Need some time on the sofa

After running a couple of errands today my wife and I decided to spend some time wandering the local bookstore. I don't think that either of us really had much in mind, but that never really bothered either of us. About an hour later I had spent much more money that I really should have and now have a lot of reading ahead of me. The two magazines I picked up will certainly be the first to get read. Of course, I had to get the latest issue of Seed Magazine since my subscription does not start for another month or so. Although I would purchase Seed regardless of that particular issue' content, I am particularly interested in the cover story on E.O. Wilson. Wilson was the Ph.D. advisor for my Masters advisor. It sort of feels like he is an 'academic grandfather' to me, and I always hearing what he has to say. The second magazine is the newest from Skeptical Inquirer. Unlike Seed, I do not purchase Skeptical Inquirer unless I think there is a particular reason to do so. This afternoon I was caught by the cover article, an excerpt from Sean B. Carroll's new book The Making of the Fittest: DNA and the Ultimate Forensic Record of Evolution. I decided this was a good compromise, since I was already planning on buying the book, but feeling guilty about how much the trip was going to cost me.

Of course, magazines are interesting, but really just something that I use to fill empty time when it presents itself. I was really excited about getting a couple of actual books to read. There are a lot of things that are frustrating about being a teacher, and not having time to read is very high on my list. However, one of my goals this year is to make more time for personal time. I plan on starting my first book Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions, by Lisa Randall, later this week. I don't really know anything about Randall, so I don't know what to expect from this. However, theoretical physics is something of a guilty pleasure of mine. I have no training in it and don't know anything other than what I have read in mass market books, but I still find many of the ideas to be fascinating. Basically, I look for books like this to confuse and surprise me. Along the same lines, my other purchase was The Trouble With Physics: The Rise of String Theory, the Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next", by Lee Smolin. I have read a few things about string theory (I read Brian Greene's The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality while on my honeymoon cruise in Alaska a few years back) and I find it completely fascinating in a I-can't-quite-bring-myself-to-believe-in-this sort of way. I have read a number of books explaining and promoting string theory and I think it is finally time to read about the other half of the story.

I plan on updating here with my thoughts on all of these purchases here once I have gotten through them. Hopefully that won't be a year from now.