The Internet is a wonderful thing for many reasons. One of them is that it allows you to find and contact the most obscure people for information and advice.
For instance, I have a long-standing interest in cosmology. Through the wonders of Google and Yahoo, I have been able to find the email addresses of some of cosmology's leading lights to bug them for information and insight. Much to my delight, they almost always respond! One of the cosmologists with whom I've enjoyed a sporadic correspondence is one Dr. Alexander Vilenkin of Tufts University.
A Ukrainian emigre with an interesting lifestory (back in the Soviet days, due to anti-Semitic attitudes, he found himself forced into menial jobs, the most interesting of which was zoo night watchman), Dr. Vilenkin has been a kind, patient, and fascinating correspondent. He now has a book out, Many Worlds in One: The Search for Other Universes, in which he explores inflationary theory, of which he has been a major contributor, and the possibility of multiple universes. It is a very good book: breezy, interesting, and anecdotal, entertaing and informative. It's also just a well-designed book (the font, in particular, is very pleasing, and the paper very tactile).
In the interests of full disclosure, I mention the book not only because I "know" Dr. Vilenkin "personally" and I think it's a good book; I am also personally named in the acknowledgements. Our email exchanges were of some small help to him in the writing of some of the book, apparently. I'm inordinately pleased by this. Seeing one's name in print, even if it's in someone else's book, strokes the old ego quite nicely.
So, if you have any interest in cosmology -- or are just a huuuuuuge fan of mine -- check out Many Worlds in One: The Search for Other Universes.
(P.S. Peter Woit has also posted about the book. He violently disagrees with Vilenkin's anthropic/landscape views, but, for all that, his view of the book itself seems positive, if only for the anecdotes.)
3 comments:
I have been in the science editing business for many years and it never ceases to make me smile how much all these academics and scientists just love anyone asking them a question about their field. They will take such a lot of time to respond at depth.
(I do not mean to be rude in implying you are "anyone", Frank -- I bug them too to ask them to be peer reviewers and all that, which is probably a lot more annoying to them than a genuine enthusiast such as yourself getting in touch. But they are still pretty patient with the likes of me.)
I just know that scientists love it when someone is interested in their work and/or subject.
Absolutely no offense taken, Maxine. I'm quite sure you're right; it's my own impression as well. I've emailed other experts in other fields (Roman history, Celtic mythology) and found them eager to help, too. I guess if you're in academia and devote your life to some esoteric subfield, it's gratifying when someone other than the same old bunch show interest. Quite natural, really.
BTW, how did you get into science editing? That's sort of the kind of field I'd like to get into myself.
Yes, I agree that the truth probably holds for all academics --they are the school swot grown up! But of course they don't make anything like as much money as their peers who got Ds instead of As in school and went into truck driving or something instead.
I got into science editing by being a scientist. I was always interested in writing and literature, but ended up in science as I was too weak to stand up to my parents. After I qualified as a scientist I did a bit of writing and that kind of thing. Then I saw an ad in Nature for a subeditor (you might call it a copyeditor), applied, and the rest was history.
But I doubt I am as rich as a truck driver, none the less ;-)
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