SMP book/essay club

[Rduke55]

Diebitter has this going on in the lounge and he was thinking that this could work here. I agree that it would be pretty interesting and help get some S back into SMP. There's a lot of stuff in my fields that I think people would get a lot out of and I'm sure that other people feel the same way about their fields.
Basically we were thinking about a paper or essay that we all read and then discuss. A lot of the classics are available online.
Thoughts?

[diebitter]

I'm in, whatever it is, as long as it doesn't involve buying an expensive hardback.

EDIT: And to get the ball rolling, I'll start with suggesting a perennial text: The Selfish Gene.

EDITEDIT: If you guys pick something populist enough to be appreciated by non-scientists, I'll put a note in the Lounge about it. Might be cool to get some cross-forum genetic mixing...

[luckyme]

Which classics were you thinking of?
I see Selfish Gene has been suggested.
Fine by me.

It's 30 years old. A new read could be interesting considering the advances in some related fields.

luckyme

[vhawk01]

I have a book called Genes in Conflict which is sort of like a 2004 version of the Selfish Gene, although it is far more science intensive. But its also pretty hefty, and probably expensive. I'm not sure exactly what types of suggestions to make.

[NotReady]

[ QUOTE ]

A lot of the classics are available online.
Thoughts?


[/ QUOTE ]

Paradise Lost, Milton.

[CallMeIshmael]

NotReady,

excellent suggestion for a good book to bring the S back to SMP


RDuke,

Something I read for a class that I think might be great for this is "Agile Gene" by Matt Ridley. Its a very easy to read look at human behaviour, and a history of the nature vs nuture debate.


Also.. with regard to papers, Id like to see something out of theoretical biology. I actually have a fairly good introductery look at foraging theory from a class in PDF format that might be good, and I could definitely post it.

The reason Id like to see something out of this field, is that I have the feeling that people on here really havent seen / dont believe in modeling biology

[Taraz]

Cool idea. I'll try to come up with some good ideas when I get home tonight.

[diebitter]

CMI

A bit of a blast from the past, but here (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=5315517&an=&page=0&vc=1) is an SMP post of old I did about ecological energetics. It's pretty superficial, but I thought you might like a look.

[bunny]

More M than S (but quite a bit of P too) - Proofs and Refutations by Lakatos (I think). I read it years ago but it was very good from memory.

[CallMeIshmael]

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introductery

[/ QUOTE ]

omg

[CallMeIshmael]

DB,

yeah, thats the stuff I really like. Very nice post.

[bunny]

Sorry I only just read this and realised it was intended to be in the biology field. My suggestion has pretty much nothing to do with that. Nonetheless, I think you should all read it. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[arahant]

Timeless Reality by Stenger is a nice wide-ranging, lay-level physics book. Part of it presents a non-orthodox view of time, but a lot of it covers the development of modern physics nicely. Maybe not the thing here, but I wanted to throw out something non-biology /images/graemlins/smile.gif. Selfish gene is actually about the best book on earth (or was when I read it).

[Metric]

I suggest the 20-page paper "A dialog on quantum gravity" by Carlo Rovelli, available here: http://lanl.arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0310077

This represents a chapter in the ongoing string theory vs. loop quantum gravity war that those who follow modern physics may be aware of. Rovelli is a loop quantum gravity theorist, and the paper is in the format of a conversation between a fictional graduate student and professor, debating over the relative merits of the theories.

There is no math, but the language used assumes familiarity with modern physics concepts. E.G. you should know what the standard model is about, and why "perturbation theory" is important. If you're up for it, you'll definately gain some interesting perspective on why there are opposing camps in theoretical physics these days that don't really seem to like or understand each other very much.

And, of course, it's free and only 20 not-very-dense pages.

[MaxWeiss]

I've been meaning to shelve out for Gravitation by Thorne, Misner, and Wheeler, but it's just so damned BIG.

[FortunaMaximus]

Found a non-treewasting copy of the Selfish Gene.

So, yeah, interested. Especially if it covers a wide range of stuff. See location. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[Zygote]

therefore, i suggest...
Religion Explained: (http://www.amazon.com/Religion-Explained-Evolutionary-Origins-Religious/dp/0465006965/sr=8-1/qid=1170361615/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-3889487-5398210?ie=UTF8&s=books) The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought by Pascal Boyer

Just got it. Haven't read it yet, but looks good.

[CallMeIshmael]

[ QUOTE ]
therefore, i suggest...
Religion Explained: (http://www.amazon.com/Religion-Explained-Evolutionary-Origins-Religious/dp/0465006965/sr=8-1/qid=1170361615/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-3889487-5398210?ie=UTF8&s=books) The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought by Pascal Boyer

Just got it. Haven't read it yet, but looks good.

[/ QUOTE ]

Just to note... this is good, and Im pretty sure I can get an educational copy in pdf format, if that is something I would be allowed to do wrt the sites T and C.

[diebitter]

I'm game for anything guys, like I said, as long as it doesn't cost me to get a hardback edition.

Should we have a vote or something?

[gdsdiscgolfer]

I vote for something more philosophical. How about Power/Knowledge by Foucault?

[vhawk01]

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I've been meaning to shelve out for Gravitation by Thorne, Misner, and Wheeler, but it's just so damned BIG.

[/ QUOTE ]

*SIRENS* Idiom police, sir. I'm gonna need you to start saying 'shell out.' Thanks. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Praxis101]

I'm game for any of the evolution/biology modelling stuff mentioned so far or Foucault maybe.

Thanks for the link, DB, fascinating stuff.

[Metric]

[ QUOTE ]
I've been meaning to shelve out for Gravitation by Thorne, Misner, and Wheeler, but it's just so damned BIG.

[/ QUOTE ]
An excellent book, btw, but I doubt you could get a SMP club to commit to reading the whole thing. :-)

[MaxWeiss]

Wow, I've been wrong all this time. Thanks!

[abarber]

Bump?

[vhawk01]

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Bump?

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I've got a month or so until my next set of exams, as long as the paper isn't a case control study that I have to analyze for methodological errors, I'm down for any subject.