this is pretty much my first foray into to the (soft) science ...
589478
o, this is pretty much my first foray into to the (soft) science fiction genre.  This is not true science fiction.  It is written in an easy to read style, with a basic scientific concept being the plot.  That makes it easy to read for those of us who want to read something different but are not sure if we want to read science fiction.  That basic concept centers around the ability to fold dimensions so to be across the world quickly by stepping through something called the Albuquerque Door.  It's distance travel, not time travel.  The Door opens up a whole Pandora's box of dimensional possibilities; ie; alternate realities, which are mostly not good ones.  Hence, the story unfolds upon nasty things (beings?) coming back through the Door.  Hmmm, is that a spoiler?  Sorry.  Our protagonist Mike, is offered the opportunity to travel to the lab the Door is in and observe the process of the scientific team fine tuning it, whom, by the way, have been traveling over and back from one site, or lab,to another on the same property for some time and logging their trips.  They say it is ready to go but are quite secretive and somewhat defensive.  Oh, and this is a Dept. of Defense funded project.  They are under the threat of maybe losing their funding.  Probably because they will not give out their secrets.  I mean, if you hold the purse strings, you want the scoop on what your money is buying, right?  So, Mike is offered a summer job (he is a school teacher by trade) to observe and determine if the Door should continue to get funded. He has a photographic memory and never forgets anything--that's a nervous breakdown right there!  That is why his long time friend Reggie, the head of the finances for the project, recruits him.  Mike accepts the job, makes observations, reports to Reggie, but--along the way he finds something wrong with the Door.  Before he can figure it out and decide to report it to Reggie, things start to happen.  At this point, you will be halfway through the book.  When the action finally takes off it is a pretty good read and I kept seeing it as a movie while I was reading it.  I think it may be a better movie than a book.
The characters are a good assortment of scientific types with their odd quirks and are pretty believable.  One character continuously replies with the "F" word which grows old pretty quick.  She uses it so much, I felt a yawn coming on every time she began to speak.  The grammar is good in this book, which is a pet peeve of mine, so that is at least one star.  I did find the author writing about Mike's injuries as "fishhooks" of pain and referring to it like it was a new thing several times.  If something is an ongoing presence it becomes "the fishhooks" so the reader knows the same problem is still showing itself.  This always leads me to wonder "where was the editor?"  At any rate, I will not tell you what the "something wrong" is that Mike finds.  That really would be a spoiler and I wouldn't do that.  Also when I read the part that reveals the reason behind the team not revealing their secrets I thought, "Seriously?!? That's what all the secrecy is about? A team of scientists, one who is famously published, is no smarter than that...!?"  What a letdown.
It is worthy of reading, but no blockbuster here.  I really linger between three and four stars on this.  Definitely not four, but not so bad as three, so I give The Fold three and a half stars.  Those stars are for ease of reading and good sentence structure, not so much for a fantastic story with a killer plotline.
None the less, pick it up.  Everybody has different tastes.
I received a copy of this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.  These words are my opinion.
1448654
I've never surfed in my life but read this book as a scientist with an interest in fluid mechanics. The book introduces a wide range of concepts and models, starting from large-scale climate patterns, to storms and generation of waves, to their propagation and evolution, taking the reader step-by-step through some rather complex phenomena. The writing is plain and accessible to a non-physicist, yet scientific, making this book a pleasure to read. My favourite section was probably the one on climate patterns, which discusses the atmosphere as a non-equilibrium, dissipative system driven by the energy of the Sun and coupled to the rotation of the Earth - and manages to do it quite well without introducing a single equation. For those wishing more mathematics, there is a list of references for further reading. I did find one or two minor blunders, such as the statement that "the equator is warmer than the poles because it is closer to the Sun" (the reason it is warmer is, of course, in the different incidence angles of sunlight), or equations with no units. Another warning is that this is a book about the physics of *waves*, not the hydrodynamics of surfing. But overall, this is a great piece of popular science. Any teacher who values problem-based learning will appreciate it - as, hopefully, will any surfer who wants to know why waves behave the way they do.
2009029
I am in the field of biomedical research and enjoy reading about religion and metaphysical studies, but this was the first book I read about reincarnation.  Overall, I thought it was a great introduction to the subject and appreciated that the author followed a researcher who attempted to use the scientific method to approach something so intangible.

The children's tales recanted in the book did seem a bit redundant (as other reviewers pointed out); all of them seemed to follow the same pattern.  I felt that Dr. Stevenson would have gained more credibility if he had studied a wider range of cases (of course maybe he did but the author decided to focus on those cases in the rural most parts of the near/middle east). It seemed that the majority of the children Stevenson focused on could very well have been influenced by societal pressures and traditions.  Some of the cases, however, were quite unexplainable and intriguing, but I didn't feel that I got enough information about these cases in the course of this book to form an opinion about reincarnation either way.

Basically this book has left me wanting to learn more about the subject, specifically reincarnations elsewhere in the world, in areas that are not considered third world and impoverished. I would like to see more evidence and theories regarding the transfer of souls.

I think anyone interested in the subject of reincarnation can benefit from reading this book, if for no other reason than it peaks your interest and gets one to dig for more information on the topic.  The author writes very well and it is a quick, enjoyable read.  Enjoy!
3947946
Hadn't read a sci-fi in a while, but this book has got me back into the genre. I judge books a lot on how much I want to keep reading them/not put them down, and this has that. Seems to be the debut for the author (has a great first name I might add), will be on the lookout for the other books as they're released.
2886360
As a non-science oriented person, I found myself skipping around in this book, skimming parts about claw hammers and boomerangs, but reading the entire chapter on supermarket bills. Frankly, that doughnut on the cover got my attention, and the fact that I had just heard about the Ignobel Prize on the radio, which the author of this book won several years ago.

I enjoyed the chapter on The Physics of Sex, but had to read the notes to find out why a woman taking the antidepressant clomipramine supplemented her dosage with pepper. (You'll have to read it yourself, I don't want Amazon removing my review!)

In addition to making science more accessible, Fisher makes scientists seem more human. He describes colleagues of his reacting to successes by singing, shouting, and one who removed all his clothes and did a series of handsprings. Now that is a happy scientist.
1198508
Ala!

I am no linguist, and of all the many facets of PIE that fascinate me, linguistics is on the bottom of the list. That being said, I tend to grab anything I can on the subject and do my best to get through it and learn something new. My interest in PIE rests mostly on their religious beliefs and practices as well as their various cultural expressions as a whole - and this book did not disappoint in giving me more to work with in just one day of having it.

While the main text of the body is over my head and something I'm going to have to get through slowly with lots of extra research on the side to learn more about what I'm reading, the lexicon was solid gold. Just exploring the words of a given culture can be extremely enlightening since there are only ever words for what is known and related to.

Of all the PIE books I've had the nerve to *try* and read, this is the first that's really inspired me to 'geek out' about the linguistic end of things more than just a little bit. I am really going to give the main text some attention and effort in the coming months and know I'll walk away from it with some great information, ideas, and questions.

I look forward to exploring more from the authors and am really grateful for the hard work they've invested in what is clearly a labor of love.
1791729
I almost drooled when I read my first sampling! I am all about language and this fits me to a tee.
2391437
I knew absolutely nothing about spinning or dyeing. This book gave just enough of an introduction without overwhelming me with knowledge. It grabbed my interest enough that I want to start my own project.
3055384
This book helped me learn some science and theories about the universe that I was not aware of - i had heard the term "dark matter" thrown around before, but did not know what it meant. most reading about religion or God i had done before, although inspirational, did not dwell into science. This book can be text book like, but it was concise. I am trying more positive thinking because of this book.  I am interested in reading further books in the volume that will be out.  If you grew up Catholic, became a bad Catholic, and are terribly agnostic - this is an interesting read for you.
3583721
It is cool to have a book about various real life data visualization cases. Some of the articles are hard to read while some others are inspiring. This book kind of opens the door for me into Processing. And the beauty of some of the diagrams just gave me some new idea about how to put my own data onto computer screen. Currently I would give Processing a try and at the mean time stick to R for a while.

A particularly interesting chapter is about postmortem visualization. Not saying I am going to become a CSI, but reading it at least give me a hope about combining the thing I learn and the profession I want to join.
2078671
Interesting book, am excited to put the science in practice.
2868781
Written seriously, good first book for interested in the paranormal !!
508955
I ordered this after hearing an interview with Greg Graffin on NPR. I'm not a big Bad Religion/science fan but thought I'd give this a try and it's pretty interesting, nice to have a different perspective on evolution and I like how he incorporates his own stories about growing up and being in a punk band. :)
2178420
I read it twice.  Although having its limitations per the latest neuroscience and quantum physics findings, it's an excellent introduction on how life works.  From that point, the reader can further its knowledge and application with other experiments, but this book offers a great start.
4525656
What makes ATatEoC curious?  Its blending of personal narrative, history of science, science, philosophy and op ed writing.  At the beginning of the book, Gleiser issues an appeal to faint-hearted readers to read at least the first and final sections of the book, and to skim or bypass the intervening science laden chapters as they see fit.  I'm very glad I approached this book stout-hearted.  The opening chapters of ATatEoC primed a completely different set of expectations, on my part, of the argument Gleiser went on to develop in the remainder of the book: in substance and tone the book gets off on a new-agey footing.  Gleiser's scientific credentials notwithstanding, the first section of ATatEoC did not give this reader much hope that the remaining sections would be marked by rigor.  And it was science, not idle -- albeit earnest -- speculation I'd hoped to encounter in this book.  By the end of section one, I gave serious consideration to setting it aside.

As I say, though, I'm very happy I pressed on.  In the numerous brief, dense, and fascinating chapters that form the bulk of ATatEoC, Gleiser has worlds to say about...well...the world: what we can and cannot say about how the universe came to be, how life came to be, how we came to be, and about the nature of the scientific quest to deepen our understanding of all the above.  ATatEoC is a challenging read, but one that is entirely accessible to interested lay readers (no math, only concept connecting, required).  And one that offers great rewards.

By the time I reached the end of the book, I better appreciated the author's strategic decisions in composing it including the choice not to dive deeply into a discussion of science in its opening chapters.  If you find yourself a bit underwhelmed by the first section of ATatEoC, I strongly encourage you to read on.  There is enormous food for thought in the bulk of this slim volume.
2498400
Most non-fiction books are written to advance a thesis; to present a conclusion, a theory which explains the facts. When you realize that you've got something wrong, that you have to change your mind, it's natural to be somewhat restrained about the fact. After all, we live in a society that demands certainty - however absurd that expectation may be - and castigates people as "flip-floppers". I think that we could all benefit from reading about how thoughtful men and women were humble and open enough to admit that they were wrong.

Oh sure, this is a mixed bag. There are a few essays where you get to the end and scratch your head, wondering whatever happened to the purported change. But most are excellent. There are some obvious common themes: cosmology, evolution, climate change, science and religion, gender, consciousness. It seems intuitively obvious that these big questions which have both a scientific and a societal dimension will be associated with skepticism and revision.

Any reader of a book like this is going to be faced with the personal question: what have I changed my mind about? Well, 10 years ago I was in the computational neuroscience camp: I thought that the Churchlands had got most of it right. Somewhere along the way, I realized that biology, from the simplest plants to the most cerebral animals, was actually based on information systems. I'm not talking about computers as metaphors for brains, or anything like that; I mean that at some, very early point, the self-replicating information patterns co-opted and started to organize the material substrates of life.
3658840
For the most part this book REALLY resonated with me. I've read other books and watched documentary movies about better nutrition, etc... In fact, I heard about Jon Gabriel as he was interviewed on the documentary "Hungry For Change". That is how I learned about him and this book in the first place.

From what other books I'd read or documentaries I'd watched, I'd sort of formed my own basis of ideas and reasoning in terms of nutrition, eating, lifestyle, etc... This was the first book that really seemed to bring it all together in the way I'd already formed in my own mind. But it took it a few steps further and took what I'd reasoned myself and gave the science behind it so that I understood it better.

My only complaint was the non-science parts of the book. There are a few areas that get a little too "new age" for me. I'm OK with visualization and meditation, but some areas go a step further. I almost wonder if they were added for the non-science type people just cater to a wider audience. Anyway...I could have done without some of that part of it.

Either way.....there is enough "meat" in this book that I'd definitely call it a MUST READ!