August Updates

[Chris Boyd]

Hi BIRG2, Updates--Please note the September 8 meeting at Kepler's. July 14. Do Not Go Gentle, Book One, Discovery [book one of three], by Mark Millstorm (Muhlestein), BIRG member. This is his new book that  came out late 2011 on Kindle. You can download a free trial copy of Amazon Kindle useable on your computer.  Earth in path of Black Hole!! Now what?  This is timely with end of the world themes seeming to pop up everywhere recently: Movie:  Seeking a Friend for the End of the World Mensa Annual Gathering in Reno July 4: The End of Time News: December 21 end of the world interpretation of the end of the current stage of the Mayan calendar.  Some are contemplating suicide. Book on sale at the SETIcon II: Death from the Skies!: These Are the Ways the World Will End . . . by Philip C. Plait Assuming we get through these events, we only have about nine years to prepare for Mark's Black Hole.  August 11--Too Big to Know: Rethinking Knowledge Now That the Facts Aren't the Facts, Experts Are Everywhere, and the Smartest Person in the Room Is the Room’ by David Weinberger  This groundbreaking book shakes the foundations of our concept of knowledge—from the role of facts to the value of books and the authority of experts—providing a compelling vision of the future of knowledge in a connected world. September 8  This will be our first meeting at Kepler's Books in Menlo Park.  The meeting is scheduled for our regular time at 3:30P.  We will have a pre-meeting speaker at 2P in the Pavilion there.  The speaker is Marty Nemko and he will be covering his new book, "What's the Big Idea?"  The scheduled book for our regular meeting at 3:30P is, "Thinking Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman Another Interesting Coincidence I attended the AHA Conference in New Orleans.  One of the keynotes was Ira Flatow. host of Talk Of the Nation: Science Friday.  His most recent book:  Present At The Future:  From Evolution to Nanotechnology, Candid and Controversial Cionversations on Science and Nature.  It covers many of the ideas we have gone over in our group.  And, Flatow was the host of the four-part PBS series, Big Ideas. Read On!!   And hope to see you at our future events, Chris Boyd