Modern Chemistry

The book I read to research this post was A Modern Approach To Comprehensive Chemistry by GN Gilmore which is a very good book that I bought from a car boot sale. This book is intended for British A level students and is around 370 pages so is a decent length. You must get a minimum of 2 A levels and 3 O levels at good grades to stand a chance of getting to university. At A level and doing a university alot of self teaching and studying is expected. The time you spend with a teacher is limited and there is a steep learning curve. This book was published in 1982 so is quite dated. Carbon is able to bond to other identical atoms hence you can get very complex molecules especially living tissue. The majority of substances known to man are organic in nature. A molecule that is organic can also appear in 2 or more forms with identical numbers of atoms which we call polymers. Diamond the hardest substance known to man is essentially pure carbon with each atom linked by 4 covalent bonds. Graphite also a form of carbon by comparison is very soft due to different bonding. The size of an atom compared to carbon 12 is called its relative atom mass. There is more than 1 form of carbon such as carbon 14 and we call these isotopes. These unusual forms can often be radioactive. Due to being radioactive they decay changing maybe in several steps to eventually something more stable. We call this decay its half life. It is measured in the time it takes for half to decay and anything from a fraction of a second to millions of years. I did enjoy reading this book and do recommend it.

Technology And Learning

The book I read to research this post was Invent To Learn by Sylvia Libow Martinez which is a very good book that I read at kindle unlimited. This book is aimed at teachers and parents looking to get the most out of their youngsters. In more recent years education especially in Britain has tended to take a step backwards with the introduction of the national curriculum and SAT tests. Less emphasis has been on experimentation and exploring things. It’s a shame because these are the best ways for children to learn. One thing it has achieved is a standardization of education so if a child is transferred from one school to another they can continue at least in theory where they left off. Computer science has received a real shot in the arm from devices like the arduino and raspberry pi. Previously computer science was generally not taught at schools and if it was to just a few of the brightest pupils. These computer kits with a retail price of around $35 and the companies giving many of these kits to schools has revolutionized the world of computing. Other companies like lego have developed construction kits complete with motors that teach the basics of engineering. We have also seen many proprietary versions of the computer kits like the lilypad with its numerous extra sensors and its ability to be attached to clothing. I assume this book was published before the beaglebone back was released as there is no mention of it. I did enjoy this book and do recommend it. It’s also around 450 pages so is a substantial length.

 

Genius Intelligence

The book I read to research this post was Genius Intelligence by James and Lance Morcan which is an excellent book that I bought on kindle. This book is around 100 pages so is a fair length. It looks at the latest advances in accelerated learning. For axample research is going on into magnets affecting learning made of rare earth metals. Another technology is passing a small electrical current into the brain. This was though to have no effect on the hypocampus which is deep with in the brain. More recent research has shown the area around it can be stimulated giving the same result. Many people have taken speed reading courses including JF Kennedy who could apparently read at over 2,000 words per minute with good comprehension. There is a substance called ormus discovered by a farmer by chance. It defies many of the rules of physics in its properties. Many health as well as enhanced abilities have been attributed to it. People who use it include the actress Gwyneth Paltrow. The US military as well as the CIA are very interested in accelerated learning and it is rumored the CIA has a program where agents can get a high grasp of a foreign language with in 7 days. There is no such program available to the public. Classical music due to having a rhythmic effect on the brain can enhance memory. Mozart’s music is meant to be particularly good. There is also something still in its infancy called Smart Drugs depicted in films like Limitless. That film was taking liberties with what has been discovered. There are drugs that will enhance memory for example but won’t make you instantly smart. They have to be taken over a period of time and you still have to study. I really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it.

History Of Mathematics

The book I read to research this post was The History Of Mathematics A Very Short Introduction by Jacqueline Stedall which is a very good book that I bought from kindle. This book is part of a series of around 300 titles where they take an academic subject and get an expert to write around 150 pages on it. This book looks at the subject in a very general way. It doesn’t tell you how calculus was invented. The development of mathematics hasn’t been a continous process with much rediscovery of things taking place. Having said that the mathematics of the Renaissance didn’t work in seclusion and often had access to the works of the ancient Greeks which were in print and other works by mathematicians in the same era. Current mathematical development has been on a gradual increase since this era. The greatest mathematician is probably Pythagoras with his various theorems which weren’t proved until much later. His theory on that the sides of a triangle could be worked out by having 3 squares and working out the square root of each was worked out in that precise manner by Euclid in the 17th Century. Women have mostly historically been excluded from the field of mathematics. There have been exceptions though like various members of the royal families. I did enjoy this book and would definitely recommend it. It isn’t too technical and it’s worth remembering the greatest mathematicians often spent years producing their theorems.

Memory Improvement

The book I read to research this post was The Practical Way To A Better Memory by Dr Bruno Furst which is an excellent book that I bought from a local secondhand bookstore. I think this book is still in print despite it being quite old. It is around 240 pages so is a reasonable length and apparently Bruno has memorized the facts from over 200 books using the techniques he writes about. The book tells you the right techniques to memorize almost anything. There is even a section on foreign languages where the ghist seems to be to use a 3rd word that links the foreign word to the English word or definition. It can be in a 3rd language you have knowledge of or an alternate word in English. A lot of the book uses mnemonics to memorize facts. These can using the letters n and m to memorize 2 and 3 respectively or using the order of the alphabet or taking a key letter from the word and using several of the key letters to make a phrase. Ideally the phrase or word should be connected to the facts you are trying to remember. The skills in this book are like any other skill where initially you have to work at it and get competent and eventually you do it almost automatically. In its time this book has been regarded as a classic and I read a copy in the 80’s so I did know it was a great book.

Moodle

The book I read to research this post was Moodle for Dummies by Radana Dvorak which is an excellent book I bought from kindle. Moodle is an open source piece of software which can be either hosted on moodles servers for free or hosted on a 3rd party server, it’s unlikely you would host it on your own server although that is possible. It’s primarily for teachers & trainers so that they can deliver elearning to their students. You can incorporate paypal & charge for courses & there are lots of plug ins like youtube. When you set up a moodle site you can allow students to do blogs & another feature is it can be set up for them to talk to you & each other. You might be thinking it is a lot of extra work especially if you are a teacher but you can mark work online & you can set online tests for your students which is a time saver if you can type. The man who invented moodle did a degree in computer science & education so he was qualified to do it. The code to the program is open source which means anyone can change it to suit there needs.