Literate Scientist

Being born and lived in Russia during Communist era I inherited the sense of heroic achievements of the Soviet Army during the battle for Berlin. One of my co-workers recommended me this book and I read it last summer. It really shows the other side of the this battle like disorganization and chaos on the Soviet front and horrors committed by them on German civilians. Since then I buy and read revisionist history books to see different or not officially approved views on the same historical and political events.

The Fall of Berlin 1945

- Dmitry Vostokov @ LiterateScientist.com -

I’ve just finished reading this book and despite some bad reviews on Amazon I wasn’t disappointed. The author’s writing style is a bit unusual with some unknown words that you need a dictionary but after a chapter I became used to it and it wasn’t a problem anymore. If you heard about Gödel theorems before but cannot repeat precisely what they are about then this book is for you and you will find detail-free sketch of the proof very clear. I really liked the author’s attack on positivism and postmodernism especially in the light of previously read Fashionable Nonsense. I also liked the conclusion at the end of the book that the life of Gödel was “incomplete” too. The book discusses Vienna Circle and Wittgenstein, relationship between Einstein and Gödel and even some political issues in the Institute for Advanced Study related to Gödel’s life (this is why I included this book under Politics category too). One remark about bad review from the professor who participated in publishing edited works of Kurt Gödel: I can publish works of Aristotle nowadays without much efforts. Will it give me the right to judge other works and proclaim without sound justification that they don’t know philosophy?

Incompleteness: The Proof and Paradox of Kurt Godel (Great Discoveries)

- Dmitry Vostokov @ LiterateScientist.com -

Links to these two books can be found on my management blog:

Management Bit and Tip 0×80

The first book (150 pages) explains the main theme of the second (1,300 pages) that establishment shapes our world. I read the first book completely and it had some revelations for me, for example, that establishment supported communism in US after WWII, that McCarthy was a hero, and that Cuban Crisis was created by the demand from grassroots movement. Certainly it is good to know about different views. I started reading the second book and it differs from other history books, for example, written by J. M. Roberts, as it puts some theory and patterns behind the narrative.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ LiterateScientist.com -

I was always fascinated with String Theory without knowing what it was all about except the fact that in early 90s one physics professor told me that there exists the so called String Theory where a mathematical apparatus changes every 6 months… Since then I always wanted to read about that theory and in 2002 I bought and started reading The Elegant Universe book and then bought the book suitable for undergraduates called A First Course in String Theory. This learning adventure was suddenly interrupted with the arrival of two books which I finished reading last year and which opened my eyes and reminded me again that science is full of politics, influence and power games:

Not Even Wrong: The Failure of String Theory And the Search for Unity in Physical Law

The next one is offered with great discount that I think was given the let many people to know about troubles in fundamental physical sciences:

The Trouble With Physics: The Rise of String Theory, the Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next

Since then I read other books about modern physics and science in general and I think I would re-read these two books because I have better background now in order to judge what authors say or complain about.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ LiterateScientist.com -