DMT-Nexus member
Posts: 728 Joined: 09-Oct-2009 Last visit: 26-Jun-2024 Location: London
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I see a lot of threads started at the Nexus regarding extremely complex ideas that are at the boundaries of current human understanding. Areas such as Cosmology, string theory, relativity, consciousness, Quantum Mechanics etc. I am always interested in these threads, and really enjoy the contribution everyone makes to them. There are many people at the Nexus who have a huge knowledge of these subjects. However, I can't help but feel that the best way of learning about these subjects is your own private study. Whilst I am no expert, and have zero mathematical skill, I have still managed to learn a lot from books that are written by leaders in their field, but aimed at the layman like me and many others here. If anyone can recommend some of these books that they have found useful in this thread, it could become a great resource for anyone interested. I suggest we stick to books only (no youtube videos!), and books written by scientists, even if the subject matter can get hypothetical at times. I will start with a couple of books I have recommended a few times now. They are simply awesome. The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene The Quantum Enigma - Physics encounters Consciousness by Bruce Rosenblum & Fred Kuttner Looking forward to some of your suggstions! Oh great - the world has just been replaced by elf machinery.
Sic transit gloria mundi
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Ross
Posts: 267 Joined: 22-Oct-2010 Last visit: 16-Oct-2012 Location: Scotland
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I would love to hear some suggestions also. I find it difficult to find books that can give a good scope of complex ideas without too much terminology. Some people find Carl Jung hard to read. I think his works are essential reading for psychedelic people. If his ideas were general knowledge, the world would be a much better place. A good introduction would be - Man and His Symbols - Carl Jung. Your depth is your integrity
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DMT-Nexus member
Posts: 764 Joined: 18-Jan-2008 Last visit: 20-Mar-2023
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1664 wrote:If anyone can recommend some of these books that they have found useful in this thread, it could become a great resource for anyone interested. I suggest we stick to books only (no youtube videos!), and books written by scientists, even if the subject matter can get hypothetical at times. This is a great idea! Here are some of my favorites: - Thomas Metzinger - The Ego Tunnel (The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self). - Michael Brooks - 13 Things That Do Not Make Sense. - E=mc2. A Biography of the World Most Famous Equasion. - Stephen Hawking - The Grand Design. - Amir D. Aczel = Entanglement. - Thomas Kuhn - The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. - Amit Goswami - The Self-Aware Universe. - J.C. Pearce - The Biology of Transcendence. - Arthur J. Deikman, M.D. - The Observing Self. Do not seek the truth, just drop your opinions.
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DMT-Nexus member
Posts: 728 Joined: 09-Oct-2009 Last visit: 26-Jun-2024 Location: London
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^^ That's my christmas present list right there Trickster, awesome stuff, thanks. Oh great - the world has just been replaced by elf machinery.
Sic transit gloria mundi
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DMT-Nexus member
Posts: 764 Joined: 18-Jan-2008 Last visit: 20-Mar-2023
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1664 wrote:^^ That's my christmas present list right there Trickster, awesome stuff, thanks.
PM me if you need any of these in audio format. Do not seek the truth, just drop your opinions.
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DMT-Nexus member
Posts: 681 Joined: 11-Sep-2010 Last visit: 24-Dec-2011
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http://www.amazon.com/My...972509461/ref=pd_sim_b_3Thanks to Felnik to putting me on to these!  I have a ton of textbooks in PDF format on lots of science/physics/quantum stuff..I'll see if I can put together a list of them I just gotta take the non-science ones out..
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analytical chemist
  
Posts: 7463 Joined: 21-May-2008 Last visit: 03-Mar-2024 Location: the lab
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one of the more tangible science books, and a real classic, from one of the pioneers of quantum theory. Treatise on Thermodynamics "Nothing is true, everything is permitted." ~ hassan i sabbah
"Experiments are the only means of attaining knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination." -Max Planck
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DMT-Nexus member
Posts: 764 Joined: 18-Jan-2008 Last visit: 20-Mar-2023
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A few more of my favorites: Dave Goldberg, Jeff Blomquist - A User's Guide to the Universe: Surviving the Perils of Black Holes, Time Paradoxes, and Quantum Uncertainty Michio Kaku - Parallel Worlds Do not seek the truth, just drop your opinions.
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DMT-Nexus member
Posts: 728 Joined: 09-Oct-2009 Last visit: 26-Jun-2024 Location: London
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Michio Kaku - Physics of the Impossible very easy to read and full of interesting ideas Oh great - the world has just been replaced by elf machinery.
Sic transit gloria mundi
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DMT-Nexus member
Posts: 328 Joined: 17-Sep-2010 Last visit: 30-Apr-2020 Location: Pacific Northwest
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Thought I would chime in here: Nothing - A Very Short Introduction, Frank Close enjoy, brothers and sisters! L "The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool." Richard P. Feynman
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DMT-Nexus member
Posts: 937 Joined: 23-Oct-2009 Last visit: 25-Mar-2012 Location: Netherlands
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For the layman i highly recommend reading these books in the following order: Sophie's World, by Jostein Gaarder A History of Western Philosophy, by Bertrand Russel The first book is kind of childish, let's say playfull, and is a perfect introduction to the concepts Betrand will broaden and deepen. These overview like books are very nice for personal orientation. Bertrand is not easy to read, but i think he is worth the effort. The book effectively offers dense abstracts that allow you to take in much at once and find underlying patterns (through the ages), or just surf the text and pick your 10 minute cherrychapters. Whatever fits your mood. A History of Western Philosophy is a must have imo. “The most important thing in illness is never to lose heart.” -Nikolai Lenin
I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.
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DMT-Nexus member
Posts: 728 Joined: 09-Oct-2009 Last visit: 26-Jun-2024 Location: London
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The Goldilocks Enigma by Paul Davies. A great account of the boundaries if current physics, taking it a stage further by posing the questions of why there are "laws" of physics, what they suggest and why are they seemingly set at just the right levels to allow life. Brilliant read. Conversations on Consciousness by Susan Blackmore. A collection of interviews with prominent scientists about their view on the "hard problem" of consciousness. What is it about our brain that gives rise to subjective feeling and experience? Is it our brain that generates consciousness in the first place? This book has many ideas that were new and fascinating to me. Recommend for any Nexian. Enjoy! Oh great - the world has just been replaced by elf machinery.
Sic transit gloria mundi
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Rennasauce Man
Posts: 853 Joined: 27-May-2011 Last visit: 25-Feb-2019 Location: A Pale Blue Dot orbiting a GV2 Yellow Dwarf fusion powered Luminous Ball of Plasma at 30km/s
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Coming of Age in the Milky way By timothy ferris Excellent Read "let those who have talked to the elves, find each other and band together" -TMK
In a society in which nearly everybody is dominated by somebody else's mind or by a disembodied mind, it becomes increasingly difficult to learn the truth about the activities of governments and corporations, about the quality or value of products, or about the health of one's own place and economy.
In such a society, also, our private economies will depend less upon the private ownership of real, usable property, and more upon property that is institutional and abstract, beyond individual control, such as money, insurance policies, certificates of deposit, stocks, etc. And as our private economies become more abstract, the mutual, free helps and pleasures of family and community life will be supplanted by a kind of displaced citizenship and by commerce with impersonal and self-interested suppliers...
The great enemy of freedom is the alignment of political power with wealth. This alignment destroys the commonwealth - that is, the natural wealth of localities and the local economies of household, neighborhood, and community - and so destroys democracy, of which the commonwealth is the foundation and practical means.” - Wendell Berry
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