The risk vs. rewards of following the non-traditional path

In An Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything?, Peter Woit covers the hot news story (a little old by now) of Garret Lisi. But then, in Jumping the Shark, Woit says it’s part of the press’ outlandish tendencies to sensationalize science news.
But Lisi’s story, not so much the physics, is interesting to me. In An Exceptionally [...]

Hidden science assumptions 11-07-23

From Peter Woit’s The Hype Goes On:

Aaron Sheldon Says:
April 24th, 2006 at 6:48 pm Um…Is our knowledge of red-shift nearly anywhere as reliable as our knowledge of labratory H2 absorbtion lines? Isn’t it a bit like comparing apples to oranges?I mean, we measure red-shift by assuming the relationship between spectral lines remains constant. But [...]

Backreaction reviews the Trouble with Physics

The Trouble With Physics: Aftermath, a review by Backreaction of The Trouble with Physics one year after it was published.

Murray Spiegel, a mathematician’s axiomatic approach to physics

In Schaum’s Theoretical Mechanics by Murray Spiegel, Spiegel demonstrates a mathematician’s approach to physics. He writes:
Axiomatic Foundation of Mechanics
An axiomatic development of mechanics, as for any science, should contain the following basic ingredients:

Undefined terms or concepts. This is clearly necessary since ultimately any definition must be based on something which remains undefined.
Unproved assertions. These are [...]

Books to look for soft-science info

For some current complaints about soft-science:

Not Even Wrong: The Failure of String Theory And the Search for Unity in Physical Law by Peter Woit
The Trouble With Physics: The Rise of String Theory, The Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next by Lee Smolin

To get up to speed on falsifiable:

Fashionable Nonsense: Postmodern Intellectuals’ Abuse of [...]

The loss of the respectability of science

Woit railing on pseudo-science: The Usual, Hidden Dimensions
Woit’s post and comment about cosmology in physics dept: University Grants Program Subpanel Report.
Woit responding to whether Sean is a physicist: AGeek says he’s not, July 15th, 2007 at 10:21 am, July 15th, 2007 at 2:19 pm, Woit says he is, July 15th, 2007 at 1:33 [...]