This finished a bit too late to get into the previous collection of Random Stuff<\/a>, so it gets to be its own post.\u00a0 A long but fascinating saga by St. Michael Flynn on the topic of what actually went down with Galileo, and the many competing astronomical models of his time:<\/p>\n The Great Ptolemaic Smackdown<\/a><\/p>\n I also very much enjoyed his book Eifelheim<\/a>, about aliens landing in medieval Europe.\u00a0 It gives a much better impression of how medievals actually thought<\/a>, compared to the usual fare.\u00a0 (Although I thought the frame story, set in the near-future, was a little weak.)<\/p>\n I’ve been travelling a bit recently, to Princeton and to the Perimeter Institute (which is in Waterloo, Ontario), but I hope to be able to get back to blogging soon.\u00a0 But this week, I have a visiting collaborator, and potentially jury duty (which for the record, I am not trying to evade.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This finished a bit too late to get into the previous collection of Random Stuff, so it gets to be its own post.\u00a0 A long but fascinating saga by St. Michael Flynn on the topic of what actually went down … Continue reading