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During my few days in Lynchburg at Christmas, I was sure to stop by the Bookshop on the Avenue for whatever random texts seemed to call my name. I always hope that a classic or two will manifest itself, but perhaps I have reached the threshold where I must rely on recommendations for the classics since I have read so many of them. (so, recommendations welcome, particularly the lesser-known titles from the great authors). Anyways, I found no unread classic that I had ever heard of, let alone recognized the author of.

Anyways, by the time I walked upstairs to the not-so-fiction area, I was moderately distraught for having found only one book that caught my eye. Maybe due to my recent exhaustion of fiction works, particularly those about the Grail, when I arrived in the non-fiction room (the Bookshop is actually an old house) I was overwhelmed with a huge selection of attractive titles. One of the books, the Friedman’s Free To Choose, had an interesting title and tag, “The classic inquiry into the relationship between freedom and economics”. The ever-accelerating proliferation of political conversations and images with this impending election somewhat unconsciously urged me to grab the book. And I did.

At first, I felt like an idiot. Most engineering curricula cover economics to the extent that you understand how much to put away for retirement, often ignoring inflationary effects for linear simplicity. So, the first few chapters of this book were more of a kick in the pants than anything remotely fulfilling. Yet, knowing the popularity of Milton Friedman (a Nobel winner, after all), I was able to persist, page-by-page until I understood the state of late 1970s, American economics.

The result of this is that I now know where my fiscal policy sympathies lay. This election year currently has a bunch of loser candidates seeking popularity and eventual electoral votes. It’s fairly clear what my social policy beliefs are (probably the same for most people) but I was just about as familiar with my fiscal beliefs as with modern Arabic authors. The last few weeks I’ve spent offhandedly mentioning that I would start considering the presidential candidates once election day was imminent. However, now that I’ve begun defining my fiscal beliefs, I can assess the candidates’ rhetoric for pieces that I am looking for, amidst their myriad wild promises.

This is a frontier for me, a huge expanse of understanding I hadn’t yet considered embarking towards nor even considered worth indirectly exploring. The slightest inspiration from a Nobel Laureate economist was enough to encourage me off the pier and into an expeditionary spirit. It’s a satisfying feeling.

You know you put on some holiday pounds when your typically 41 mph descent turns into a 46 mph descent. Ooouuccch. It’s just my luck that my holiday love is now on the prowl.

With a semester only days away from completion, I now have the time to work on long-term projects that I have otherwise discarded. Unfortunately, procrastination doesn’t pay off as well. Fortunately, I have only one class of substance with any semester requirements still outstanding.

And I have also been spending greater time in my latest read, Foucault’s Pendulum. This is the third Umberto Eco book I’ve adventured to completing. Following my love of The Name of the Rose, I hoped Foucault’s Pendulum would produce similar ardor. However, as I was just pages into Foucault’s, my sister warned me that it was pretty much a slow read. Oh, and it’s the truth. If you want to enjoy the book, just read the first one hundred pages and the last two hundred pages. The entire middle is a quagmire of rambling that some people could assumably follow, though it’s plausible that most readers aren’t as well-versed in medieval conspiracies. Luckily, I have just pages left before I move onto a new book that will not be about the Grail.

This concludes the general post-holiday update. Hope yours went well.

When I discovered that libraries get in new material more frequently than last year’s Sport’s Illustrated for Kids, I was elated and began checking out many books with my local library’s trial membership card. But when the second summer session arrived, I balked the returning visits and forgot all about the possibilities. I recently tried the library stage once again, this time on the university side and scale.

And I discover textbooks. Or, perhaps they are simply technical books. In the past, I would hear of friends getting their textbooks from the library if they were first in line, but it never occurred to me to do the same.

Last week, I had some extra time, so I did a search for “acoustics” on our library’s search web page. Not even 0.0019 seconds later, I had a list of 500+ books that matched my result. I scratched a few of their call numbers down and walked upstairs to their climate-controlled dwellings.

Lo and behold, numerous books on acoustics were waiting for me, each more interesting than the last. I have checked out a baker’s dozen worth of acoustics-related books in the past week and am flying through each of them. I have never read a textbook faster in my life.

Currently, Perception-Based Data Processing in Acoustics is my latest book affair; what a joy! Be it a textbook or a technical book, I cannot put it down.

But a thought came to me - I may lose interest in other areas, in other fields. I used to read anything I could lay hands on, but if I willingly drown in acoustics, I may forget about psychology, forget about geography, forget about Dante, forget about subjectivity.

If a parallel exists between this latest quandary and my entire state of being - I must find a reasonable balance before I throw myself from a precipice of ludicrous passion.

Thanks to the Montgomery-Floyd Regional Public Library System ::vigorously inhale for next phrase:: I have been reading through Brian Greene’s The Fabric of the Cosmos. Our common human experiences tell us to consider life on the surface scale, the eyelevel-only arena. Compared to reading his first book, The Elegant Universer, I am far more actively thinking about things both great big and great small when away from this book. And furthermore, watching Powers of Ten by the Eames’ is incredibly impressing for my thoughts. It makes me think of the pull-away shot from Contact (plus, its reverse).

And the VT library system has agreed to order Neubau Welt for me. Why? Because I asked. A librarian at the circulation desk had told me about their system for requesting books, CDs, DVDs, magazines, whatever. I submitted my request at 11am Friday and by 2pm I had received an email saying it was ordered. Just be on the lookout for silhouette graphics.

Or any graphics actually. Summer Session One 2006! has been more intense than I was expecting. I haven’t once sat down to calmly work on a new header. (But learning German is Spaß auch).

I found out that the address at my apartment that I was told is the address to my apartment is not the address to my apartment. If anyone has attempted to send stuff to me (postcards, carefully packaged packages, anything that would require a stamp to be sent first-class), I apologize if you have had it sent back to you with the USPS message, “We don’t feel like deducing that 401 M is equivalent to 401 Apt. M.”

Brian Greene’s The Fabric of the Cosmos is really neat. But, so far the first five chapters are identical to what he wrote in The Elegant Universe. Granted, the material is so closely related that the same background material must be referenced once again. Yet, I am haphazardly racing through it with the expectation that thar be more gold to uncovrrrrr.

I had a four-hour nap this evening and it was fun. Now, I am finishing up a report for my Vibrations class that includes very neat graphs like this bumpy thing, this bumpy thing, and this twirly thing.

For the past week, every time I look outside it appears like it is about to rain. Merkwüdig.

Furthering my continuum of reading, my latest pick is The Elegant Universe by Brain Greene. I was hesitant to pick up an overly non-fiction or science-related book since the semester is accelerating towards those types of academic difficulties, but I couldn’t resist. Plus, the recommendations I’ve received to read this have been numerous.

Let me say, three chapters in and I am loving it. I’ve tried to contemplate Einstein’s general theory of relativity from the various synopses in my past physics textbooks, but they have so far been too vague for me to grasp the product. Greene presents the pieces in a successful visual form that I’ve clutched myself to in full understanding. But, there is much more to learn from Einsten’s theories and their implications that I have yet to delve in. If I am on the road to madness via the Philosophy & Mathematics & Physics Superhighway, then consider me a just-boarded passenger for the ride.

Of further interest, a professor at Stanford has just released some of his information and theorizing in regards to the construct of time. Alex Mayer has wonderful presentations at his website that do a fantastic job of allowing you to grab hold of the many dimensions of time. Hopefully, he’ll post some podcasts of his talks via the Stanford/iTunes hook-up. I’m more of an oral learner myself. That and a repetitive learner. A repetitive learner, indeed. Indeed.

Update: It has come to my attention that the Stanford link no longer works for Mayer’s pieces and presentations. I happened to have saved copies of his material prior to the site being taken down. If you wish to view entirely untouched, original pieces that Alexander Mayer, himself, put together, then check out these PDFs (One, Two, Three).