Showing posts with label Carl Sagan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Carl Sagan. Show all posts

Friday

If the time travel-blackhole-whitehole-wormhole theory is true...

I think a person somehow survives being 'eaten' by a black hole won't be able to travel to the future (that is, if he's not travelling at the speed of light). I think he can only travel to the past. But it will not be the same 'past' as we have. It will be a 'past' different from ours. There might be no way for him to return to OUR 'present.' Even if he is able to travel at the speed of light in that space beneath the black hole, he can only travel to the future of THAT 'past,' not to the future of OUR 'past' (that is, our 'present'). [That space beneath the black hole will have a different 'present' than ours; we will not be present in THAT 'present.'] Thus, I think, time travel only offers a one way ticket (either to the future or to the past, but not both)--that is, if a person is able to time travel, there will be no turning back to life as he knew it.

Ang gulo. Kdot.

Saturday

Oh, hi!

I have just finished reading The Dragons of Eden by Dr. Carl Sagan. It was truly a wonderful experience to read this one. Sagan has just soooo many things to tell about our brain. Maybe when God (if there is one) gave intelligence to the world, Carl Sagan was the earliest bird. Or maybe it was just because of marijuana (he was once quoted of having incredible ideas while high). The New York Times is right, Sagan is THAT teacher that you always wish you had. Too bad, he's already left this world.

Now, I can concentrate on reading the following:

  • Cosmos - Carl Sagan
  • Delirium/Pandemonium - Lauren Oliver
  • The Mars trilogy - Kim Stanley Robinson
  • A Game of Thrones series - George RR Martin
  • The Four Laws That Drive the Universe - Peter Atkins
  •  ...and these books:

Aaargh! Might not be able to read 'em all this summer.

And oh! I still have to grab me a copy of Bob Ong's and Eros Atalia's (not-so-) new books. Haven't read them yet. Neither have I seen spoilers.

Wednesday

'Coz I'm SAGAN all my love for youuuuuu...

I can't believe it!!!

I just found a copy of Comet at Booksale SM North for only a hundred pesos! Hahaha!

Now, I already have Dragons of Eden, Cosmos, Contact, and this one. Still more Sagan books to go!

My checklist:
    • Intelligent Life in the Universe
    • The Cosmic Connection: An Extraterrestrial Perspective
    • Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science
    • Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors: A Search for Who We Are
    • Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
    • The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
    • Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium
    • The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God

I hope I can see copies of these in some Booksale (or any second-hand bookshops). I want to have a collection of books (real ones, not e-books) of Carl Sagan. 4 books as of now? Not bad, considering I only started about two months ago hunting Dr. Sagan's books.

Tuesday

Take It From Newton

“At the Stourbridge Fair in 1663, at age twenty, he [Isaac Newton] purchased a book on astrology, ‘out of curiosity to see what there was in it.’ He read it until he came to an illustration which he could not understand, because he was ignorant of trigonometry. So he purchased a book on trigonometry but soon found himself unable to follow the geometrical arguments. So he found a copy of Euclid’s Elements of Geometry, and began to read. Two years later he invented the differential calculus. … When asked how he accomplished his astonishing discoveries, Newton replied unhelpfully, ‘By thinking upon them.’”


-From Cosmos by Carl Sagan
So guys, when you wanna learn something, do not be disheartened when you encounter something that you don’t understand. Take extra steps to fully understand the craft. Who knows, just like Newton, you might just find the discovery of the century in the process.




(This should be a note to myself.)