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Jazzfanz Bookclub

Anything by Bill Bryson is awesome.

Recently I finished two great biographies. The first one, Genius, is about the life of Richard Feynman who, quite frankly, might have been one of the most stunningly cerebral guys to have ever existed. One cool example: the book recounts a seminar he gave while doing his PhD - in the audience was Einstein, John Wheeler, Bohr, and a few other big wigs. Someone asked Feynman about the derivation of some equation, and he instantly sprang to the board and was out-calculating all of them combined. But his genius extended well beyond little flourishes like that. Recommended reading.

The other biography I read was called The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan. Srinivasa Ramanujan was a self-taught Indian mathematical prodigy. To say he was a genius is likely to discredit the word. So advanced were his findings that they are only today (80 years ex post facto) being understood and incorporated into broader realms.
 
chemdude1232 said:
Anything by Bill Bryson is awesome.

Recently I finished two great biographies. The first one, Genius, is about the life of Richard Feynman who, quite frankly, might have been one of the most stunningly cerebral guys to have ever existed. One cool example: the book recounts a seminar he gave while doing his PhD - in the audience was Einstein, John Wheeler, Bohr, and a few other big wigs. Someone asked Feynman about the derivation of some equation, and he instantly sprang to the board and was out-calculating all of them combined. But his genius extended well beyond little flourishes like that. Recommended reading.

The other biography I read was called The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan. Srinivasa Ramanujan was a self-taught Indian mathematical prodigy. To say he was a genius is likely to discredit the word. So advanced were his findings that they are only today (80 years ex post facto) being understood and incorporated into broader realms.
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Thanks broh, but if I want to feel stupid I'll try to watch that movie Contact. Way too intense.
 
Sagan is good, but for science-themed novels, I've always preferred Arthur Clarke or Michael Crichton. "Andromeda Strain" is one of my favorites.
 
I recently read Lost Souls by Dean Koontz. It is the 4th novel in his re-imagining of the Frankenstein story. I think they are pretty well done and show some serious creative thinking. This one ended pretty abruptly, even for a cliff-hanger-style ending, but on the whole it had me pushing buttons on my kindle faster than a fat kid trying to get a stuck twinkie out of a vending machine.
 
I re-read both Ender's Game and Watership Down over Christmas... one on the flight to my parents' house, the other on the way back. Both classics, they always get to me.
 
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