Having recently completed re-reading Larry Niven's Ringworld I felt compelled to list a number of issues I found with the text. They follow:
In chapter 2 "And his motley crew", the sentence "In a gravitational pull of 9.98 meters/second his stance was unconsciously natural." Firstly, the "pull" exerted by gravity is an acceleration, not a velocity, so the units should be those of acceleration (or force if we wish to include Louis' mass), so it should read "meters/second-squared." Second, the value 9.98 is perplexing. On the surface of the earth, standard gravity results in an acceleration of 9.81 meters/second-squared, not 9.98, so either Earth's gravity has inexplicably increased from our time to the time that Ringworld occurs, or the gravitational pull at which Louis' stance is natural is not that of Earth's gravity, but rather slightly higher, why though remains a mystery....
Thoughts On: Time Reborn
In Time Reborn, Lee Smolin lays out his case for a conception of the universe that is time-bound, where time is not an emergent property of the universe but is instead more fundamental and therefore drives the growth of the universe.
Smolin spends most of the book using simple-to-understand language and clear examples that are easy for the layperson to follow. The pace here can be at times too slow, and the repetition a little grating. Near the end of the book he introduces the reader to some more challenging concepts such as quantum graphity, which by comparison seem to be dealt with far too briefly for the reader to fully understand. On reflection this material is adequately paced, but by the time it is reached the reader has been lulled into a slower pace and so must ratchet up his attention accordingly. The material would be better served by having the pace build more gradually rather than the somewhat abrupt transition from a metaphorical walk to a jog.
Smolin spends most of the book using simple-to-understand language and clear examples that are easy for the layperson to follow. The pace here can be at times too slow, and the repetition a little grating. Near the end of the book he introduces the reader to some more challenging concepts such as quantum graphity, which by comparison seem to be dealt with far too briefly for the reader to fully understand. On reflection this material is adequately paced, but by the time it is reached the reader has been lulled into a slower pace and so must ratchet up his attention accordingly. The material would be better served by having the pace build more gradually rather than the somewhat abrupt transition from a metaphorical walk to a jog.
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