Matthew BroomeJul 24, 2023
James Gleick

I’m an author and journalist, hopeful about the #TwitterMigration.

I write about science and technology and their cultural effects. My books include Chaos, The Information, and Time Travel, as well as biographies of Richard Feynman and Isaac Newton.

I’m working on a history of the telephone.

#Introduction #authors #science #technology #Feynman #Newton #TimeTravel #Chaos #telephone

Dec 22, 2022 at 8:32pmWeb
Show threadKenneth P MittonDec 22, 2022
@JamesGleick I used to put hashtags in my texts too but apparently lots of Mastondon readers use screen readers and they hear "hashtag" breaking up the text we right. So I took their advice and put hashtag words as lists et end of my posts. Mastodon gives us more characters than twitter did to fit this too. Welcome. Adding you to follows.
Show threadCarolyn JollyDec 22, 2022
@JamesGleick I understood more about math reading Chaos than I ever did in school!
Show threadPrasenjeet DuttaDec 16, 2023
@jollyca @JamesGleick I read Chaos in high school and it made math so much more fun! 😀
Show threadKaren Dalton-Beninato ☑️Dec 22, 2022
@JamesGleick Welcome to the other side!
Show threadPerry LindstromDec 22, 2022
@JamesGleick
I have talked about your book Chaos many times over the years. It is especially relevant when temperatures are near or at record lows the way they are now in the U.S. Chaos is the reason that scientists are so concerned about climate change. Nice to see that you made it over here. I retired from the Energy Information Administration last December so have not been very active on social media until now. Cheers
Show threadRubiconDec 22, 2022

@JamesGleick Welcome. Great to have you here! Thanks for using #hashtags!

#twittermigration

Show threadHammancheezDec 22, 2022
@JamesGleick I thought you was claiming in your bio to be a Chaos Genius and honestly I liked that moxie and hit follow before correcting myself
Show threadTHIS ACCOUNT HAS MOVEDDec 22, 2022
@JamesGleick I think James wrote time travel before. But it might have been after.
Show threadstupidgeniusDec 22, 2022

@JamesGleick I read Chaos many years ago and it inspired me to write my own.

https://www.codeproject.com/Articles/462862/Brotplot-2-0-Making-a-New-Program

https://apps.stupid-genius.com/Brotplot/

Brotplot 2.0: Making a New Program

Using HTML5's canvas and JavaScript to create a Mandelbrot plotter.

CodeProject
Show threadEcon-IntelDec 22, 2022
@JamesGleick welcome
Show threadParanoid FactoidDec 22, 2022

@JamesGleick

You should write a biography on Frank Wilczek.

He's gonna win another Nobel for Time Crystals.

Show threadEvan RudowskiDec 22, 2022
@JamesGleick
Welcome James. I remember using some of your very early pre-web internet tools!
Show threadmyrmepropagandistDec 22, 2022

@JamesGleick

I read your book when I was 15 and tried to recreate the Lorenz water wheel in BASIC for my 8th grade science project.

Managed to get a decent system with sensitive dependence on initial conditions.

Now I torture my CS students with the same problem.

Show thread@[email protected]Dec 22, 2022

@JamesGleick

Welcome!

Show threadNicole RustDec 22, 2022

@JamesGleick

👆​ Who else owned and loved the book Chaos (1987)? 🙋​

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos:_Making_a_New_Science

Chaos: Making a New Science - Wikipedia

Show threadErol AkcayDec 22, 2022
@NicoleCRust @JamesGleick 🙋‍♂️one of the first science books I read (Turkish translation)!!
Show threadTim VerstynenDec 22, 2022
@NicoleCRust @JamesGleick Read that and Waldrop’s Complexity back-to-back in high school. Together they inspired me to try and become a scientist.
Show threadEconprophDec 22, 2022
@NicoleCRust @JamesGleick
Moi
Show threadLew RileyDec 23, 2022
@NicoleCRust @JamesGleick Read it in 1990-ish in college. One of my physics profs had us playing with code to generate the Sierpinski triangle, and I decided to go down the rabbit hole.
Show threadBrian GordonDec 23, 2022
@NicoleCRust @JamesGleick that was such an amazing book. Really eye opening and inspiring! Definitely one of the most influential books I read during undergrad.
Show threadJoyographicDec 23, 2022
@NicoleCRust @JamesGleick I was an undergrad at Caltech, studying freeway traffic. Mapped out a chaotic attractor from my data after reading the book.
Show threadKevin MitchellDec 23, 2022
@NicoleCRust @JamesGleick Yeah, loved it! Read it in my grandparent's house when I was about 16, maybe... Left a lasting impression and has influenced my thinking ever since.
Show threadBjörn BrembsDec 23, 2022

@WiringtheBrain @NicoleCRust @JamesGleick
Yup, me too. Read it around the time i graduated from High School. At that time, 1990, there was still military service in Germany and I remember reading it at night while I was standing (sitting, actually) guard and nobody was around.

I still have the book and -little did I know- it turned out to be really useful for my research decades later.

Show threadLuiz PessoaDec 23, 2022
@brembs
@WiringtheBrain @NicoleCRust @JamesGleick
Read it in college soon after it came out. At the same time close friends were doing graduate research in dynamical systems. So yeah, everything clicked for me from that point on!
Show threadMarek McGannDec 23, 2022
@PessoaBrain @brembs @WiringtheBrain @NicoleCRust @JamesGleick Read it over a summer working relief in a very quiet local branch of a building society. Was a gateway drug for sure.
Show threadszescstopniDec 23, 2022
@NicoleCRust @JamesGleick It wasn't easy to get this book in communist Poland when it came out but I managed to find someone who brought from the UK. A great book.
Show threadSimon E. FisherDec 23, 2022
@NicoleCRust @JamesGleick Yes! One of my all-time favourite non-fiction books, made a big impact on my view of science and the world.
Show threadPeter MolemanDec 23, 2022
@NicoleCRust @JamesGleick Missed it then, bought it now!
Show threadVinzDec 23, 2022
@NicoleCRust @JamesGleick
Oh, yeah, a marvelous book that I used a lot during my time in college!
"Faster" was very good, too.
Show threadLeslie M. KayDec 23, 2022
@NicoleCRust @JamesGleick
Read it early in grad school, 1991. We all did in Walter Freeman’s lab. Still own the book.
Show threadNicole RustDec 23, 2022

@JamesGleick
Inspiring! You inspired quite a few scientists, including at least 10 university professors peppered across different continents. And many still work with ideas in the space of complexity / dynamical systems. In fact, one of them, @PessoaBrain, just wrote his own book on a similar topic:

https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262544603/the-entangled-brain/

We don't talk much about the role that nonfiction books play in inspiring the next generation of scientists. Not just to pursue scientific careers but also the approaches they take with the questions. No doubt that this happens and it clearly happened with Chaos. A big thanks from all of us, @JamesGleick!

The Entangled Brain

A new vision of the brain as a fully integrated, networked organ.Popular neuroscience accounts often focus on specific mind-brain aspects like addiction, cog...

MIT Press
Show threadLuiz PessoaDec 23, 2022

@NicoleCRust
@JamesGleick

Nicole, this means a "huge lot" to me!!

Show threadAlbert CardonaDec 23, 2022

@NicoleCRust @JamesGleick Haven't, but with such a recommendation (and so many seconding it!) I'll add it to the list. Thanks!

Instead I cite as early influences:

Dorion Sagan and Lynn Margulys (1989) "Biospheres from Earth to Space."

Stuart Kauffman (1993) "The Origins of Order: Self Organization and Selection in Evolution".

Ernst Mayr (1985) "The growth of biological thought. Diversity, evolution and inheritance."

Read all of this in the last year of my undergrad.
#books

Show threadJoJaSciPoDec 23, 2022

@NicoleCRust @JamesGleick

😳

Show threadScardinaviaDec 23, 2022
@NicoleCRust @JamesGleick easily the best non-fiction book I’ve ever read (and re-read).
Show threadzbeckerDec 22, 2022

@JamesGleick

#welcome to #fediverse

Show threadGreengordonDec 22, 2022

@JamesGleick

Welcome! Are you and Prof Water related? @petergleick

Show threadRJDDec 23, 2022
@JamesGleick welcome!
Show threadSTAR TREK USS VALKYRIE GROUPDec 23, 2022
@JamesGleick “Genius” (the biography of Richard Feynman) is my favorite book. Ever.
Show threadIt's Just Jenn 🏳️‍⚧️Dec 23, 2022
@JamesGleick Welcome! Did you ever see Avengers: Endgame? Did their Tim Travel explanation make any sense?
Show threadJames GleickDec 23, 2022
@Tweetfiction No. And, no, but it’s always only a question of how cleverly they can disguise the trick.
Show threadSgt.bubblesDec 23, 2022
@JamesGleick huge fan! Thank you for your work!
Show threadkravietz 🦇Dec 23, 2022
@JamesGleick

Hi James, welcome to Fediverse!
Show threadAndy LowryDec 23, 2022
@JamesGleick
Just finished re-reading The Information! Great to have you here., and that book is in my permanent top ten.
Show threadNeysa NevinsDec 23, 2022
@JamesGleick I borrowed your book on Feynman from a friend ~25 years ago. Very cool to see you here
Show threadMarkDec 23, 2022
@JamesGleick You were one of the first people I followed on Mastodon but I think it was another account. You changed instances, I assume? (I'm still learning the ropes on this platform.)
Show threadLaferDec 23, 2022
@JamesGleick Those books you write are amongst my favorites. Chaos made my thinking chaotic and the book on Feyman, well, what a subject and how well his story was told. Thank you.
Show threadxmanmonkDec 23, 2022
@JamesGleick Absolutely loved Genius!
Show threadRavelDec 23, 2022
@JamesGleick hey I red Chaos bc somebody told me that it will revolutionize the way how I think. It didnt happen tho. Then I learned the reason for that was I got my viewpoint revolutionized already by somebody who red your book.
Show threadLilithJul 7, 2023
@JamesGleick Good morning! Keith
Show threadMariaJul 29, 2023
@JamesGleick Long ago, I read and taught Chaos in an upper division writing class largely for biology majors at UC Irvine, and I loved the book and the experience. I've also read your biography of Newton, which I still think about sometimes. Thank you for your writing!
Show threadNoctisEqui 🇺🇦🇵🇸🇪🇹🏳️‍🌈Aug 6, 2023

@JamesGleick

That sounds fascinating! Actually Newton had hidden sides most people don’t know about, he was esoteric as well as scientific. We all want to know about Time Travel!

Show thread(((Cindy Weinstein)))Dec 16, 2023

@JamesGleick. I'd love to read a history of the #telephone. Hope you'll include a reading of this (kidding/not kidding).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bNq_L1jMow

#ByeByeBirdie

Bye Bye Birdie - The Telephone Hour

YouTube
Show threadJames GleickDec 16, 2023

@CindyWeinstein “Tell me, Kim. How do you absolutely feel? In your deepest, secret soul!”

I can almost promise that I will. Thank you for sharing.

Show thread(((Cindy Weinstein)))Dec 16, 2023
@JamesGleick. Yay! I'm so glad. It's truly one of my favorite scenes in any musical. Another favorite is Court Jester but I don't think there are any telephone scenes. Good luck with the book!
Show threadBernie The WordsmithDec 16, 2023
@JamesGleick Good to have you here. I think @pluralistic may have recommended your books a gazillion times
Show threadCory DoctorowDec 16, 2023
@berniethewordsmith @JamesGleick Jim's books also get recommended by characters in my next novel.
Show threadJames GleickDec 16, 2023
@berniethewordsmith @pluralistic Cory is very kind. I’m a huge fan of his, as I think he knows.
Show threadMagnus AhltorpDec 16, 2023

@JamesGleick Is your scope for the history of the telephone limited to the US, or is the scope wider?

Signed: someone who has four thick books on the history of the Swedish telephone network in his bookcase. Unfortunately only starting from volume 5 (1921-), so there are four more books in the series, and the most interesting time around 1900 is therefore not included.