22 December 2011
Last Minute Gifts For That Science Geek You Know
Posted by Dan Satterfield
Approaching the Dry Valley's of Antarctica. Dan's photo. The HD video in the BBC Series Frozen Planet is the closest you can get to this beautiful place without going there.
My wife tells me that I should have written this post three days ago, because that is Christmas “last-minute” in her mind. Being a guy, last-minute is closing time on Christmas Eve, so here we go with a few gift ideas for someone who likes to learn new things! Fair warning up front, though, these ideas are going to be a bit lame for your Uncle Ralph who has a library of every conspiracy theory ever written on “chem-trails”, HAARP, or any books by Lord Monckton and Ian Plimer!
So with the old caveat emptor out-of-the-way…
BOOKS
Why E=MC Square, by UK rock star astrophysicist Brian Cox, is a must read for anyone who likes cosmology, and some deep thinking about the Universe.
Dr. Richard Alley’s Two Mile Time Machine is one of the best books on how we know what we know about our past climate. The implications of this past, on our future, is perhaps the most important scientific question of the young century.
The late Dr. Stephen Schneider’s Science As A Contact Sport, is a fascinating read about how those who do research in the field of climate science have been attacked by those who fear the implications of their research. Schneider died suddenly last year and was an instrumental member of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change).
Schneider’s book does it’s part of dispelling the number one scientific myth in America. That being that scientists are divided and unsure of whether for not greenhouse gases are warming the planet. If anyone tells you that, they have not read any real science lately. Dr. Naomi Oreskes has a book out that explains just how this myth developed and who was behind it. Another good read.
VIDEOS
Many in the UK have already seen the BBC’s fabulous Frozen Planet series with Sir David Attenborough. It will be airing in America, but they will likely replace the great Attenborough with someone who speaks “‘Merican”. Lord knows, you can’t ask people in the USA to listen to someone who speaks with an accent! (I am climbing back down off my soap box now)
You can order the full program (with Attenborough) from the BBC shop, but beware that it will likely be set for the European region DVD players. I find it ridiculous that you buy a DVD player only to find that it will only play DVD’s from North America! You can buy all region players or find the code to set your machine to play DVD’s from any region.
I freely emit that I did the latter, so come and get me Sony!
LECTURES
If this video of Brian Cox from a previous post kindles your interest in learning more about the physics of the very small/large, then the Teaching Company has some superb lectures.
Alex Filippenko’s Introduction To Astronomy is nothing short of fantastic but wait until it is on sale and get it for 70% off!
Particle Physics for Non-Physicists by Steven Pollock is guaranteed to keep any science geek smiling as well.
HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO SCIENCE
Scientific truth received its present just in time. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has been subject to a storm of criticism over alleged censorship of a Rice University Oceanographer’s paper on sea level rise. The Houston Chronicle is reporting that scientific method won out over censorship this week.
Dan Satterfield has worked as an on air meteorologist for 32 years in Oklahoma, Florida and Alabama. Forecasting weather is Dan's job, but all of Earth Science is his passion. This journal is where Dan writes about things he has too little time for on air. Dan blogs about peer-reviewed Earth science for Junior High level audiences and up.
I like your post Dan. Thank you! Maybe next year you could be persuaded to post it in November? Also next year, ideas for kids/teens? 🙂 Thank you for the dvr tip. Happy Winter Solstice!
Point taken!!
Hey Dan we have been Loyal fans of your weather casts in Huntsville on Channel 19. Are you no longer there? We saw someone elses name as senior Meteroligist recently, we now have Satellite TV and it is hard to et good weather except when we put it on local. Hope you have a safe trip and a Health Happy and Blest Christmas & New Year! God Bless
Happy Christmas to both of you, and I am indeed no longer at whnt. I’ll have more to say about my future soon, but for now I am enjoying a month off and Christmas with my daughter at our home in Oklahoma City.
My heavens, do they overdub David Attenborough in the South? In other parts of the country he has been understood and enjoyed on TV for decades. And friends who moved here from Georgia and Arkansas seem to understand him just as easily as people from the coasts do.
Perhaps it’s just the TV executives in the South who are ignorant buffoons.
Good choice in books. I’ve read them all this year.
I tried to set the code to get my player to play European DVDs. Followed the instructions I found on-line, but it didn’t work.
They will eventually produce NA DVD for Frozen Planet with Sir David Attenborough narrating so I’ll wait for those.
Dear Dan,
We miss you very much here in No. Alabama. No one can ever take your place. Wish you would come back….. Good luck to you in your future endeavors.