Book Review: Astrophysics for People in a Hurry

 

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry is a book from 2017 written by Neil deGrasse Tyson. The book explains some of the "big" concepts in astrophysics and astronomy without the mathematical detail and equations that you would find in a textbook. If you have some background in any of the sciences, but specifically astronomy and physics, the book will be easier to understand. It is basically a book on theoretical astrophysics, explaining the theory behind things like the big bang, dark matter, and dark energy without the math. Tyson also explains how we have been detecting planets around other stars, and why any technologically advanced alien civilization would have a hard time finding Earth and determining that a technologically advanced civilization exists on it if they are using the same methods of planet detection we are. 

The book is relatively short, around 200 pages, at least if you compare it to any college-level textbook. I found it to be a pretty quick and easy read, but to be fair, I have dozens of books on astronomy that I have been reading since I was a pre-teen, and I have a degree in electrical engineering, so the subject matter did not bog me down or go over my head. The book is rigorous enough that it may be hard to follow if you do not have at least a familiarity with astronomy. I do not think you need that level of education and experience with the subject in order to understand and enjoy the book, but it will definitely be an easier read for some people and harder for others.

Book Review: The Physics of Superheroes

 

The Physics of Superheros is a book by James Kakalios, who is a physics and astronomy professor at the University of Minnesota. The book presents physics concepts without getting bogged down in the weeds like a regular textbook can. While the book does include some of the equations, it does not have the presentation you get in a textbook with all the formulas being derived and examples of worked-out problems. It reads more like a novel than a textbook, with the author explaining the concepts as he goes along but not really showing the work. In fact, I think doing some of that (giving a problem statement and working out the math) would have made the book a bit better. That said, he was not going for a rigorous academic presentation of the material, so it is understandable that he took the approach he did. Each chapter is devoted to a physics concept and then tied to a particular superhero (Aquaman with fluid mechanics, The Flash with friction, etc). In some chapters, the author will give an equation or two; in others, he just explains things without any equations.

The book is moderately long, at about 400 pages, but it is pretty easy and fun to read. For a student, it is actually the perfect kind of book to read before you take a class in physics because it is rigorous enough that you will actually learn the material but is presented in a fun enough way that the concepts are more likely to stick with you. It is not a book that I would say will ever help you pass a physics exam or assist in solving homework problems, but it will give you the all-important base of knowledge and understanding of the concepts you need when you do get to the point where the math, and working out the problems is critical.

Book Review: To Infinity and Beyond

 

To Infinity and Beyond is (as of its 2023 publication and this writing) the newest book written by the popular astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. The book was co-authored by Lindsey Nyx Walker. The book discusses the history of human exploration, both of the Earth and the Cosmos. In it, Tyson distills the various scientific concepts, which range from Newton's Law of Gravitation and Keppler's Laws of planetary motion to what would be required to actually travel to another solar system and the physics behind the concept of time travel (which Tyson does throw a bit of cold water onto since it is far more complicated than just picking a day and year to travel to), into their basic components. 

The hardcover version of the book has 300 pages of substantive text, and then a few pages of other reading material and an index. It is divided into different topics in which Tyson discusses discoveries made on Earth, the exploration of our solar system, and what exploration of other solar systems would entail (especially what it would take to send a ship with people to even the closest solar system).  The only thing that I did not like about the book is that throughout the text there are pages with side topics inserted that break up the main text. So, you either have to read the side-topic material and stop reading the main text, or you have to jump a couple of pages ahead, finish the main text, and then go back to read the side-topic pages. If that happened only once or twice in the book it would not be a big deal, but it happens a lot and gets a bit irritating after a while. That is what knocks the book down a star for me. Otherwise, the substance of the book is great.

The book has a similar tone and feel to the other books that Tyson has authored, especially in the past few years. Tyson, like Carl Sagan before him, has a gift for explaining the science behind various topics in such a way that you can understand the concepts without ever taking a math or physics class, yet not come off as talking down to anyone. The book has a lot of great information in it and wonderful pictures (both real astrophotography and illustrations). It is absolutely worth the time to read.

Product Review: Plastic Graduated Cylinder

 

I needed one for a Thermodynamics project. It is nothing fancy, just a plastic cylinder with measurement markings. It arrived quickly and in good condition. It is probably not something I will ever use again, getting it at a much better price than a glass equivalent was great. I am very satisfied with it.

Product Review: TI NSpire

 

I have almost all the TI line of graphing calculators including the 84, 85, and 89. The Nspire is very much overkill unless you are going into a hard science or engineering program, where you need to take higher-level math classes and use the concepts from those classes in future classes. In that case, it is very helpful and has a lot of advantages over the TI-89 once you get used to it.

One of the main advantages is that it is far better than the TI89 when doing integration. On the 89, you basically had to code in the integral in a format like int(x, x, 0, 10) to get it to do the integral. When doing integration on this,it is much like how you do it on the 84 plus where it gives you the integral setup like you see it in the book, you enter the limits of integration above and below the integral sign, then enter the function and then tell it what you are integrating over. And of course, unlike the 84-Plus it will give you the exact answer and not just a decimal approximation. The same is true with derivatives.

Where it really beats the 89 though is when doing integration and if you need to plug in a variable as your limit of integration, where the 89 would throw an error, this will actually do it for you. And you can even use the variable in your function as one of the limits of integration. For example, if you are an EE major taking electric and magnetic fields, when you get to Gauss's Law you often have to integrate over a variable like r, but also have to use r as one of the limits of integration. The 89 cannot pull that off, this one can. Also, the graphs it can produce are much better than the 89, especially 3D graphs which are light years beyond the crappy 89 ones.

The main thing I do not like about it is the battery. While it does have good battery life, and you can get a lot out of a charge, it is not something you can replace on your own. Unlike the 83, 84, 85, and 89 you cannot just pop the back off and put 4 AAA batteries in it. So you have to make sure it is charged well enough before you need to use it. The other thing I do not like, is I have yet to figure out how to get changing the mode from radians to degrees to stick. I can find it in the menu and change the option but then when I go back into a document or even open a new document it always stays in radian mode. Granted it is not a huge deal to just convert radians to degrees, but it is still a pain when it was much easier on the old calculators to do it.

The test mode issue is not something I have run into, but I had ample warning about it. Basically, if you end up in one of the main menus of the calculator there is an option that says "Press to Test" which gives no warning on what it does. You could realistically assume it means to run a diagnostic on the calculator, but in reality, it turns off much of the CAS capability and gets rid of some of the functions (like if you go into the trig menu you only get sin, cos and tangent and the inverses of those not the others). If you know someone that has the calculator you can connect them and get out of it easily, but if you do not, it is a total pain in the ass to get out of it. So basically, NEVER push that unless you are required to for an exam (in which case I would just use an 84-plus (or equivalent calculator) and don't bother putting this into the test mode).

I have not used every feature on the calculator and never will. But I have found it very good for what I have needed to do. I am not sure how it compares up against the HP 50 or some of the other comparable calculators by other manufacturers that are out there. It can be kind of humorous to read all the debates or arguments that go on about what is the better calculator, and my guess is they all have their strengths and weaknesses. So far I have been mostly satisfied with this and what it can do.

Study Aid Review: The Chemistry 1 Tutor: Volume 4 - Oxidation and Reduction Reactions

 

This is the fourth volume in Jason's Chemistry 1 series, which is designed to cover the first semester of General Chemistry. If you are taking Introduction to Chemistry (or non-AP high school chemistry) what you get in the 4 volumes will cover pretty much the entire class. If you are taking the General Chemistry class (or AP chemistry in high school) you will get about 70-75 percent of what you will get in the first semester. The main topics that Jason omitted are the ideal gas laws and thermochemistry. Those are topics that may be covered in later releases.

This particular set of DVDs covers redox (oxidation, reduction) reactions. As is Jason's style in all of his DVDs, he only presumes you have the knowledge of the material that proceeds what you are working on. In this case, you need to be very familiar with net ionic equations and Stoichiometry. Aside from that he presumes you are an absolute beginner with redox reactions and walks you through step-by-step, explaining everything he is doing along the way to drill the material into your head. You end up doing so many examples that you have no choice but to learn how to balance the reactions.

The best part of the set in my opinion is how he explains the problems that require you to balance reactions taking place in a basic solution. His method is a workaround to the method that many books teach, which builds on the process of balancing reactions in an acidic solution by tacking on three additional steps at the end. Many books teach an alternate step in the middle of the process that then requires you to do a lot more work to get everything to balance. You will want to get an idea for what method your teacher wants you to use, but most of the time if you get the right answer, they will not care how you got to it, as long as you show your work.

I have used Jason's material as the foundation for my preparation to get me through all levels of calculus and the first year of physics. Even though you have to pay for the DVDs as opposed to finding the material for free online, I believe that the quality of the material and Jason's teaching style is that good. If you are a visual learner and do not need the interaction you would get with a regular tutor, and want something that will get you a jump on the material or clarify what you did not understand in the lecture, then these DVDs are the best investment you can make.

Study Aid Review: The Chemistry 1 Tutor: Volume 3

 

This is a continuation of Jason's Chemistry 1 tutor video series. In this volume, Jason mostly deals with acid-base reactions and titrations. Like in all his other videos, he will give you an introduction to the subject, tell you what you already need to understand to get the material, and then does a lot of examples. The examples he gives range in difficulty level from fairly easy, to hard. He really does try to get you to understand the thought process in solving these types of problems and going from what you know to what you need to solve. He explains really well how you will sometimes have to essentially solve the problem backward to get to the correct answer, and explains why he is doing what he is throughout the problem.

The main reason I keep buying Jason's DVDs as opposed to just trying to find things on the internet, is because he really takes the time to break down problems step by step and give you the skills you need to solve problems. And you can take those skills to solve problems in the material he does skip. This set covers about another chapter or 2 (depending on how the book you are using is laid out). From what I can tell the only material that you will get exposed to in Chemistry I, that Jason does not cover in four volumes of the Chemistry 1 tutor are the ideal gas law material and the stuff on thermodynamics. Jason has however put out a physics DVD on thermodynamics that does cover a lot of that material. As people who have taken Chemistry and Physics know there is a lot of crossover between the subjects when it comes to the thermodynamics material. Hence, if you take chemistry first it will help at that point in physics, and if you take physics first it will help you in chemistry. So if you get that set and the 4 volumes of the Chemistry 1 tutor you will know most of what you are going to need for the first semester of General Chemistry. Some of the material on the physics DVD will not necessarily be covered in chemistry, but the basic ideas are.

If your learning style is compatible with learning from a DVD, then I highly recommend this set. The drawback of course is that you cannot interact and ask questions, so if that is something you need to learn you may have to go for in-person tutoring, but this is far better than trying to learn the material out of a book.

Study Aid Review: Ultimate Physics 3 Tutor - Electricity and Magnetism Series - Volume 2

 

I used most of Jason's DVDs to prepare myself for my math and physics classes before I took them, fill in material from lectures that my teachers either glossed over, or did not explain very well, and get ready for tests.

To be clear, this is a tutorial DVD. To clarify for the supposed teacher that gave this two stars on Amazon because he did not process from the title of the product what it is, this is not something designed to get you interested in physics. It is to help work through actual physics problems and learn, or brush up on the material. It is Jason standing in front of a whiteboard going through many examples.

This set focuses mainly on capacitors and then the magnetic field material. The topics that you will get in the second semester of the class that he does not go through are the resistor circuit problems, inductance, and optics. That is why you cannot rely just on this to get through your class. There is material that you will see in class that Jason omits that you are going to get assigned homework on and be tested on.

Like most of the other physics DVDs Jason puts out, it is geared more toward non-calculus-based physics. However, he does in this video (and volume 1 of this set) use more calculus to show alternate ways to solve some of the problems and to derive some of the formulas. He does more derivation here than he has done in most of the other DVDs combined, but that is because many teachers require students to derive the formulas on quizzes and tests in calculus-based physics.

Like all of Jason's DVDs if you use this correctly (as a supplement to, not a replacement for class) they will definitely help you. Just know that some of the problems he goes through will be a little on the easy side for those taking calc-based physics. Although, he does give enough variety in the types of problems that he works through that regardless of what level of class you are in it will help you learn the subject.

Study Aid Review: Math and Science DVD Bundle

 

I found Jason Gibson's DVDs when looking for study aids to use when I went back to school to get an engineering degree. I would use them to study prior to my upcoming classes so I could at least get an idea of what the material was about, and they were the best non-required investment I made while in school. This is a bundle of math and physics DVDs that have been released individually. He has now transitioned away from the DVDs to putting everything on his online site. I am going to just give you a summary of my impressions of the DVDs should you decide to try and pick up used copies.

1) The production quality is not fancy but gets better over time. The early DVDs were filmed with little to no production, and probably filmed out of his home. As he went along he started filming out of a studio, which is where all the new lessons he puts out are filmed from. Even from the studio, the lessons just have Jason in front of a whiteboard. There are no fancy graphics or frills.

2) Jason does make mistakes from time to time. He catches some of the mistakes as he goes along, some are caught and corrected post-production, and occasionally he misses one altogether. It shows that he is human. While one could argue they should be edited out altogether, and I think that is a reasonable argument to make, it has never distracted me from learning the material. Almost every teacher I have had has made mistakes in math when working out problems. My calc III teacher who has a Phd in math made calculation errors all the time, yet I could still get the idea of what was going on.

4) Jason will go step by step in solving problems. Even in the advanced calculus DVDs, he does nearly every algebraic step, even things that most people at that level can easily do in their head. If you get these DVDs you will become very good at algebra. And since it is the foundation upon which all levels of math and science are built that is very important.

5)The trig and pre-calculus DVD that is in this bundle does not cover all the concepts, so you may want to get the 2nd volume of the set. The one in the bundle will cover the unit circle, trig functions, the basic trig identities, right triangle trig, and graphing the trig functions. It does not cover trig equations, the law of sines and cosines, or the more little-used identities like the half-angle and double-angle identities. The second volume fills in those gaps. If you get that, the only concept from pre-calculus that will not be covered is conic sections.

6) In none of the DVDs does Jason touch on every concept you will learn in class. He hits the most important concepts, and the ones that if you don't know you will have no shot at learning the others. I would estimate that, depending on your particular teacher, if you learn the material on the DVDs you can expect to know 70% or more of what you would be asked on a final exam. In some of my classes, that percentage was closer to 90%. But you cannot expect to know everything for the entire class just from the DVDs. It is imperative that you do your homework problems and go to class to do well. While Jason does work through problems of varying difficulty they are usually not the hardest problems you will be exposed to.

7) The physics material is algebra-based more than calculus-based. He does not use calculus to derive the formulas for the most part. A couple times in the Physics 3 DVDs (which are not in this bundle) he will, but for the most part, he just gives the formulas and gives examples of how to use them. He does a great job of breaking down how the problems are worded so you really know what information is being given, and what the problem is asking you to do. Which, in physics, is over half the battle.

8) Jason has also put out newer extra practice with derivatives and extra practice with integration DVDs to fill in the Calc I and II material. On those, he gives more examples of the various differentiation and integration techniques and gets to topics such as implicit differentiation and the disk/washer/shell methods for finding volume using integrals that are not on the two DVDs you get here. While the two DVDs in this set did help me get an A in Calc I and II, I wish the other volumes would have been out when I took those classes.

In all, whether you find these useful will depend on your learning style and some amount of subjectivity. If I had to go back and do it over I would have bought the bundle and saved a bit of money, but whether you get the entire thing, or just need a couple DVDs, I highly recommend these to anyone subject to the provisos I listed in the review.

Study Aid Review: The Chemistry 1 Tutor: Volume 1

 

I am a huge believer in Jason's DVD sets. I stumbled across them a few years ago when looking for math supplements because I was returning to school after 12 years to get an engineering degree. With the aid of his DVDs, I have made it through all levels of calculus and a semester and a half of physics with a 4.0 GPA. I will be taking general chemistry next year and have started using this to get a jump on the concepts.

While the production style of Jason's DVDs has increased greatly (the first couple he put out was just his hand in front of a whiteboard), and now he has an entire studio he films in) his teaching style has remained the same. He assumes you know little to nothing about the actual subject. He just assumes that you have enough math knowledge to be taking the class, and works through the concepts breaking things down step by step.

What I love about his style is that he gives a bare-bones lecture and explains what you really know from the theory. He explains the subject without a lot of proofs or deriving of the formulas. He will occasionally derive formulas, but only when he thinks it is very helpful. Then he goes through several example problems and goes through them step by step so that you can follow the thought process. Which, as anyone who has taken a math or science class can tell you, knowing what to use and the process of how to use it are the most important things. He does a lot more spoon-feeding than your professor is likely to, and far more than the book ever will.

Some things to keep in mind. This is a supplement to, not a replacement for, going to class and doing homework. Even if you get all 4 volumes of his chemistry set, it is not likely going to cover all of what you are going to be exposed to in class. Given that chemistry books can be the size of a small phone book it is impossible to cram everything into one set. That is why he has been putting out multiple volumes since he started making DVDs full-time, but he still has to leave some out. The material in this volume will cover much of what you will get in regular high school chemistry (about 5 or 6 chapters) or the very basic chemistry class in college (the one that essentially crams a year of high school chemistry into one semester). If you are taking the class that is usually called General Chemistry in college (AP Chemistry in High school) however, this material will be covered early on in the class and in almost a review-like fashion in the first couple chapters of the book.

Jason picks the concepts that he feels are the most important ones to cover. I have noticed that many times the problems he works on are similar to what is asked on quizzes or tests, but not the only things that get asked say on a homework assignment. Similarly, he tends to show a range of problems from very easy, to moderately difficult. He usually does not show the hardest kinds of problems. So be aware that you may get homework problems, and sometimes even test problems more complex than what he shows here. But if you follow the strategies he gives for solving the problems you can usually figure out what to do one the harder ones.

The other thing I really like about these DVDs is that Jason follows the progression of the course. Yes, you can find lots of examples all over the internet of people doing problems, and I even look for those kinds of things when I am stuck on a problem if it is a type that Jason does not cover. But what Jason gives you here is like the pared-down lecture you would get in class in the order you will see the material presented. You can think of it as almost like a review day kind of lecture that you can watch over and over again. You do not have to go hunting for the material to learn it initially. It is easy to hunt for sample problems when you know what you are looking for, but another thing to find good explanations of the concepts which I think is important to have before you do problems.

Ultimately whether you are going to find these useful will depend on your learning style. No, you cannot interact and ask questions as you can in class or with a tutor, but you can watch the material as many times as you want until you get it. If you can learn from a video lecture, and use it wisely, it will absolutely help you understand the material and get better grades.

Study Aid Review: The Chemistry 1 Tutor Volume 2

 

This volume of Jason's Chemistry DVDs picks up where his first one leaves off. Going into chemical equations, chemical reactions, and Stoichiometry. If you are taking college-level General Chemistry I it will, depending on how your book is laid out, cover about another 1.5 to 2 chapters of material. Jason gives a lot of examples of how to solve problems, but just as useful he gives you a ton of tips on how to approach the problems. In some instances that stuff is just as useful, if not more so, than going through the problems themselves.

The information Jason gives on balancing chemical equations, and a simple tip he gives (that apparently not all books and teachers tell you) for situations when you get all but one part of the equation balanced and the unbalanced part is not a clean even multiple of any others is worth the price of the set alone. And keeping true to the style of how he goes through the math and physics and circuits DVDs he always tells you why he is doing what he is, and walks you through step-by-step.

Whether you find this helpful or not will depend in large part on how you learn. If you are a book learner or need to interact with a tutor/teacher this will not help you much. If you are a visual or audio learner and the thought of a marker board lecture does not bore you to death, then this is a great investment. The thing that sets Jason's DVDs apart from some of the web-based material you can find is that is goes in order, and combines a lecture with problem-solving examples. He teaches you enough theory and background that you can understand the subject, but then gives you a lot more examples than you are likely to get in a traditional class. He shows you the kind of problems that you are most likely to encounter on a quiz or test (depending on your teacher), but usually not the hardest problems you might get as homework. I have most of Jason's material (aside from the basic math DVDs) and they have helped me get through all levels of math and physics with a 4.0 average. I still had to put in a lot of hard work of my own, but I would recommend his DVDs to anyone having trouble with the material or anyone who is looking for self-study material to get ready for a class.

Book Review: Physics Without the Boring Bits

 

This is not a physics textbook. There are no equations (except for force equals mass times acceleration), no math, and no homework problems. Instead, it is a book that explains how physics affects the world and universe we live in. Many times in physics classes you get so wrapped up in the math that you use perspective on what any of it is good for. This book uses humor and anecdotes to explain how things from simple motion to quantum physics actually work. 

It will not help you pass a test or a quiz, but if you are a physics student it will give you an idea of why all those equations do what they do, and if you are taking a non-STEM major physics class (like physics for poets or something like that), it can help you understand the basic concepts. Otherwise, if you are just interested in science and are looking for a fun, quick and easy read this will be that as well.

Book Review: Letters from an Astrophysicist

 

Letters from an Astrophysicist is a book by Neil deGrasse Tyson (who hosts Star Talk and the recent Cosmos reboots, as well as appearing on docuseries like The Universe) in which he prints responses to letters (or emails) he has received, social media interactions, and letters (or social media posts) that he has written directly. In some instances, he also prints the text of the letters he received and then his response, and other times he just summarizes what the person wrote to him and then prints his response.

The topics of the letters in the book vary to anything from the origin of the universe to the possibility of alien life, to the great science versus religion debate. Tyson shows responses to letters that thank and congratulate him and "hate mail" that he has received. His responses definitely give you an interesting look into his view of science, technology, the universe, politics, and a whole host of other topics. The book is relatively short, just under 300 pages, and fast readers can easily get through it in a day or two. 

Book Review: Cosmic Queries: StarTalk's Guide to Who We Are, How We Got Here, and Where We're Going

 

This book is a combination of the two seasons of Cosmos that Neil deGrasse Tyson hosted, his Star Talk TV show, and the Star Talk podcast/webisodes mixed together. The book was written by Tyson and co-author James Trefil. In it, Tyson explains what the various sciences (basically physics, chemistry, biology, and astrophysics) have figured out about the origin of the universe, the formation of our solar system, life on Earth, the possibility of alien life elsewhere in the universe, and how the universe may ultimately end. As importantly he goes through things that there is evidence for, but is not well understood (e.g., dark matter and dark energy). He is able to explain the concepts clearly without throwing a bunch of equations in the book that would require multiple years of calculus to even begin to understand. In fact, the only equation in the book is the famous Drake Equation that is used to try to predict the number of planets or moons that may have intelligent life, and even in that case, he is really just explaining what the variables in the equation represents. 

The book is what I consider an intermediate length, at just over 300 pages. There are a lot of pictures in the book, both actual photographs taken through telescopes or the various probes we have sent out into the solar system, and artist renderings of how we think things look. And, some of the tweets that Tyson has tweeted over the years on various topics are included. So, the book reads fairly quickly. My only complaint is that throughout the book the authors include what amount to margin notes that delve a bit more deeply into something that was mentioned in the main text. However, the font used for these asides is smaller and the ink used is much lighter than the main text. So, unless you have really good eyesight, they can be hard to read, especially if you are at the point in your life where you need to use reading glasses or progressive lenses. That aside, it is still a good read for anyone who is interested in Astronomy and Astrophysics.

Textbook Review: Fundamentals of Physics

 

This is the physics textbook by Halliday, Resnick, and Walker which is the required textbook for many calculus-based physics classes. It is what I would describe as a pretty standard textbook. It gives you a pretty good explanation of the theory, and because it is for a calculus-based physics class, it has a lot of proofs/derivation of the equations (which is mainly how calculus is used in calc-based physics classes). Because of that, it does not have a ton of examples, especially examples that give a lot of guidance for the hardest problems in the problem sets. It covers all of the main topics in the first two semesters of physics. The last couple of chapters cover more advanced topics like nuclear physics and particle physics to bridge to the concepts (like quantum physics and relativity) that would be covered in a modern physics class. You definitely need to have the first couple of semesters of calculus under your belt to understand the math being used to derive the equations. A couple of concepts from multivariable calculus do get used in the book, but it is mostly you just need to know how to take single-variable derivatives and integrals. 

The problems are broken down by difficulty level. Level one problems are the easiest, and can basically all be solved by reading the chapter and understanding the examples. Level two problems are harder and require more thought and a deeper understanding of the concepts. Most of them can be solved if you understand the last example or two in the chapter text, but that is not the case with all of them. The level three problems are the hardest and the ones that are most likely to trip people up. I am a big advocate for working as many problems as you can. In a perfect world, people would be able to work through all of the problems, as the level one problems help you to get the skills to do the level two problems and so on. Of course, if you are taking a class as opposed to self-studying, that may not be possible, but if you can do it, that is the best way to use the book. I do think it is helpful to pair this with a study guide, especially one that has a lot of worked-out examples because you will definitely get stuck at some point when working on the problem set.

While I do not think the book is perfect, and honestly in all the math, science, and engineering classes that I took, I never did have a book that I would call perfect, it does give you a good presentation of the theory and has a decent mix of problems. If you pair it with something like the Schaum's 3000 solved physics problems guide, you will get through the material.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Interstellar

 

Interstellar was the first major movie written and directed by Christopher Nolan after his Batman trilogy ended. The basic plot of this movie is that in 2067 the Earth is becoming more and more uninhabitable because of a planet-wide blight/dust bowl, which is making it harder for food to grow. Matthew McConaughey plays Coop, an ex-astronaut turned farmer who is recruited for a mission to pilot an expedition to a series of possibly habitable planets to which advance scouts have already been dispatched. To get to the prospective planets, the ship must travel through a wormhole that opened near the planet Saturn. This requires him to leave his only child, Murph (played by Mackenzie Foy at the beginning of the movie, then by Jessica Chastain later on) on Earth, promising her that he will return. The rest of the cast includes Nolan veterans Anne Hathaway and Michael Caine, as well as Wes Bentley (from American Beauty), John Lithgow, Matt Damon, Casey Affleck, and David Oyelowo.

The blu-ray has a ton of great extras, and the A/V quality is stellar. The most comprehensive extra is an almost hour-long documentary on the science of Interstellar, in which Nolan explains what they did to get as much of the science correct as possible. This included using a physicist as a consultant to do things like help create the CGI black hole, and how the time aspects of the movie would work. Then, there are a series of 14 making-of featurettes titled Inside Interstellar, which details the process to make various aspects of the movie, and then the three trailers for the movie are included.

Overall, the movie is great. It is well-written and very well-acted. As an engineer, I like that they actually get a lot of the science correct (although some of it is embellished for dramatic effect), and they get concepts like gravity around a black hole and the resulting time dilation effects correct. McConaughey and Chastain are definitely the standouts, as they get the most material to work with, but the entire cast does a great job with their characters. It is an awesome movie and definitely worth multiple viewings.

Textbook Review: Radio Astronomy

 

This is a textbook for an advanced physics or engineering class. I picked it up to help me with a project for my radar engineering class that I did on Radio Astronomy. It assumes that you have been through the calculus sequence and taken some physics. I did not really work on any of the problems in the book, so I cannot really say how well the theory in the explanatory text guides you in doing those. But, assuming you have taken enough classes to understand the material, the book does explain the theory quite well, and understandably. It is not something that an astronomy hobbyist who has not taken calculus and physics is likely to get a ton of use out of, however.

Product Review: Texas Instruments Nspire CX CAS Graphing Calculator

 

basically give you exact answers to almost any kind of mathematical function. Of course, it does not show the work, so if you are taking a class, you still have to learn how to do the problems, but it is helpful for checking your work. The display is much, much better than the display on the TI-89. It does utilize the same kind of "stack" but it is much brighter and easier to see. And some things, like derivatives, integrals, and matrices are much easier to set up on the Nspire than they are on the TI-89. Another good feature is that you can have multiple windows open and go back and forth between them. Probably not something you would need for an exam (assuming your teacher allows you to use it), but it can be helpful when doing homework. Many teachers will not let you because this can also store PDF files (if you use the computer software that comes with it) so you could take a cheat sheet into an exam that is closed book, closed notes.

There are a few issues that I discovered along the way. The menus can be a pain in the butt to navigate unless you are using one of the common math functions. For example, the statistics material is hard to find and access. Second, you pretty much have to go to YouTube to figure out how to do things on it because it does not come with a manual that helps at all. And, doing some things like changing from Radian to Degree mode that is relatively easy on TI's other calculators like the 84 plus, and the 89, is tricky on the Nspire. Also, there is a very deceptive mode that is on one of the settings screens that says something like "press to test". At first glance, it looks like it would run some kind of diagnostic on the calculator, but what it really does is put the calculator into test mode which turns off most of the CAS functions, and getting the calculator out of test mode is very complicated, so much so that it is not worth ever activating. Basically, you need access to a second calculator that is not in test mode to connect to and go through a bunch of steps with the calculators connected to each other. So, if your teacher allows you to use the calculator on exams, but only if it is in the test mode, you are far better off using a non-CAS calculator. Also, on some of the derivative and integral solutions, it gives answers that are simplified differently than "normal" so it can be hard to check your answers. That said, one thing it can really do well is triple integrals in which you are integrating over dr, but also have r as a limit of integration. This is something that is done quite a bit in an Electric and Magnetic fields class (if you are an electrical engineering major). The TI-89 will throw an error, but the Nspire can actually calculate it.

Overall, I would say that if you are just taking lower-level math classes, then this is overkill. If however, you are going into an engineering program this will make your life much easier once you learn how to use the functions you need quickly. I cannot really say how it stacks up against any of the other CAS calculators (aside from the TI-89) out there. I know that some people love TI and some people hate TI, to the extent of breaking out in hilariously dumb arguments. But, I can tell you that you will probably not ever use every single operation the calculator is capable of, but if you are in an engineering program, it will help.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey

 

Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey is a 2014 revival/follow-up to the 1980s Cosmos series created and hosted by Carl Sagan. This series was hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist and curator of the Hayden Planetarium in NY, written by Sagan's widow, Ann Druyan, who had collaborated with Sagan on the original series, and produced by the creator of Family Guy, Seth McFarlane. The 13-episode season aired during the spring of 2014 on FOX. 

There are many similarities and many differences between that series and this one. Like the original series, this one covers many different topics in science, focusing on Astronomy but covering chemistry, physics, biology, and more. Each episode deals with a different topic and usually tells the story of one or more scientists that contributed to the field being discussed. The series did not focus on just the "big" names like Newton and Einstein but discussed other scientists and mathematicians like Halley, Hooke, Keppler, etc. In the original series, the stories of the historical figures were told using human actors, but in this series, many of the stories were told using animation and voice actors. I was not a fan of the animations when I first watched the show, but upon a subsequent viewing, they did not really bother me. And, of course, the CGI graphics are orders of magnitude better than what could be accomplished in the original series.

For those who get the Blu-Ray, the A/V quality is fantastic. The visuals are fantastic (both the real and the CGI), and the sound is very good. The extras include an audio commentary on the first episode with Druyan, producer Mitchell Cannold, producer/director Brannon Braga, producer Jason Clark, and animation producer Kara Vallow, a 40-minute comic-con panel discussion, a 41-minute making-of documentary, a 35-minute portion of a dedication to Sagan at the Library of Congress, and interactive cosmic calendar.

Like Sagan before, Tyson can explain complicated topics in simple terms without sounding like he is talking down to the audience. Of course, the audience for this series was much larger than that of the original series airing on Fox versus PBS. Even though the series aired at a time when science was being caught in the middle of the idiotic political divide, the country has been marred in, for the most the show ignored all that and just presented the scientific fact and ignored science deniers. The one exception is the episode on climate change, which distilled the problem and the cause to very simplistic terms without hyperbole and included a clip of an interview from back in the 1960s in which an old guy who is certainly not a part of a "woke" mob and proving that scientists knew that the amount of greenhouse gasses being pumped into the atmosphere back then was a problem. Although, the dipshit politicians and their sheep, if they bothered to watch something educational, would probably accuse the guy of being part of some liberal cabal.  And there were clips from the original Cosmos series in which Sagan described the concerns and what the possible consequences could be (and then showed how many of those consequences have started coming to pass).

One thing I wish the show would have done a bit better is explain the scale of the cosmic calendar (e.g., that 1 month corresponded to approximately 1.2 billion years, 1 day corresponded to approximately 40 million years, and 1 second corresponded to approximately 440 years) so that when Tyson said that something took place at midnight on December 31st, people did not actually think he meant something happened midnight on some random December 31st, but instead meant about 3600 - 4000 years ago. Probably the best moment of the series is when they did a CGI zoom out starting on Earth through the solar system to the galaxy level to the famous "pale blue dot" narrative by Carl Sagan. Overall, the series is wonderful and definitely in my must-watch category.

Study Aid Review: The Unit Conversion Tutor - 4 Hour Course

 

This is, in my opinion, one of the most important sets that Jason has put out, and one of the most important topics to learn if you plan on getting a science or engineering degree. Unit conversion/Dimensional Analysis is something that you will absolutely use in classes like chemistry, physics, and nearly every engineering class you take. In some classes, it is used more than others, but it is something that you will see all throughout your studies. In most chemistry and physics books, the very first chapter is devoted to the concept, but very few teachers ever lecture on that chapter or assign problems from it. Instead, students are expected to figure it out and be able to follow what the teacher is doing when going through example problems that require converting units. The problem is that the chapters in the books tend to make things way more complicated than they need to be and discuss the most obscure units that you will never see in a "real" problem. This is where Jason's set is extremely helpful and useful.

Jason starts out discussing Scientific Notation, then gets into the Metric System and SI Units, which is the foundational system of units that will be used in every single class. Then the lessons go into, Unit Conversions Involving Length, Unit Conversions Involving Area, Unit Conversions Involving Volume, Unit Conversions Involving Speed, and Unit Conversions Involving Mass and Weight. All of those will be essential to solving physics problems and the last topic is also used extensively in chemistry. The final lesson is on Unit Conversions Involving Density, which is mostly used in chemistry, but will come up in physics and classes like engineering thermodynamics as well.

The reason I say that this is one of the most important topics is that if you know how to do it well, you will reduce the number of mistakes that you make on homework problems, quizzes, and exams, and it will always lead you to the correct answer because your answer always has to be in the correct units by the end of the problem. If you do the unit conversions first, you will save yourself a lot of time when working out problems and it will be a lot easier to figure out if you have made a mistake and find the mistake. So, this is a topic that is essential to learn well and be able to do quickly. Nothing that Jason shows here is extremely complex, but it is very helpful. I definitely recommend getting this if you want to learn any branch of science or engineering.