Penrose book #14 on Amazon in Britain

In summary: Dude, Give Me Back My Country!In summary, Sir Roger Penrose's third book, "Road to Reality", on Amazon in Britain has risen to third place, behind a diet book and the Da Vinci Code. However, by Thursday 12 August, it was down to ***TWENTYSIX*** place on the list.
  • #1
marcus
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Penrose book #3 on Amazon in Britain

[edit: as of 5PM GMT-8, Friday 6August, Penrose book had risen to THIRD on amazon.com best seller list

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...lers/ref=cs_nav_sn_4/202-5121337-2949434&tag=

It is topped only a diet book and the DaVinci Code]

[edit edit: However by Thursday 12 August, it was down to ***TWENTYSIX*** place on the list. It is still on amazon top hundred, in other words, but it only spent a few days near the top of the list]


A couple of days ago Peter Woit's blog said
"Road to Reality" was #17 on the best-seller list at
UK Amazon, so i decided to check today and
it was #14
and for comparison #10 was Michael Moore
"Dude, Give Me Back My Country!"
so it seemed like an honorable achievement of
Penrose to come within a few points of Michael Moore
and he was actually one better than
"Tears of the Giraffe" by a popular detective novelist.


Especially surprising because Penrose book is said to
actually have some mathematical substance---it is
not just metaphors and impressionistic fluff but it
actually tries to teach you the real-stuff, with the formulas.
You can use it when you don't have a textbook handy
for some things, we are told. so I am in a happy state of shock.
The book market at least in Britain is different from what I
thought.

Remember what Stephen Hawking said his editor advised him:
"each formula you include, you lose half your potential buyers"
so, we were taught to believe, including equations is how not to sell books.

funny thing about the price.
I was told the price was going to be $85 in the USA, but was
30 pounds in Britain. Now I see that Amazon is selling it for 21 pounds!
Isnt that less than $40? So why doesn't everyone in USA who wants the
book simply order it from Amazon UK? Even with postage and delay you probably get it cheaper and sooner.
 
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  • #2
as of Friday it is #11 best seller

I just checked again at amazon.com
and "Road to Reality" had moved up to #11 place

meanwhile Michael Moore "Dude" had moved up to #8

Sir Roger is closing on Michael Moore


Tears of the Giraffe, and The Kalahari Typing School for Men,
are left far behind, as is the book by Lance Armstrong
One sees the great importance that Quantum Gravity has for the general public.
 
  • #3
marcus said:
One sees the great importance that Quantum Gravity has for the general public.

We have to know what the consiousness on the planet is doing in its entirety, as it is costing humanity tremendous dollars. :smile:
 
  • #4
sol2 said:
We have to know what the consiousness on the planet is doing in its entirety, as it is costing humanity tremendous dollars. :smile:

the descent into barbarism, short-sighted selfishness, bigoted tribalism, and biochemical weaponry, is an instinctive way humans have of limiting their population, Sol.
It is only dimly conscious------liberalism is fundamentally overgenerous and results in too many healthy babies----humanity instinctively realizes that this will not do and hurries to finish burning up the fuel, disabling the life-support, and paralyzing any remaining spirit of cooperation.

humans get this way when there are too many in one place,
it is expensive, as you suggest, "costing humanity tremendous dollars:smile:"

Well, you were wondering what is consciousness on the planet up to----what it is "doing in its entirety"---- that is the most honest answer I can offer at the moment. I personally prefer people's individual consciousnesses to their global collective mind which can be pretty gosh-awful.

did you ever read "The Number One Ladies Detective Agency" it is by the same author as "The Tears of the Giraffe" It is a series of mere detective novels about people in some southern africa place
 
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  • #5
Marcus said:
Well, you were wondering what is consciousness on the planet up to----what it is "doing in its entirety"---- that is the most honest answer I can offer at the moment. I personally prefer people's individual consciousnesses to their global collective mind which can be pretty gosh-awful.

Rather like storms and the weather I think:) Sometimes looking at the weather patterns of the world might give you a good indication? :smile: Even in our own personal lives :smile: It's just another way of seeing.

Yes simple detective stories are always nice at the end of the day
 
  • #6
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  • #7
Holy Jesus, I just looked again and Penrose was #4 on the bestsellers

It is 8:28 AM on Friday
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...lers/ref=cs_nav_sn_4/202-5121337-2949434&tag=


there is nothing between Sir Roger and the top but
two diet books and the Da Vinci Code


hey sol, Penrose book talks about Quantum Gravity (loop in particular, maybe other approaches too) which is something we've been studying a bit.
I can't believe it is popular mind-fare, or almost
 
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  • #8
marcus said:
Holy Jesus, I just looked again and Penrose was #4 on the bestsellers

It is 8:28 AM on Friday
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...lers/ref=cs_nav_sn_4/202-5121337-2949434&tag=


there is nothing between Sir Roger and the top but
two diet books and the Da Vinci Code


hey sol, Penrose book talks about Quantum Gravity (loop in particular, maybe other approaches too) which is something we've been studying a bit.
I can't believe it is popular mind-fare, or almost

Mavbe the fact that his lectures are thought provoking :smile:

Here is the link for his lectures:http://www.princeton.edu/WebMedia/lectures/

I recommend viewing them in order ie - 1 , 2 then 3.

I hope to be able to afford the book by next week!..in the meantime I have re-viewed all available video's I have, the really interesting one is where he is introduced to Stephen Hawking (Story of Stephen Hawking). It seems he has been instrumental In Hawking's early academic Career, directing him towards Information Paradox >>Blackhole Radiation.
 
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  • #9
Olias said:
Mavbe the fact that his lectures are thought provoking :smile:

Here is the link for his lectures:http://www.princeton.edu/WebMedia/lectures/

I recommend viewing them in order ie - 1 , 2 then 3.

I hope to be able to afford the book by next week!..in the meantime I have re-viewed all available video's I have, the really interesting one is where he is introduced to Stephen Hawking (Story of Stephen Hawking). It seems he has been instrumental In Hawking's early academic Career, directing him towards Information Paradox >>Blackhole Radiation.
they also have complied a book from their lectures together (you can find it in amazon), but i don't think it's a layman book.

anyway, marcus, can this perhaps be an indication of growth in the population of britain maths/physics nerds?! :surprise: :biggrin:
 
  • #10
loop quantum gravity said:
anyway, marcus, can this perhaps be an indication of growth in the population of britain maths/physics nerds?!

A nation of nerds? then the rest of the world had better watch out! :biggrin:
 
  • #11
marcus said:
A nation of nerds? then the rest of the world had better watch out! :biggrin:


logically that would mean the rest of the world are nerds too? :confused: :smile:
 
  • #12
Not logically, no. All E(ngland) is N(erds) does not imply all not-E is N.
 
  • #13
loopy said:
anyway, marcus, can this perhaps be an indication of growth in the population of britain maths/physics nerds?!

Marcus said:
A nation of nerds? then the rest of the world had better watch out!

sol2 said:
logically that would mean the rest of the world are nerds too?

selfAdjoint said:
Not logically, no. All E(ngland) is N(erds) does not imply all not-E is N.

Only nerds in England then? :rofl:


? :confused: :smile: I need the exercise
 
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  • #14
Road to Reality is in amazon 3rd place

As of 5PM GMT-8, Friday 6August, Penrose book had risen to THIRD on amazon.com best seller list

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...lers/ref=cs_nav_sn_4/202-5121337-2949434&tag=

It is topped only a diet book and the DaVinci Code.

this is a different science book market. popular general-audience books are usually dumbed down for readers like George Bush. One of the most disgusting and discouraging things I ever heard in my life was what Hawking said in his preface that his editor told him about each equation looses half the buyers. Equations are what it's all about. Kepler sweated blood to get the first real european equation. Equations reveal the music.
Roger Penrose book does not obey the abominable law of the booktrade that you must exclude equations, but by some fluke it is selling nevermindthat.

--------------
Sol what is this about logic, I did not mean anything complex!
Nerds rule
Nerds rule
Nerds rule
If England became a land of nerds (which wouldn't happen but only momentarily seems like that) then it would take the lead in many ways and so the other countries should look out. Just a joke. No logic to it.
Let us forget about that.
---------------
 
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  • #15
okay :smile:
 
  • #16
i don't know about you, but the book of michio kaku (in the hebrew version at least from my experience of reading it) "hyperspace" which is a pop/sci book has equations (for example, maxwell's electromagnetic theory equations), so i think hawking didnt bring any equations is more a thought of him (im sure the publishers of hyperspace and penrose's new book are the same as hawking's publishers, i.e want money and the more the happier they get).
 
  • #17
The question is, do you show equations, such as Einstein's field equations or Maxwell's, or do you do something with them. Back in the 1950's Einstein's four equations of his unified field theory became a totem of "high science" and were reproduced everywhere by people who had not the slightest idea of their content.
 
  • #18
selfAdjoint said:
The question is, do you show equations, such as Einstein's field equations or Maxwell's, or do you do something with them. Back in the 1950's Einstein's four equations of his unified field theory became a totem of "high science" and were reproduced everywhere by people who had not the slightest idea of their content.

You made me think of something else from reading your post. What was cultural and trending in the colleges's. I do not have the fortunate experience of so many here, so the idea was sparked in contrast to your example.

http://www.musenet.org/utnebury/Maxwell.jpg [Broken]

Maxwell's equations are also about half an inch long. For example, Maxwell's equations say that the "four-dimensional divergence of an antisymmetric, second-rank tensor equals zero." That's Maxwell's equations, the equations for light. And in fact, at Berkeley, you can buy a T-shirt which says, "In the beginning, God said the four-dimensional divergence of an antisymmetric, second rank tensor equals zero, and there was Light, and it was good."

http://www.kurzweilai.net/meme/frame.html?main=/articles/art0585.html [Broken]
 
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  • #19
selfAdjoint said:
The question is, do you show equations, such as Einstein's field equations or Maxwell's, or do you do something with them. ...

Good point. I gather that Penrose really does something with the equations----judging from reviewer comment. But the copy I ordered has not arrived so I cannot attest to it.

"The Road to Reality" is now 24th on Amazon.co list
earlier this week I noticed it went down to 26th but now it
has bobbed up slightly to 24 as of Sunday 5PM west coast time.

No block buster obviously, but doing creditably for a real science book
(for such, I hope, it is).
 
  • #20
Hi all
Went to the uni bookshop to check out if Roger's latest book was already in.. it's there! The sight of it took me by surprise (that's the biggest book I've seen so far in the category of "popular" exposes of science). Skimmed through the contents.. lots and lots of chapters and sections... it's about AUD$ 89.. price isn't apparently too bad. The book, and I quote Sir Roger himself, took "about 8 years" to write (means he started working on it around the time "Shadows of the mind" was first published).. Amazing that such a "busy" mathematical physicist has time to spare for writing such theses. I need to spare some money.. I need to read this book!
 
  • #21
marcus said:
[edit: as of 5PM GMT-8, Friday 6August, Penrose book had risen to THIRD on amazon.com best seller list

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...lers/ref=cs_nav_sn_4/202-5121337-2949434&tag=

It is topped only a diet book and the DaVinci Code]

[edit edit: However by Thursday 12 August, it was down to ***TWENTYSIX*** place on the list. It is still on amazon top hundred, in other words, but it only spent a few days near the top of the list]

...

I just checked today Sunday September 5, and it was THIRTYSIX

it is amazing that a book like that can sell on the mass market at all
so spending a while in amazon top 100 is quite respectable
but I miss the heady buzz of seeing it make number 3
 
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  • #22
nitin said:
Hi all
... Skimmed through the contents.. lots and lots of chapters and sections... it's about AUD$ 89.. price isn't apparently too bad...

I don't know the exchange, but Amazon UK was selling it for 21 pounds.
I haven't checked but I think that is still the amazon price.
that is US dollars less than 40
why would it be Australian dollars 89?

I heard the US price was also going to be something like that
so there must be people in the US who get a bargain by ordering
it from UK
 
  • #23
The BBC had a popular play about Stephen Hawking a few months ago at peak time in which Penrose had the main supporting part. Also, ask anyone with passing aquaintance with a broadsheet to complete the phrase "Hawking and..." and I bet most cultured Brits would be able to say "Penrose". We like double acts (Morecambe & Wise, Gilbert & Sullivan...). Penrose is without doubt our second most famous living physicist, and people would recognise his name when browsing in a bookstore (which is not true about Smolin et.al.) Also he's had reviews/ interviews/ plaudits... in most main newspapers and main radio review programmes. (Andy Marr said it was the only book he'd never managed to finish...) So it's not that all English are nerds (even though the Scottish half of me often thinks so) it's just that they are dedicated followers of fashion (although this time, for once, fashion and intelligence converge). Links to most of the reviews etc. here (bottom left):

http://www.321books.co.uk/reviews/the-road-to-reality-by-roger-penrose.htm [Broken]

Richard Dawkins and Simon Singh have also just produced a couple of doorstop books so it should be an interesting fight for the Xmas market for aunts trying to educate their nephews.
 
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  • #24
mal4mac said:
... So it's not that all English are nerds (even though the Scottish half of me often thinks so) it's just that they are dedicated followers of fashion ...

:rofl:

(although this time, for once, fashion and intelligence converge). Links to most of the reviews etc. here (bottom left):

http://www.321books.co.uk/reviews/the-road-to-reality-by-roger-penrose.htm [Broken]

good. I like the idea of a review which links you to a variety of other reviews.

I liked one by the Seth Lloyd (yr "MIT review") and the Andrew Crumley one in Scotsman was actually the first review of the Penrose book I saw---it came out early IIRC. Yr reference to aunts is apt.
 
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1. What is the title of Penrose book #14 on Amazon in Britain?

The title of Penrose book #14 on Amazon in Britain is "The Universe in a Nutshell".

2. Who is the author of Penrose book #14 on Amazon in Britain?

The author of Penrose book #14 on Amazon in Britain is Roger Penrose.

3. What is the genre of Penrose book #14 on Amazon in Britain?

The genre of Penrose book #14 on Amazon in Britain is popular science and astrophysics.

4. Is Penrose book #14 on Amazon in Britain suitable for all ages?

While the content of Penrose book #14 on Amazon in Britain is accessible to a general audience, it may be more suitable for older readers due to its complex scientific concepts.

5. Can I purchase Penrose book #14 on Amazon in Britain in a physical format?

Yes, Penrose book #14 on Amazon in Britain is available for purchase in both physical and digital formats on the Amazon website.

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