Book Spotlight: Einstein: Relatively Simple by Ira Mark Egdall

Einstein Relatively Simple: Our Universe Revealed in Everyday Language

Ira Mark Egdall

Author Bio:

Ira Mark Egdall is also the author of the eBook Unsung Heroes of the Universe and a popular science writer for DecodedScience.com. He is a retired aerospace program manager with an undergraduate degree in physics from Northeastern University. Mark now teaches lay courses in modern physics at Lifelong Learning Institutes at Florida International

University, the University of Miami, and Nova Southeastern University. He also gives entertaining talks on Einstein and time travel. When not thinking about physics, Mark spends his time playing with his grandchildren and driving his wife of 45 years crazy. 

Author Links 

Website: http://iramarkegdall.com/
(NOTE: A new web site is currently in progress)

Twitter: @IMEgdall
https://twitter.com/IMEgdall

Linkedin: Mark Egdall

Goodreads: Ira Mark Egdall

Book Genre:  Popular Science
Publisher:  World Scientific Publishing
Release Date:  February 24, 2014

Buy Links:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Apple | Indybound

Book Description:

Einstein Relatively Simple brings together for the first time an exceptionally clear explanation of both special and general relativity. It is for people who always wanted to understand Einstein’s ideas but never thought it possible.

Told with humor, enthusiasm, and rare clarity, this entertaining book reveals how a former high school drop-out revolutionized our concepts of space and time. From E=mc² and everyday time travel to black holes and the big bang, the book takes us all, regardless of any scientific background, on a mindboggling journey through the depths of Einstein's universe.

Along the way, we track Einstein through the perils and triumphs of his life — follow his thinking, his logic, and his insights — and chronicle the audacity, imagination, and sheer genius of the man recognized as the greatest scientist of the modern era. 

Excerpt:

Prologue

All knowledge begins in wonder.

Aristotle

In June of 1905, former high-school drop-out and lowly patent clerk Albert Einstein published a paper in the German Annals of Physics which revolutionized our understanding of space and time. What came to be known as the theory of special relativity predicted a strange new universe where time slows and space shrinks with motion.

In that same journal, Einstein proposed light comes in discreet packets of energy we now call photons. Along with Max Planck’s work, this insight sparked the quantum revolution. This in turn set off the greatest technological revolution in human history — enabling the invention of television, transistors, electronic digital computers, cell phones, digital cameras, lasers, the electron microscope, atomic clocks, MRI, sonograms, and many more modern-day devices.

Einstein’s follow-up article in September of 1905 proposed that mass and energy are equivalent. His famous equation, E = mc², came to solve one of the great mysteries of modern science — how the Sun and stars shine. Some four decades later, Einstein’s breakthrough ushered in the atomic age.

In December of 1915, Albert Einstein — now Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Berlin — surpassed his already staggering accomplishments. In the midst of the turmoil and hardships of World War I, he produced his life’s masterpiece: a new theory of gravity. His audacious general theory of relativity revealed a cosmos beyond our wildest imagination. It predicted phenomena so bizarre even Einstein initially doubted their existence — black holes which trap light and stop time, wormholes which form gravitational time machines, the expansion of space itself, and the birth of the universe some 13.8 billion years ago in the ultimate cosmic event: the Big Bang.

Not since Isaac Newton had a single physicist attained such monumental breakthroughs, and no scientist since has matched his breathtaking achievements. In recognition, TIME magazine selected Albert Einstein above such luminaries as Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Mohandas Gandhi, as the “Person of the Century” — the single individual with the most significant impact on the 20^th century.

Albert Einstein has long since passed from this corporal world. Yet his fame lives on. His discoveries inspire today’s generation of physicists — providing stepping stones to a new understanding of the cosmos and perhaps someday a unified theory of all physics. His brilliance, independence of mind, and persistence continue to be an inspiration to us all. He remains the iconic figure of science, whose genius transcends the limits of human understanding.

I wrote Einstein Relatively Simple to tell Einstein’s story — to hopefully provide the non-expert a clear, step-by-step explanation of how he came to develop both special and general relativity. My goal is a book which is comprehensive, fun to read, and most important, understandable to the lay reader . . .

So come explore how an unknown patent clerk came to develop a new theory of time and space, how he came to supplant the illustrious Isaac Newton with a new theory of gravity. Along the way we will examine the mind of Albert Einstein, who preferred to think in pictures rather than words, follow his thinking, his logic, and his insights.

To quote one of my students; “You’ll never look at the universe the same way again!”

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Spotlight: Lakeside University Cover-Up by Charles A. Taylor with Giveaway

Lakeside University Cover Up

Charles A. Taylor

Author Bio: Dr. Charles “Chuck” Taylor, author, speaker and diversity expert is currently a professor in the school of education at a Midwestern college. Although he has written and edited over 10 books, this is his first novel. Chuck has
also written a full-length children’s musical, a highly acclaimed documentary on the Milwaukee, Wisconsin civil rights movement and continues to serve as a national consultant to college campuses in the areas of racial diversity and inclusion. Please visit his website for additional information: http://drcharlestaylor.com/about/

Author Links - 

http://drcharlestaylor.com

www.linkedin.com/in/drcharlestaylor/

Book Genre: Mystery Thriller

Publisher: Roar
Enterprises, Inc.

Release Date: January,
2012

Buy Link(s): 
http://www.amazon.com/Lakeside-University-Cover-Charles-Taylor/dp/0935483535?tag=amazoniediscount01-20

Book Description:

A cross is burned in the yard of two black Lakeside University students. When campus officials call the incident a harmless prank, both black and white student organizations, launch a series of protests to force the administration into conducting a full investigation.

Instead, the administration devises a divide and conquer scheme to create a rift between black and white students. Feel the tension mounting as the students react to the Administration’s response to the incident. As black students turn up the pressure, the campus stands on the verge of a racial explosion. Campus leaders must find a way out of the
crisis so they seek the help of Dr. Wendell Oliver, the country’s leading expert in diffusing racial tension.

Watch Dr. Oliver as he masterfully guides the feuding students into looking beyond themselves on a weekend retreat that is filled with action, danger, sexual attraction, and racial conflict. Discover the hidden lessons that students learn about friendship, betrayal and forgiveness. Follow the love story as the plot unfolds. Experience this roller coaster ride of emotions for yourself! Learn the secret behind the cross burning as the leading character Gloria finds her voice.

Students come to realize that the cross burning is more than just about racism. Its wicked flames shed light on corrupt cops, complicit college administrators and misguided attitudes that point to a major cover up. When students finally piece the puzzle together, justice is
served but it comes with a steep price. Lakeside University will never be the same again.

Excerpt:

Enough was enough. Dean of Students, Todd Severson stormed into President David Horning’s office and slammed the door. “Sir, we need to do something!” Severson said, lowering himself into the chair across from Horning’s antique desk. “Your divide and conquer strategy is backfiring—we have to do something and do it fast, or this

university will explode!”  President Horning glanced up from his coffee. “That’s a bit dramatic, Todd, don’t you think?”

Severson leaned forward in his chair and pressed his palms against the desktop. “A black student has just been attacked!” he said.
“Classes are being disrupted. The police are running themselves ragged, trying to keep everything under control. Now we have threats of a major civil rights demonstration being held on our campus!”

Horning looked at Severson and frowned. “Why don’t you just calm down,”
he said. “We’ve weathered crises before. This isn’t any different.”

Severson stared back, his jaw askew. “Sir, I beg to disagree! We may have been able to smooth things over in the past, but this is very different. This could turn violent—even more violent than it already has become. And it's just a matter of time before the media plasters this mess all over the front page.”

Before Horning could respond, his phone rang. As he reached to answer it, Severson stood to leave. “Hold on Todd. Let me get this. This might be the call that will get us out of this damn mess,” Horning said, as Severson paced the floor.

***

Three
Weeks Earlier

It was a cool, cloudy Sunday night in early autumn. Two figures huddled in the shadows next to a small house, near the Lakeside University campus. They set to work quickly, and soon a sharp chemical odor drifted through the air.

“Man, this shit really stinks,” said the first one, muffling a cough in his gloved hand. “Are you sure this will work?”

“It has to,” said the second. “You heard what they said. We've got to take care of this tonight.” “Okay, okay,” said the first.
“Just light the damn thing so I can make the call and we can get the hell out of here!”

***

Inside the small house, Lakeside University student Ashante Melashe was working on a recording for her broadcast engineering class. Just as she hit the record button, the shrill ring of the telephone echoed through the house. 
"Oh, no!” she moaned, “I forgot to turn off the ringer!” She pushed her chair back from the table. “Well, that’s another sound bite down the drain." 
"I'm coming," she grumbled as the phone continued its loud summons.

"Hello?"

"Look outside,” said a gruff, male voice. “You’ll see how we feel about niggers at Lakeside University."

"What did you just say? Who is this?"

"Just look outside, bitch."

“Is this some kind of joke?” Ashante asked, but the only answer was the dial tone.

Shaking her head in disgust, she took a deep breath and stepped out into the
front yard. The shock of the flames sucked the air from her lungs in a choked gasp. A strange smell burned her eyes and throat. She stood frozen, glaring at the blaze of bright red and orange fire burning against the cold, black starless night.

Then the realization hit her with as much force as if someone had kicked her in the stomach. Suddenly she knew what she was staring at: a huge cross, whose wicked flames lit up the yard and filled her with soul wrenching horror.

"Oh, my God," Ashante whispered. 

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