Back in my undergrad days, before I transferred to an engineering school, I studied pre-engineering in the physics department of Eastern Illinois University. While there, I got a chance to help a professor with his research, which involved learning Mathematica, a technical computational software. I don’t remember any of what I learned, but it made … Continue reading Review: Adventures of a Computational Explorer
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Review: Retreat from Moscow
Once, I watched a friend build frames for a renovation on his house. He built a solid frame that would hold up under building codes, but he didn't know why those codes existed. How did the code relate to the actual loading and structural requirements? What was really happening with the loads in the frames? … Continue reading Review: Retreat from Moscow
Review: Sailing True North
When studying leadership, looking to leaders of the past provide ample examples of the characteristics of good leaders. Studying the character of leaders that you admire is a great way to prepare yourself to be a leader. In Sailing True North, Admiral James Stavridis (retired) sketches quick biographies of ten admirals that he admires. Stretching … Continue reading Review: Sailing True North
Review: Something Deeply Hidden
According to quantum mechanics, it's entirely possible that there are multiple copies of you reading multiple copies of this review. The many worlds approach to quantum mechanics says that the world decoheres into various branches. Branching reality is a difficult subject, but it is one that makes sense when interpreting exactly what quantum physics represent. … Continue reading Review: Something Deeply Hidden
Review: How to Be an Antiracist
Once while riding in a van headed to the airport after a few days of martial arts training, I told a story to the friends I traveled with. I don't remember the story at all, but I distinctly remember one part of it. At some point, I said "…the black man…" and my friend replied, … Continue reading Review: How to Be an Antiracist
Cold War European History
During these anxiety inducing times – Trump’s continued fascism and the world wide rise of nationalism, I turned to the study of history. I find it reassuring to see that humanity has survived, even thrived, through worse periods of time. With Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, I have to wonder if the U.S. and … Continue reading Cold War European History
2019 TBR Pile June Update
I started off my last reading update with the sentence, “2019 has been a busy year for me – mostly work-wise, and I’ve been taking care of myself.” While this is still true, I’ve already knocked four books off the to be read pile. From that last post, three books have reviews – The Moscow … Continue reading 2019 TBR Pile June Update
Partial Review: Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered
True crime isn't my thing. However, my wife loves documentaries, TV shows, and podcasts that all fall into the genre. When a Goodreads giveaway popped for a book titled, Stay Sexy & Don't Get Murdered, written by the creators/hosts of a very popular true crime podcast, I thought I'd enter for Sue. I've entered lots … Continue reading Partial Review: Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered
Review: Infinite Powers
In Infinite Powers, Dr. Steven Strogatz teaches us how to use our microwaves to calculate the speed of light. I’m not kidding. That’s all the recommendation this book needs. Highly Recommended.
What I Learned from Week One
November is National Writing Month. This month is a personal challenge to write 50,000 words between the first and thirtieth of November. That’s an average of 1,666.66 words per day. According to the NaNoWriMo blog, 402,000 people participated in 2017. Well, this year, I decided to participate. This is a daunting challenge. Since I’m a … Continue reading What I Learned from Week One