My Bride says the exact same thing. We both use tablets frequently and she tried reading books on the tablet, but it hurt her eyes. We are watching the four-part series based upon the book that I mentioned above. We are enjoying it even though it varies from the book. I so appreciate British Lit and films. Tom Sharp writes and uses the English language so well, I feel.
I am re-reading an old (1971) anthology called Introduction to American Poetry and Prose. I am currently in "The Romantic Movement" section.
Spector, are you enjoying it? My book club just read The Color of Law. It's about how federal, state, and local municipalities have, in the past written into law segregation and descriminatory practices in housing every since the civil war. This has included HUD, the VA, courts, local zoning etc. It was actually hard to read for all of us in the book club. On a lighter note, I am reading Ann Perry's book Paragon Walk. A mystery.
Very much so. I have to admit the Colonial Period was a bit of a slog, but now we are getting into the authors I have always enjoyed (Poe, Melville, etc.).
Neil DeGrasse Tyson's Astrophysics for People in a Hurry. I admit I understand about every third word, but the man writes so well and I finally found out what a "quark" is (not a duck with a speech impediment.) When I finish the book, I plan to immediately re-read it and see if I grasp more of the concepts.
Here kwark is a sort of white cheese-like, yoghurt-like material. You can eat it in a variety of ways...I like it in a tart. I do not know what it means in terms of astrophysics--tell me.
Sjoerd, in my imperfect understanding, a quark is a subatomic particle with minimal electric charge. None have been actually observed, but they have been proven to exist through various experiments. There is hope for unicorns, who have not been actually observed but, even though, may exist! I just finished another chapter and one line from Tyson that stood out is, "after the laws of physics, everything else is opinion." He was writing about the universality of the laws of physics, and how they apply across the universe.
Thanks Jane-- It does sound interesting, the way you put it. Quark--what an odd term though in that dicipline. Ach wel, one can learn something new every day.
Tyson also has a version of Cosmos....original version was by Carl Sagan in 1980, Tyson's was a follow-up that aired in 2014. While Tyson's version included some updates in the world of science and was a bit easier for us commoners to understand, they were both very interesting. The name Quark was originally a nonsense word used by James Joyce in the novel Finnegan's Wake: http://tid.uio.no/epf/adventures-res/particleadventure_2.1/frameless/quarknaming.html
Well,, I sit here every morning with a diesel engineer ((Army) and Marine,DEA helicopter pilot ! Didn`t think it could get more boring than that but,, MG I think you won !! Astrophysics is a lot more boring !
Oh Mart, astrophysics isn't boring--it exercises your brain and gives you something to think about at 2 o'clock in the morning when you wake up and are staring at the ceiling! I still don't understand two thirds of Tyson's book but I do enjoy each word, and when I go out to bring the chickens in after dark, I appreciate more the stars that I see. We take what we can from the books we read, and usually are better for it! Cayuga, I do so envy you for having a book club. Keep us posted on the books and the club reviews.
Ha ! Well at that hour,, and I have a habit of being awake then,,if I tried to read a book like that I would go right back to sleep ! Its just something I have no interest in ! Now on the other hand,, if the book would be on antique furniture which I have studied for 40+ years,, thats interesting ! Different strokes ect !
Mart, I love antiques, too! I restored antiques when we lived in New York, and we have a lot of antique furniture in our home. Have you read Hinckley's A Directory of Antique Furniture? The illustrations are wonderful, and the whole book is very instructive.
