Seven Bookmark Sunday

Sunday. A day of rest. I try to enforce that on myself whenever possible, purely as an offering to the Creator.

The principal activity was sitting on the porch reading. I have a whole stack of books with bookmarks in them that I am making my way through.

The ones I read today included (with sections read):

Paradoxology: Spirituality in Quantum World by Sister Miriam Winter. Chapter 5 on Pentecost. Liked the poem at the beginning of the chapter.

Kitty, My Rib by E. Jane Mall. Biography of Katharina Von Bora Luther, aka die Lutherin. Read chapters 10 and 11 where Luther is falsely convinced he is dying, so she puts on a black veil to mourn him at his bedside, telling him God is dead and shaming him into immediate recovery.

The Complete Stories of Flannery O'Connor -- read "The Barber", the second short story in the collection. I'm really getting into O'Connor now. She was an amazing writer. Very topical story for our ongoing Civil War.

Civilwarland in Bad Decline by George Saunders -- read "Isabelle", the second short story in the collection. I begin to see how Saunders is fascinated by the squalid character of America. So in O'Connor, but in a different way. She is sympathetic, an insider, where Saunders tends toward being judgmental like an outsider would be. He is a product of the 1990s Culture War, it seems.

Quantum Physics for Dummies by Andrew Zimmerman Jones (library copy) -- read/skimmed chapters 1-3, up to Young's Double Slit Experiment. You have to skim physics books. You have to read them top down. The technique is knowing what to read while you skim, and what to save for later. Even so I had to wade through three chapters of marginally exciting prose in various typefaces and sizes in clever layouts to get to an experiment-- the Double Slit Experiment at the end of Chapter 3. Not good. Focus on experiment right from the first page. For one thing, it makes for better diagrams. People can learn visually from the get go, and really, physics is always about experimental results first and foremost. My laminated guide to quantum physics will have mostly diagrams of experiments.

Quantum Field Theory and the Standard Model by Matthew D. Schwarz. ChatGPT told me to buy this for the self-directed course I am doing on calculative methods of quantum field theory (QFT). I'd never heard of this book but ChatGPT said it's the gold standard for current QFT text books involving practical calculation (oh yes, gimme that). I read the Preface for the second time, or third perhaps, going through it slowly so that I understand every last word. You have to read physics books like that---one word at a time, skipping nothing.  Often it helps to write out something in your own hand. One should use one's best penmanship and dedicated notebook--graph ruled is best. Everyone can have good penmanship if one goes slowly enough. If I find myself writing in sloppy penmanship, I stop and force myself to go half speed, or even slower. Take your time. What's the hurry? If it's not a mathematical equation, moreover, you can just type it out, like this, which now belongs to me forever in my mind:

This book is based on a course I have been teaching at Harvard for a number of years. I like to start my first class by flipping the light switch and pointing out to the students that, despite their comprehensive understanding of classical and quantum physics, they still cannot explain what is happening. Where does the light come from ? The emission and absorption of photos is a quantum process for which particle number is not conserved; it is an everyday phenomenon which cannot be explained without quantum field theory. (emphasis mine)

Outside Over There by Maurice Sendak. Read it through once again, now umpteenth time. Having written about it, now I start noticing details I overlooked, the way I only see my own horrid typos after hitting "Publish" on this blog. It's a trick I do to myself. Do something that is guaranteed to result in embarrassment and you will enlightened. In this case I focus on the hats. As papa leaves in his ship, mama is wearing her white bonnet with the white ribbon whereas the baby is wearing the yellow bonnet with the orange ribbon.  In thee next page, in the arbor, mama has dropped her bonnet. We see it still in the act of falling. The baby's bonnet is splayed on the ground, as if about to be trampled under foot. The next time we see the yellow bonnet is when it is on the changeling. Did the goblin's steal the one that was dropped and put it on the changeling as a decoy? Part of Ida's inattentiveness is she didn't notice that the baby was not in fact wearing the bonnet.  She goes so far as to hug the changeling, pressing the bonnet-that-should-not-be-there into her face. This could have been an immediate tip-off. So we learn goblins take advantage of inattentiveness and sloppiness. They move in to take advantage of a decline in order.  Notice how faded the bonnet is when we see on the floor with the changeling. Conclusion: it's not the real bonnet stolen by the goblins but a fake goblin version, just like the changeling itself. Even though Ida ought to have noticed it, the goblins couldn't risk a bareheaded changeling. Good move on the goblins' part, since Ida presses her face against it. Also notice the sunflowers in the window. Very much like the bonnet.  The baby's bonnet is a sunflower! Let's consider that for a moment...woah! what on earth is going on with those flowers!?!?