What's on my bookshelves?

[@Airsofter4692]

QFT has been mentioned, and as a result you have made my day! Unsurprisingly I would love to see a video on you learning QFT. Could even make into a cool series of you learning lots of different areas of physics! You also mentioned spin waves during this. These can actually be approached with field theory techniques. It's actually to do with something called Goldstone bosons, which are closely related to the Higgs mechanism.

[@AndrewDotsonvideos]

Videos of you (re)learning qft would be pretty neat.

[@Trazom488]

Papa Dotson

[@earlmanzor560]

Hi papa dotson

[@joevanvlack9626]

And then it happened

[@scienceclick9092]

Simon didn't give a love❤

[@MedicGaming]

the quantum field theory idea sounds great ahaha good luck

[@bobthebuilder5112]

Yes please!

[@sachingiyer]

It's always fun to see people torturing themselves for KZbin😂

[@amarelodandara]

Yess

[@danielstandley-Physicist]

Yes please

[@taijaroennaparat9874]

Yes, agree!

[@PapaFlammy69]

That intro doe lol

[@caiarcosbotias1710]

Daddy flammy

[@adamtaylor1739]

@@caiarcosbotias1710 father flame

[@WMfin]

The Silmarillion. My favorite book. I appreciate the care and cautious you show towards it but I really recommend you to go for it!

[@backwards3454]

The QFT video is a must!

[@tadhgtwo]

Great tour of you bookshelves. Really enjoyed it. Love that the books weren't the only thing discussed.

[@purplesubmarine83]

His Dark Materials, yes!! Love it

[@LiciTheCrawler]

Don't be afraid if The Silmarilion, it's a great read imo

[@Arkya_Sengupta]

Very true. But u must have a very clear mind going in to read this book tho as it evokes an amazingly intricate amout of visualisation which can become difficult to hold onto if u are also thinking about a couple other things way back inside your head. Also.. there are just way too many names of ppl and places which u probably will not be able to keep in the mind but don't worry... Its still a very very lovely read.

[@mrunning10]

My God no! run run away!!

[@ThomasRintoul]

QFT video please! This was a really cool video! I wish I had the time to read more cause so many of these books look really good!

[@neeltullu1290]

I'm happy to come across such book related videos right when I'm in the middle of a book exchange. Lots of fresh ideas from various fields and genres

[@kendrajohnson6535]

Absolutely loved this - there can never be enough videos about books! Also, Jasmine is such a sweetheart. She makes my heart burst every time I see her!

[@EricSaboya54]

The Vallis book is the stuff of legend! I’m pretty sure copies are obligatory in any atmospheric physics research group!

[@barborahalova3514]

The Quantum Field Theory - yes

[@f.rochabalde7430]

"Today's sponsor is sponsored by Brilliant" You cracked me, Simon, gotta say ahahahaha

[@strangecycle9904]

I'm switching from CS to Physics and your videos have been super helpful in making me realize I want to pursue Physics. Thank you for making these!

[@DanielMacLir]

I'm really looking forward to your review of Infinitesimal. I attempted to read it two years ago but did not made it through the first chapter. I'll try again this year.

[@domainofscience]

No mention of "The 10 do's and 500 dont's of Knife Safety" lol

[@laik7891]

😂😂😂

[@simonkrekels]

Yes to going through QFT in a nutshell! I'd love to see that, maybe piece by piece?

[@WMfin]

Do I want a video that goes more in depth with a book that has been presented to me with such an esoteric music playing in the background? Hell yes.

[@BlueSoulTiger]

Big thumbs-up for Blundell and Blundell: a paragon of clarity. Would be interested in hearing more about Blundell's teaching style Simon - its sounds inspirational.

[@backwards3454]

"Today's brilliant was sponsored by video"

[@spencerblum4637]

Fun fact about Dirac you many not have known... he ended up at Florida State University in Tallahassee, FL. I'm a student at FSU. The science library on campus is named for him and there's a statue of him out front next to the library. Theres also a secondary part of campus a few minutes away, Innovation Park, which houses the College of Engineering, several research centers, and the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory. One of the main roads through the complex is named for him as well.

[@anujarora0]

19:22 is it just me or this lamp looks like Marvin The Paranoid Android from "The Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy"??

[@green0563]

Yay! Love a book video by you.

[@mementodoughnuts]

Since you like first contact books, I highly recommend the Remembrance of Earth's Past series (Three Body Problem) by Cixin Liu, which I am currently reading through and started the third book in the trilogy Death's End

[@hexa3389]

Please do the quantum field theory idea! That sounds amazing.

[@ThePrimevalVoid]

As a person studying QFT right now, I would love to see you struggle with it as well. David Tong’s lecture notes are pretty good, but still not great. Although Zee uses the path integral formulation which... just feels way harder than it needs to be at an introductory level.

[@leif1075]

Why is it a struggle for you? Does it necessarily have to be a struggle?

[@MrSam2450]

Folio Society books are amazing and so beautiful

[@rafaelmacedo7225]

The QFT video ideia is great! Btw, Blundell, along w/ Tom Lancaster, has also written a field theory book, "Quantum Field Theory for the Gifted Amateur" , which i found pretty accessible at late undergrad level.

[@PremierCCGuyMMXVI]

“What’s on my bookshelf” Me: atoms

[@Umicron_]

Well not technically *on* the bookshelf lol ;)

[@PremierCCGuyMMXVI]

@@Umicron_ air tho

[@SimonClark]

No no, he's got a point

[@shorifulhaque5137]

good observation, Peralta. Well done.

[@leif1075]

@@SimonClark What advice do you have for dealing with math and learning math faster ? Hope you can please respond.

[@TheXvalenX]

I just rewatched you video on Sapiens and I really don't understand how you can like it. I love you videos and you are a great science communicator, so I was supprised that you enjoyed that book. At the end of your review you ask for any criticisms of the book and for me there are too many to list, but I'll try to get a few here: - He states/promotes many dubious historical theories that have no real scientific consensus (cognitive revolution) and frames many other scientific discussions in a very misleading way (for example: we were domesticated by wheat) - He reuses scientific language and redefines them, as he sees fit (humanism) - His use of sources is highly misleading. He often follows up a sentence with a source with an opionion of his in a way that implies it's in the source - He contradics himself a few times during the book (says you shoudn't compare prehistoric humans with modern day hunter gathers - then does exactely that later on) - In contrast what you said in your review, I find this book extremely judgemental. For example he implies that we murdered all our hominin relatives and got the mega-fauna extinct, as if it were intentional, instead of evolutionary competition. Furthermore he downplays the other contributing factors to the megafauna-extinction. The whole book reads more as an (cultural) opinion piece than a scientific book. There are quite a few critical reviews, especially from scientists, have a look at them. I know it's difficult to write a book with such a scope, but I think even considering this difficulty, he still failed. As an highly opinionated book of the view of History and cutural criticism by one man this book might be good. But as it is written and read as a science-book, which considering the highly problematic science involved, I think is dangerously misleading millions on people. Anyway, I liked the books you discussed and gave me new inspiration, so thank you for that! If I could give a recomendation it would by 1493, by Charles Mann.

[@evesharples1904]

the close up on the books on the spinny plates just made me howl for no reason... just so extra i love it

[@adoy7699]

Very informative! Entertaining to watch! And the most of all I really love your British accent, I love to hear your voice all day sir!

[@chironicle]

Regarding The Silmarillion I’d say get in a clear frame of mind and just go for it, it’s so good. It’s quite dense and keeping track of all the names could probably form the basis of a PhD in itself, but it’s so rewarding. Such a beautifully written story.

[@Altobrun]

I have that same atmospheric and Oceanic fluid dynamics textbook on my bookshelf. It was one of two texts used for my first fluids course ever (a graduate level course on fluid mechanics hosted by the maths department) that I still have nightmares of to this day.

[@zsheng]

I'm a phd student taking a QFT class right now. It's definitely a hard subject and a lot of the concepts are hard to grasp. I'm using Srednicki which I feel the shorter chapters do help.

[@michaelsommers2356]

One of my professors was in Feynman's class. According to him, even CalTech physics students found it hard to follow.

[@DrTeterken]

For qft, i was never a fan of the Zee book, as an introduction I much prefered 'a modern introduction to qft' It s also half the size

[@jessbuildstech]

oooh the b roll is awesome! Thank you Simon :)

[@julioramirez8069]

The description of the book Infinitesimal, was really interesting. I'm buying it, I want to read it.

[@bedebyers8721]

Super keen for you to tackle QFT. High key would watch.

[@bensegasby1413]

I really like the idea of you doing a series like Mike Boyd’s “Learn Quick”, but in physics, maths, computer science, etc. . I loved the video you did about machine learning with the racecars, so maybe you could learn a new subject for a month and, at the end of it, create a video about what you learned, teaching it to us! Just ideas, but Mike’s content is seriously awesome, and I think a physics version of that would be interesting to see. :)

[@alexanerzuev3676]

Thank you, awesome review, yes if you could do more videos about 'atmospheric' books.

[@thelaurels13]

Great video. Thank you for sharing. I have read a few of those myself.

[@Stoic_Rational_Buddhist]

You would really enjoy ‘Music of the primes’ and ‘Genius: the life and science of Richard Feynman’.

[@sjf96]

QFT and spin waves please. It would be good to hear your take on the subject

[@simondeplaen9741]

YES !!! PLEASE teach us quantum fields theory !!! I wanna know how long it takes you, bc I also would like to go back to old uni books and lectures but I'm afraid of how much time It'll take me to learn again !

[@AntonoirJacques]

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is one of my favourite books too. You should definitely read it again. It does get better as you get older I think.

[@AntonoirJacques]

Brave New World is also better than 1984. Onyx and Crane is another fantastic book, it is specifically about a Science dystopia and is Margaret Attwood's best book I think.

[@Nucleotide5313]

If you’re looking for a great intro to genetics/molecular biology (the superior science), then I recommend The Epigenetics Revolution and Junk DNA.

[@adamtaylor2142]

I LOVE Infinitesimal, and Amir Alexander in general. Make sure you read Duel at Dawn as well. His most recent work "Proof!" was a bit underwhelming for me, but c'est la vie.

[@DevalMehtaAstrokidintraining]

If you like Blundell's lecturing style, why not try to do your QFT series out of Blundell & Lancaster's "Quantum Field Theory for the Gifted Amateur?" As someone else who's giving QFT another go, I'd love to see your attempt/process.

[@hellaswagga2205]

I was waiting for this for so long! Thank you simon sir

[@leo_warren]

Ah the nerd (and IMO better) version of the selfie, it's the shelfie.

[@sxs311]

I love all the "oh, what's that doing here? Oh, that's where that went!" moments in this 😂😂

[@hanneke3979]

I was looking for this comment. I have books in my student room and at my parent's house, so I can relate 😂😂

[@David-co5oo]

you should buy How To, if you haven't already. the section about landing a plane that has answers from Chris Hadfield is amazing

[@PedroCrosaraM]

you should read the quantum field book on stream to show how you study

[@alexanderbanegas7622]

Simon since I see you like the Simpsons, I recommend reading this book called "the Simpsons and psychology" which is a book filled with multiple essays evaluating the ethics of each character. I am currently reading it and I have to say even though it is a short read it is really good!

[@jadoei13]

more engagement but yes QFT sounds interesting

[@bethanygramberg3767]

I have no interest (or comprehension skills) when it comes to anything science, but I would love to see you tackle that quantum theory textbook.

[@Georgexb]

The Silmarillion is difficult, but the best way to describe it is like Tolkien’s equivalent of the Bible. You don’t read it like a story- and it’s best approached in small chunks. Yes, you definitely will need to keep looking up elf names, but if you’ve read and liked LoTR then it’s a really interesting journey through the rest of Tolkien’s mythos.

[@guyfromkerala3577]

Could you make video on Geophysics with the perspective of career?

[@berserker8884]

Im definitely all for QFT SEVERAL months challenege. But yes, please do!

[@mahadlodhi]

Ohh wtf just do a QFT video and can i just say what a scholarly life simon's managed to have led so far, im so envious

[@money5434]

The beginning sentence was quite good!

[@jonathanyuanyt]

Lol i have all my old accounting textbooks on my bookshelf. This was an awesome video idea.

[@marccowan3585]

It may interest you to know that Stephen Blundell is now lecturing 2nd year EM and has taken to implementing his self composed music into his lectures... Also I think turning the QFT into a mini series would be quite cool, maybe split the book into section and do multiple videos?

[@JimBob4233]

Please do a QFT video, if only because that seems like the sort of thing that would be really helpful for other people trying to crack QFT. Also, if you ever find a gap in your reading list, definitely try the Wayfarer series by Becky Chambers. The science is a bit squishy occasionally, but the stories are gorgeous, even if your brain sometimes trips over bits like 'how do you, a mammal whose culture presumably did agriculture, not understand cheese and lactose intolerance?'

[@xani666]

"how did you get that thing? "Well, petty crime"

[@nishatiwari9212]

Please do QFT

[@ngaagozo7010]

would love to see you tackle quantum field theory!!

[@benmcm77]

As someone with similar interests and book tastes, I recommend bringing Hank Greens books up the queue. They are enlightening and fun to read.

[@jackvalior]

3:30 In studying science, I realized that not only that a logical thing can be morally wrong, it can also be factually wrong. The most obvious example to me is: A person saw a rainbow at the end of every rain he had ever saw. Therefore, he concluded that the rainbow ended the rain. Without the basic physic knowledge, this would be a logical route, albeit completely wrong one.

[@mathis2]

My TBR list: Ah shit, here we go again

[@5lovestarr]

My fantasy childhood defining series was definitely the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan. I have read and own all 15 of the main books he’s released so far (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Heroes of Olympus, and Trials of Apollo) and looking at how that was my defining set of books while the rest of my friends were Harry Potter kids explains a lot about how I turned out compared to them 😂

[@green0563]

Same!

[@lokeshparihar7672]

who is the author of book "relativity" at 10:42?

[@marinanocera787]

yes please do the book review on quantum field theory!

[@mahdyarm.m.sadeghi1380]

3:10 Nice to see that you're a fan of An Imperial Affliction.😉

[@tawfiqmorshed2694]

Omg simon’s explanatory skills but with quantum?????? Yes please

[@LuveenWadhwani]

Kitty purring ASMR needs to become a genre on KZbin / Twitch.

[@GeeFunk84]

What a coincidence. I used to live in Keynsham and Bristol as well a decade ago.

[@NetHundsnomal]

Nice video! One thing that makes me curious is: How do you order your set shelfs? (In particular why are homo deus and sapiens apart)

[@phddiaries9293]

I never really got QFT at Nottingham uni either 🙈

[@semitangent]

I was actually hoping to learn more about the Codex Astartes prop(?). Did you get it somewhere on the web or is it self-made?

[@louisek.574]

Do the QFT video, would be awesome!

[@kirmie44]

You should check out Three Body Problem!

[@niranjanharishankar3493]

QFT explained by Simon? Yes, please!

[@pavankumarkn3447]

Sir make a vdeio about how to learn physics as own study

[@jackdobie7465]

This is exactly what I was looking for! I made the mistake of walking into an education course and now after teaching secondary school students, it's boring. What you teach is soul destroying. I'm looking into doing a PhD with a lecturer in my university but we don't have any atmospheric physics modules in undergrad and was looking to study it.

[@nasar8480]

I would love to have you teach me Quantum Field theory! Really appreciate your work man! Love from India.

[@veris8570]

Today's lovely was video.

[@maishamahboob7423]

Finally I found someone with similar taste of books.

[@stevieinselby]

7:45 - an Essentials version ... Waitrose are doing books now? 😎

[@IndustrialBonecraft]

It's a cat. Asking it if it knows it is perfect is like asking cubes whether they have corners - it's such a bafflingly obvious "question" that it doesn't really require a vocalised answer because it is answered prior to the question being asked.

[@Vanagandr518]

"Engage!" - Captain Picard

[@eikopalma3072]

Amazing! I always appreciate your comments about books...now I'm reading " Alex adventures in Numberland" and I'm just loving it, maybe because I'm a linguist😉...

[@DanielMacLir]

Simon, did you find time for reading while being busy with your PhD life back then?

[@DystopiaJunkie]

(This will probs be the least sciencey comment on this video. Apologies!) I'm a simple man: I see a video from the good doctor, and I click and I watch and I like. I see the good doctor mention dystopias... and I wish I could give it several likes! Will be very interested to know how you find Vox and The Power, Simon!

[@Test-zd4mp]

Yes, please give us the quantum field theory vid!

[@megsavage1444]

Would love a QFT video!