Every summer, I try to read as many new books as I possibly can. Unfortunately, I get sidetracked and re read some things. I like to embrace my inner teenager, not even going to lie about it. So, here are the books I read this summer, and some thoughts, in case you might want to read them too.
1. A Short History of Nearly Everything : Bill Bryson
-loved it. It's been sitting on my book shelf for a very long time, but I finally got around to it. It was probably the most comprehensive, enjoyable book about all of science that I've ever read.
2. Packing for Mars: Mary Roach.
-loved it and love her. I've read 2 of her other books, Bonk (about the science of sex), and Stiff (about the science of cadavers). She has another book named Spook (the science of the afterlife) but I'm too afraid to read it. I absolutely love her style of talking about scientific research without it sounding too, well, boring. She definitely has a way of finding the most interesting stories about the topics she's writing about. If I ever decide to write a book, I hope it's as good as one of hers.
3. Sex on the Moon : Ben Mezrich
-don't think I liked it. Well written, for sure, and easy to read, but I'm glad I got the discounted version on my kindle. For those of you who don't know, it's based on a true story. There was this really smart dude (like, super smart, like he's a physicist now, smart) who was working for NASA and on the road to being an astronaut. Then he stole moon rocks from them. (he had a bad childhood, lost relationships, blah blah blah...) So, really, he's super smart, but super stupid. I think I love NASA too much to be amused.
4. Harry Potter : JK Rowling
-love them. Read all of them/saw all the movies for the first time last summer, and I read books 1-6 again this year before going to see the final movie. I mean, let's be honest, who doesn't love Harry Potter?! I think the thing that most intrigues me is the fact that she's developed this whole world of quidditch, chocolate frogs, and owl post along side the Muggle world and nobody has any idea it's there. Which is why I also love...
5. The Twilight Saga : Stephenie Meyer
-love them. Read all 4 in 2 days. To quote my brilliant friend Alyson, "they're the literary equivalent of marshmallow fluff," as in, no nutritional/educational value, but you love it and you can't get enough. (I must also thank Al for making me read them in first place.) When I was student teaching in college, the first book came out and had I known then what I know now, I probably wouldn't have told those high school girls to put them away when I was teaching. It's got all the things it takes to be a completely ridiculous/awesome story: sexy vampires. damsel in distress. teenage werewolves. discussion of the chromosomal count of fictional creatures. what more can you ask for?
6. The Pluto Files : Neil deGrasse Tyson
-loved it. Very educational. I was never one to be too offended that Pluto isn't a planet anymore, but it seems lots of people were. Seriously, I don't think I've ever seen so many angry (yet hilarious) letters from elementary school kids. The book explains, very eloquently the science of why Pluto isn't a planet anymore but in a very, very funny way. If I could get 30 copies of it, it would be my textbook for my astronomy class next year. (and, funny enough, I read this after I read A Short History of Nearly Everything, which was written in 2003, and even then, scientists realized that Pluto really didn't fit the role of planet.)
7. Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by the Most Brilliant Teacher : Richard Feynman
-so glad I read this. I'm not a physics person by any stretch of the imagination, and even though I've been teaching basic physics in integrated science for the past 2 years, I don't really love it. Hearing about it from someone who clearly loves it is very motivational. Even though I learned a bunch of stuff that will help me with the physics standards in my Astronomy class, I think the thing that impacted me most was in the introduction. As most of you know, teaching isn't exactly in the best place right now, and to hear someone who is considered "the Most Brilliant Teacher" admit in the introduction that his style of teaching didn't actually reach all of the students was humbling.
8. Von Braun: Michael Neufeld
-in the process. I'm not the hugest fan of biographies, but I love him, so I'm pushing through. I'm learning alot, but it's taking me awhile.
9. The Sportsman: Dhani Jones
-didn't start it yet, but I won a signed copy from a twitter contest, so I'll be reading it soon. If you don't know who Dhani Jones is, you should. He's an NFL player, but he also hosted a show on travel channel where he traveled the world and learned a new sport in every country he visited. It's a brilliant show and the book is based somewhat on the things he learned while traveling. I'm looking forward to it.
and that's it. 15 books down, 2 more to go. Not a bad summer at all.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Juno & Jupiter
On August 4 & 5, I'll be at Kennedy Space Center for the launch of the Juno Mission to Jupiter. NASA is awesome and has these things called tweetups for people who are social media and space nerds all at the same time. I'll be right by where the media sit by the countdown clock and I'll be at presentations with some of the smartest scientists in the world. What I'm probably most excited about though, is the 4 hour tour that's going to take me places the public never gets to go, like the Vehicle Assembly Building, the Atlas V spaceflight center (where the Juno mission and next Mars rover mission live), and Launch complex 17 (where the GRAIL mission to the moon is launching from next month). Oh, and Bill Nye @thescienceguy is going to be there too.
Rather than bore you with all the other nerdy details (because I'll be doing that while I'm there), here are the top 5 awesomely awesome things I think you should know about Juno & Jupiter.
5. After mapping the entire planet by orbiting it 33 times, Juno will dive into Jupiter's atmosphere and hopefully send us some cool pictures. It's got 7 crazy long named science instruments (ex: a six-wavelength microwave radiometer for atmospheric sounding and composition) but it's also got a good old color camera to send back some pictures of stuff we've never seen before, like Jupiter's north and south pole.
4. The space craft has a span of 66 feet because its solar panels are so big. They have to be that big, because Jupiter gets about 25X less sunlight than earth. NASA's never made a solar powered spacecraft that's gone that far from the sun before.
3. If you add up all the mass of everything in the solar system; planets, asteroids, comets (not the sun) Jupiter is bigger than all those combined.
2. The flight path of Juno is ridiculous. (and when I say ridiculous, I mean awesome.) After launch in August, it will fly out toward the orbit of Mars. Next August and September (2012) it's going to flip itself around and head back to Earth, because it's going to use the Earth's gravity to give itself the push it needs to get all the way to Jupiter. (If Newton & Kepler could have imagined we'd be using their stuff to slingshot billion dollar spacecraft to other planets, they'd probably be pretty excited. Just sayin'.) After the help from earth in October of 2013, Juno just cruises to Jupiter. It'll get there in 2016. Confused? Yeah, me too. here's a picture from NASA to help.
1. The goal of this mission is to really figure out how to make a planet. Isn't it cool that we know so much about so many things, but when it comes to the basic ingredients/recipe for a planet we still don't really know? Obviously, most scientists have a pretty good idea, but when it comes to science, things change. A lot. And that's what makes it so fun to teach.
If you want to learn more about Juno, visit The University of Wisconsin-Madison Juno mission website or NASA's Juno Mission page.
Rather than bore you with all the other nerdy details (because I'll be doing that while I'm there), here are the top 5 awesomely awesome things I think you should know about Juno & Jupiter.
5. After mapping the entire planet by orbiting it 33 times, Juno will dive into Jupiter's atmosphere and hopefully send us some cool pictures. It's got 7 crazy long named science instruments (ex: a six-wavelength microwave radiometer for atmospheric sounding and composition) but it's also got a good old color camera to send back some pictures of stuff we've never seen before, like Jupiter's north and south pole.
4. The space craft has a span of 66 feet because its solar panels are so big. They have to be that big, because Jupiter gets about 25X less sunlight than earth. NASA's never made a solar powered spacecraft that's gone that far from the sun before.
3. If you add up all the mass of everything in the solar system; planets, asteroids, comets (not the sun) Jupiter is bigger than all those combined.
2. The flight path of Juno is ridiculous. (and when I say ridiculous, I mean awesome.) After launch in August, it will fly out toward the orbit of Mars. Next August and September (2012) it's going to flip itself around and head back to Earth, because it's going to use the Earth's gravity to give itself the push it needs to get all the way to Jupiter. (If Newton & Kepler could have imagined we'd be using their stuff to slingshot billion dollar spacecraft to other planets, they'd probably be pretty excited. Just sayin'.) After the help from earth in October of 2013, Juno just cruises to Jupiter. It'll get there in 2016. Confused? Yeah, me too. here's a picture from NASA to help.
1. The goal of this mission is to really figure out how to make a planet. Isn't it cool that we know so much about so many things, but when it comes to the basic ingredients/recipe for a planet we still don't really know? Obviously, most scientists have a pretty good idea, but when it comes to science, things change. A lot. And that's what makes it so fun to teach.
If you want to learn more about Juno, visit The University of Wisconsin-Madison Juno mission website or NASA's Juno Mission page.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
my first blog
I figured since I've become a social media addict this summer, why not get a blog? I'll mostly be writing about science-y things, but also about education since school starts again in a matter of weeks. I must say, I'm a bit more excited about returning this year because I'll be teaching what I love. Of course, I love all science (I've taught 6th grade life science, 7th grade earth science [yay rocks!], and 10-12th grade integrated science 2 and 3 [phys, chem, bio, earth]) but I'll be teaching astronomy this year and I am thrilled.
In the next week or so, I'm sure I'll be on a ridiculous NASA kick because I'm one of 150 people NASA chose to attend the launch of the Juno mission to Jupiter. I'll be at Kennedy Space Center for 2 days next week and I'm sure I'll have lots to say.
So if you happened to stumble across my little place on the internet, welcome to my nerdy mind.
In the next week or so, I'm sure I'll be on a ridiculous NASA kick because I'm one of 150 people NASA chose to attend the launch of the Juno mission to Jupiter. I'll be at Kennedy Space Center for 2 days next week and I'm sure I'll have lots to say.
So if you happened to stumble across my little place on the internet, welcome to my nerdy mind.
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