Winter Break Reading

Over the 2 week break, I started to read Moby Dick.  My goal was to read about halfway through it, but I came nowhere close to reaching this goal.

The Shining and The Waste Lands - Isolation

      The Shining is a story of isolation.  Not only physical isolation, but complete, desolate mental and communicational isolation.  The characters are physically in extremely close proximity with one another, but in terms of mental status and understanding; they couldn't be further apart.  The family of three spoke without communicating, and didn't share their concerns or issues.  This mental isolation, more so than the physical isolation caused the intense scenes in The Overlook Hotel.  Much of The Waste Lands tells a story of two isolated individuals, who are psychologically connected.  Their differences in mental state from those around them caused these individuals to stay in complete isolation, despite being in close proximity with others physically.  Their lack of communication with others delays their reunion.  Although it was not the main theme of the book, this isolation creates tension and suspense for the first half of The Waste Lands.

The Crucible and Wizard and Glass - Honor

    One of the major driving forces behind the themes of both The Crucible and Wizard and Glass are the protagonists' feelings of honor and dignity.  His honor is what drives John Proctor, from The Crucible, to tell the truth and face being hanged for it.  The same follows for many other citizens of Salem who kept their integrity, but not their life.  Roland and Susan, in Wizard and Glass, balance between honor and fate.  Ultimately, honor drives them to do jobs they are required to do, costing themselves much in the way of other issues.  Both books place a high price on dignity, while exploring the sacrifices one must make in order to preserve it.  Characters in The Crucible face a simple choice: lose honor, or die.  In Wizard and Glass, the stakes are less dire, and the situation more complicated.  Both protagonists break their integrity to follow the whims of fate, while protagonists of The Crucible hold steadfast to their morals.

The Fabric Of The Cosmos - Post 5

Final Thoughts On The Book-

      The fabric of the cosmos was an extremely engaging read, and can be understood by almost any reader with little to no scientific background.  This makes the book unique from others on the subject, that are meant for people who have studied these topics extensively.  Covering many cosmological theories, and the principles that make them possible, the book gives an excellent summary of the findings of the 20th century.  Brian Greene delivers this information through the use of excellent metaphors, and simplistic explanations.  He is extremely talented in his ability to explain these complicated ideas to almost anyone.  

The Fabric Of The Cosmos - Post 4

     The uncertainty principle is a key idea in quantum mechanics, and is extremely important in discussing cosmological ideas.  In its basic form, the principle states that particles and energy waves are connected, no matter how distant.  Because of these connections, all particles exist in a state of limbo, so to speak, in which they are both a particle and a wave, until it is observed.  When the particle, or energy wave is observed, it exhibits the properties we characterize it with.  The connections between particles and their respective waves is extremely important when considering the beginning of the universe.
      Before the big bang, it is assumed the matter and energy in our universe was extremely condensed. During this time, particles formed bonds with certain other particles.  As the Big Bang progressed, these particles moved to different parts of the universe, becoming separated by extreme differences.  Because of the uncertainty principle, many of these particles are recorded as energy waves.  However, when the connected particle is being observed, its counterpart will exhibit similar properties.  After this breakthrough discovery, many more scientists subscribed to the Big Bang Theory.

The Fabric Of The Cosmos - Post 3

      Continuing with his analysis of cosmological principals, Brian Greene relates the very beginning of the Big Bang, referred to as the singularity, to that of a black hole.  It is the belief of many scientists today that black holes could hold the key to understanding exactly how our universe, and the space time continuum were formed.
      Although black holes have not been definitively proven, and some physicists are still skeptical, the mathematical and physical results are extremely assuring.  Studying black holes proves extremely difficult, as physics, and time itself begin to break down at the singularity.  What lies beyond that point, as well as before the big bang, is purely speculation among scientists. Any attempt to mathematically explore these concepts has proved ineffective.  In these chapters, Greene explores some of the speculations in an intuitive way.

The Fabric Of The Cosmos - Post 2

     After discussing the expansion of the universe, Greene addresses a common misconception, that this expansion defies the second law of thermodynamics.  First, he explains the law, which states that in a closed system, such as the universe, the total amount of entropy will always remain the same.  Some physicists pose the dilemma  that because the universe is expanding, and the matter in the universe is becoming more sparse, the total entropy in the universe decreases, which defies the law.  The misunderstanding behind this idea lies in the definition of entropy.
      A word commonly used as synonymous with entropy is chaos.  More specifically, entropy is defined as the lack of organization of matter in a system.  As the matter in the universe becomes less dense, it can be seen as decreasing entropy, as more densely packed matter formations tend to be more chaotic.  However, much like a child spreading his peas to make it look like he ate more, the appearance of decreasing entropy is only an illusion.  This disproves the misconception behind the second law of thermodynamics.