Ever wondered what an engineer reads after work? SandyJ gives you book recommendations that are fantastic in more than one way. Books to escape from reality (for those not afraid of unicorns) and on how to improve your reality if you should wish to do so. The books will most likely be available in one of Karlsruhes many public libraries. We will explore book stores and talk about reading experiences. All from the perspective of a Bookdragon who is an engineer by day and likes a little bit of magic off the clock. Happy endings guaranteed.
Physics turned weird during the last century, first with the relativity and then with quantum mechanics. Supersymmetry and String Theory have been en vogue for the last decades because they are such beautiful theories, but the experiments (LHC at CERN) don’t turn up the predictions (all the while LIGO has found the gravitational waves). Sabine Hossenfelder is a German theoretical physicist and has asked herself, why the physics community likes the beautiful theories so much more then the ugly but well-tested Standard Model, in this months non-fiction book recommendation.
And Terry Pratchett delivers the highly entertaining fictional wyrdness with the all new audiobook of his „Wyrd Sisters“. Witches and particle physics? A wyrd but entertaining combination.
Hear you soon.
Podcast Timetable: Stream on Sunday, June 12th 7 PM local time. Drops on Monday, June 13th, noon-ish, Oldschool Radio (UKW 104.8) Tuesday 10 AM local time. YouTube: whenever we get around to it (Even the older episodes are now available)
Bookdragon, Producer: SandyJ
Music: Erwin Schmidt
Book Recommendations:
Non-FictionSabine Hossenfelder „Lost in Math – How Beauty leads Physics astray“ (2018) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36341728-lost-in-math (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36341728-lost-in-math)
Fiction:Terry Pratchett „Wyrd Sisters“ (1988) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34504.Wyrd_Sisters (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34504.Wyrd_Sisters)
Books mentioned:
Lee Smolin „The trouble with physics“ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/108939.The_Trouble_with_Physics (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/108939.The_Trouble_with_Physics)
Brian Greene „The elegant Universe“ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8049273-the-elegant-universe (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8049273-the-elegant-universe)
Sabine Hossenfelder „Existential Physics: A Scientist’s Guide to Life’s biggest Questions“ (August 9th 2022) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59695048-existential-physics (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59695048-existential-physics)
William Shakespeare „MacBeth“ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8852.Macbeth (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8852.Macbeth)
Other Stuff:
Penguin Randomhouse „Turning Terry Pratchett’s Discworld into Audiobooks“ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zw4kYXx8s4k (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zw4kYXx8s4k)
LIGO – Gravitational Wave https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/page/gravitational-waves (https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/page/gravitational-waves)
CERN lhc https://home.cern/science/accelerators/large-hadron-collider (https://home.cern/science/accelerators/large-hadron-collider)
9 May 2022
Fictional and non-fictional politics
To better understand what is happening in the world our local Bookdragon naturally turned to books. SandyJ will share her findings with you in the new episode of Engineered Unicorns.A classic and considered one oft he best non-fiction books of the 20th century Karl R. Poppers „The Open Society and its enemies“ compares the ideas of three known philosophers and their impact on our societies. The fictional politics you can find in Katherine Addisons „The Goblin Emperor“. How does one deal with the pressures and limitations of power and social status?New Fantasy books are available in the Libby App at Karlsruhe Library System and at the American Library in Karlsruhe. And all of this episodes recommendations are available at Karlsruhes libraries.See you in JunePodcast Timetable: Stream on Sunday, May 8th 7 PM local time. Drops on Monday, May 9th, noon-ish, Oldschool Radio (UKW 104.8) Tuesday 10 AM local time. YouTube: whenever we get around to it (Even the older Episodes are now available)Bookdragon, Producer: SandyJMusic: Erwin Schmidt
14 Feb 2022
Be careful what you wish for
Ever wanted to be a character in a fantasy book? Better be careful what you wish for, you might end up not being the main protagonist but the villain and things might get seriously off track.
This happens to the main character of the Danmei novel (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danmei) of the chinese author Mo Xiang Tong Xiu. Our local Bookdragon SandyJ had not only a good laugh while reading the „The Scum Villains Self-Saving System“, but she also pondered the implications of being drawn into a book and having to deal with snarky RPG (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Role-playing_game) Systems and filling in plotholes with a shovel.
New Fantasy books are available in the Libby App at Karlsruhe Library System and at the American Library in Karlsruhe
Next Unicorns episode will be out in May.
Bookdragon, Producer: SandyJ
Music: Erwin Schmidt
Book Recommendation:
Mo Xiang Tong Xiu „The Scum Villains Self-Saving System“ (2021) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58701909-the-scum-villain-s-self-saving-system (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58701909-the-scum-villain-s-self-saving-system)
Books mentioned:
Katherine Addison „The Goblin Emperor“ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17910048-the-goblin-emperor (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17910048-the-goblin-emperor)
T.J. Klune „The Lightning-Struck Heart“ https://www.goodreads.com/pt/book/show/24468673-the-lightning-struck-heart (https://www.goodreads.com/pt/book/show/24468673-the-lightning-struck-heart)
Benedikt Wells „Hard Land“ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55886863-hard-land (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55886863-hard-land)
Mo Xiang Tong Xiu „Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation“ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58701673-grandmaster-of-demonic-cultivation (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58701673-grandmaster-of-demonic-cultivation)
Mo Xiang Tong Xiu „Heaven Official’s Blessing“ https://www.goodreads.com/id/book/show/58701949-heaven-official-s-blessing (https://www.goodreads.com/id/book/show/58701949-heaven-official-s-blessing)
Other Stuff:
The Untamed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Untamed_%28TV_series%29 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Untamed_%28TV_series%29)
Tor.com https://www.tor.com/ (https://www.tor.com/)
SWR Lesenswert https://www.swrfernsehen.de/lesenswert/index.html (https://www.swrfernsehen.de/lesenswert/index.html)
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