequent, long-term occupants) are properly fed and cared for.

The novel is pretty short on plot. There is some focus on the youngest son James’s desire to visit the lighthouse near to their vacation home. However, the novel’s main focus is on the dynamics of relationships: The relationship of the individual to him or herself as well as the interrelationship of each of the characters.

Ms. Woolf’s writing style might be compared to that of James Joyce in novels such as Ulysses—a book I have tried to get around to reading for years. I think the politics of relationships would lend Ms. Woolf’s work to an easy critique from either the Marxist, feminist, or deconstructionist traditions of literary criticism. Luckily, that is beyond the scope of my little blog post here. I tend to prefer non-fiction in general but I do recognize the value inherent in a careful examination of classic fiction. As of now, I plan to continue to read (in order) those titles that I have not yet read on the 40-volume list.

Do you have any suggestions for books, documentaries, or free courses I might checkout? If so, I welcome these responses by e-mail or in the comments section of the blog forum. As always, happy learning!

Michael Faraday: Father of Electronics by Charles Ludwig

I recently finished a biography entitled Michael Faraday: Father of Electronics by Charles Ludwig. This is one of those books that you buy (or in this case someone gave to me) to read but somehow end up using as “bookshelf filler.” If you read very much, I’m sure you understand. If you have an obsession with buying physical copies of books (rather than electronic) I am certain that you know exactly what I mean.

To digress for just a moment: I am obsessed with buying books and have been for many years. However, I do not simply pull up the New York Times “Bestseller” lists and choose from these like a catalog. I do not pay very much attention to Amazon.com’s suggestions, lists, or e-mail campaigns. Nor do I get most of my books from the “Bargain Bins” at major retailers. No, I typically find my treasures at yard sales, junk stores, estate sales, and often at friends’ houses. Simply put, most of the things I like to read (non-fiction, textbooks, etc.) are things that most people are forced to buy in the first place and then get rid of when they have served their useful purpose.

The Faraday book wasn’t mine; it was my wife’s from her senior year of high school. When she moved in with me she commented that she thought I would like it. Fourteen years later, I found out she was right. Faraday was someone I find fascinating for numerous reasons.

First, a little biographical information: Michael Faraday was born September 22, 1791 in a village just outside of (and now within) London, England. He had almost no formal education. He left elementary school due to a dispute with a hard-nosed school teacher because of his inability to overcome a speech impediment in which he could not pronounce the letter “r.” (Michael later overcame this through his own hard work and the application of his brilliant intellect.) After leaving school, Michael apprenticed for seven years with a bookbinder.

Much of Michael’s “education” came by being able to seize the opportunity to learn whenever and wherever it presented itself. Apprenticing to a bookbinder allowed him to become an excellent reader, to fill himself with the knowledge (often copying and taking notes) from the volumes with which he worked, and to come into contact with many of London’s more educated citizens. He quickly developed a fascination—an obsession even—with chemistry. Michael consumed any material about science and chemistry that he could get his hands on. He even attended lectures at the Royal Institution given by Humphry Davy.

Upon completing his apprenticeship in bookbinding, Michael determined that he would be a chemist or die trying. He was fortunate to become a temporary assistant (treated more like a servant) to Davy himself; later Faraday became Humphry’s lab assistant at the Royal Institution. Finally, Michael’s brilliance began to shine through. He first made contributions to Davy’s work. Then, he began to outshine even this mentor.

Michael Faraday would go on to be called the father of the electric motor, the transformer, and the generator. He discovered benzene, improved steel alloys, and was the first person to turn chlorine into a liquid form. He took over Davy’s public lectures at the Royal Institution where he was even more popular with London society, including the Royal family. The University of Oxford granted Faraday a Doctor of Civil Law degree (honorary). Michael was quite a humble person and rejected a knighthood and also refused the presidency of the Royal Society.

What is most fascinating to me about Michael Faraday is that he was able to accomplish so much with so little. He was born into hopeless poverty. He lacked the means to obtain an education that would allow him to contribute to the body of scientific knowledge. Yet because of an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and a dogged determination to understand the principles of nature, Michael Faraday did more than most of his contemporaries who graduated from England’s finest universities.

The biological maxim from Jurassic Park (I think) was “life finds a way.” I believe a suitable analogue would likewise be, “curiosity finds a way.” Einstein, Feynman, John Wheeler—almost any scientist one could name would have one characteristic that overshadowed everything else about their life and personality—curiosity. Michael Faraday had that quality and seized whatever opportunity he could find to satisfy it.

I find that truly inspirational. Happy learning!