Discussing 'Do you read "hard-science"?' in the Science group

Discussions: Do you read "hard-science"?

Do you read "hard-science"?

Started by GalGross, Thursday, May 24 2007. Last post Wednesday, March 19 2008.

Hard-science is a broad term. However, let's assume that anything from which you can learn deeply about the subject (e.g. textbooks, but not only them) is hard-science.
A textbook usually is "hard-science": Spivak's Calculus is an example.
However, not only textbooks can be hard-science: Penrose’s "The Road to Reality" is an example.

So, do you read hard-science for fun?

Aubiefan - Thursday, May 24 2007

I'm a zoology student, and I am known for buying used textbooks to read for fun. I'll go on my unversity's message board at the end of a semester and offer five dollars more than whatever the bookstore is paying for buybacks, and I've gotten some great bargains (buyback prices are criminal!). I've got quite a good collection of textbooks on ecology, anatomy, genetics, ethology, etc that I have read cover to cover.

GalGross - Thursday, May 24 2007

Fantastic!
Great idea, I might try it sometimes :-) (I am known for prowling in used books bookstores, were you can find textbooks the prise of 10$).

You seem to have a very nice collection, then. Continue to enjoy! :-)

Aubiefan - Thursday, May 24 2007

I actually hadn't remembered to list many of the textbooks on here, thanks for the reminder. It's hard to find the exact editions on the Shelfbuilder, but even different editions are essentially the same book.

Christophe J - Wednesday, March 19 2008

One subject i always wanted to learn but never seemed to get a real handle on was special relativity. Textbooks i had at school would always rehash the basics like you can't go faster than light, time changes so that light is always a constant as well as size/ space but i never really understood what that really all meant.

After reading many reviews for books on the subject i found i wasn't the only one wanting a good explanation. I finally found a book that actually explains in plain simple language...

Relativity Visualized "The Gold Nugget of Relativity Books" by Lewis Carroll Epstein

It's fun to read and oh so satisfying to finally understand. Like a relativity for dummies book.

Shelfari: The Site for Books & Readers

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Discussions: Do you read "hard-science"?