I'm new to this list and relatively new to BookCrossing, and your message has been one of the first to hit my inbox. You have a wonderful reviewing style. Even though you found the book annoying, I can't help wanting to read it!
Paula Berinstein BookCrossing ID pberinstein > G'dday. > > This message is being cross-posted: science and bookcrossing lists. > > I'm just about to release into the wild a book called "Surfing through > Hyperspace: Understanding higher Universes in Six Easy Lessons" by > Clifford > A. Pickover. > > Just finished reading it, haven't had time to digest it yet (the whole > concept of digesting books was, I believe, introduced by Francis Bacon). > > I found this book by turns very interesting and wildly annoying. I > wanted to > throttle Pickover. I particularly, malignantly and constantly wanted to > throttle his X-files clones. And what is he doing, dedicating a book > to an > Aussie film director, Gillian Armstrong, anyway?! > > The X-Files intruded into every single chapter. I wanted to crush, kill, > rend, destroy. > > I know nothing whatever of the subject, but even so the author's own poor > understanding of what he was trying to present also made me want to > crush, > kill, rend and destroy. > > The whole book is based on trying to tell us what the world would look > like > if one could perceive a fourth spacial dimension. But he forgets that > in our > current three-dimensional space, the three dimensions are tied to each > other. Later in the book, he posits travel in the fourth dimension as > a way > of escaping environmental destruction, which is as silly as saying > that if > we were an earwig living on a book page all we had to do to escape such a > calamity would be to learn to fly into the third dimension. Any spacial > dimension linked to the other three is going to be subject to any > environmental damage the others are, it seems to me, especially the > damage > caused by the dying out of the stars, the possible cooling and > collapse of > the universe, the condensation of everything into a single > singularity. Yet > he thinks teaching ourselves to perceive a fourth spacial dimension will > somehow mean our bodies won't be present in the current three. > > However, in between prize bits of idiocy, there are some very interesting > thoughts. They occur only in half-page slabs, but at least they occur. > And I > particularly liked this portion of the preface, which really whetted my > appetite:- > > By the time you've finished this book, you will be able to > > understand arcane concepts... > impress your friends with such terms as... > write better science fiction...[this should have been a warning] > conduct computer experiments... > understand humanity's rather liited view... > STUFF A WHALE INTO A TEN-DIMENSIONAL SPHERE THE SIZE OF A MARBLE [my > capitals]. > > What a skill! Previous self-help manuals are totally eclipsed by this > one. I > should get my daughter to read it - her room will become uncrowded. > > Nisaba > > __________________________________________________________ > Advertisement: Getting married? Tell us why to WIN @ LetsShop > http://a.ninemsn.com.au/b.aspx?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eletsshop%2Ecom%2FCompetitions%2FLetsMarry%2Ftabid%2F549%2FDefault%2Easpx&_t=751480117&_r=HM_tagline_letsshop_wedding&_m=EXT > > <http://a.ninemsn.com.au/b.aspx?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eletsshop%2Ecom%2FCompetitions%2FLetsMarry%2Ftabid%2F549%2FDefault%2Easpx&_t=751480117&_r=HM_tagline_letsshop_wedding&_m=EXT> > > -- Paula Berinstein The Writing Show, where writing is always the story http://www.writingshow.com Information and inspiration for writers. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Have you told a friend today? http://bookcrossing.com/tellafriend Archives and email list settings: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BookCrossing Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BookCrossing/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BookCrossing/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
