[angledangle228]

I just wanted to introduce myself. Im a novice in this field but Im very interested to learn everything I can. I've read a few books on related topics: The Elegan Universe by Brian Greene, A Brief History of time and The Universe in a Nutshell by Stephen Hawkings.

Im just wondering what you all think about these books, and what suggestions you might have for me to continuing my mental expansion.

[Graybeard]

Welcome to the forum AngleDangle. I have read both books you mention. my opinion is they are great for learning and starting out.

Not everybody on this forums agrees with either String Theory or Stephen Hawking. However both books contain a great deal of base knowledge that will allow you to form your own opinions.

Start posting and enjoy

cool bananas ... greg

[dleviwing]

Hi Taylor;
Welcome to ToeQuest;

Not many high school physics teachers really give a strong enough indoctrination of what science philosophy really is; they tend to attempt stimulation of imagination over the dull mundane facts. The best thing is if you are going to enter a career in the science field of physics then you should understand that science is a discipline of methodology that results in empirical data to support scientific theory. String Theory does not meet this criteria and thus is not science nor fact; no matter how intelligent the believer, a belief is only a belief without measured empirical data. I guess I’m saying that Dr. Greene is full of it. Not being able to prove an idea right doesn’t make it wrong but neither does it make the idea right; it’s just unknown and unproven. It’s always best to start with the known facts before attempting to understand the unknown speculation.

I hope you enjoy the forums.

[angledangle228]

well put! and I very much so agree. String therory is not testable this is true so for now it is simply a philosophy.

what do you suggest I do to further expand my physics mind... if you could go back and redo high school what would you do differently, regarding physics

[dleviwing]

Taylor;
Be a skeptic and question everything that appears vague and ambiguous. Ask why Probability and uncertainty indicate anything other than a statistical analogy of data and our limits to measure phenomena. Anyone who can’t explain a phenomena to you such that it is understandable, they don’t know it either; most of all, HAVE FUN.