Engineered Unicorns Engineered Unicorns
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- Arts
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Ever wondered what an engineer reads after work? SandyJ gives you book recommendations that are fantastic in more than one way. Books to escape from reality (for those not afraid of unicorns) and on how to improve your reality if you should wish to do so. The books will most likely be available in one of Karlsruhes many public libraries. We will explore book stores and talk about reading experiences. All from the perspective of a Bookdragon who is an engineer by day and likes a little bit of magic off the clock. Happy endings guaranteed.
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Wyrd Physics
Physics turned weird during the last century, first with the relativity and then with quantum mechanics. Supersymmetry and String Theory have been en vogue for the last decades because they are such beautiful theories, but the experiments (LHC at CERN) don’t turn up the predictions (all the while LIGO has found the gravitational waves). Sabine Hossenfelder is a German theoretical physicist and has asked herself, why the physics community likes the beautiful theories so much more then the ugly but well-tested Standard Model, in this months non-fiction book recommendation.
And Terry Pratchett delivers the highly entertaining fictional wyrdness with the all new audiobook of his „Wyrd Sisters“. Witches and particle physics? A wyrd but entertaining combination.
Hear you soon.
Podcast Timetable: Stream on Sunday, June 12th 7 PM local time. Drops on Monday, June 13th, noon-ish, Oldschool Radio (UKW 104.8) Tuesday 10 AM local time. YouTube: whenever we get around to it (Even the older episodes are now available)
Bookdragon, Producer: SandyJ
Music: Erwin Schmidt
Book Recommendations:
Non-FictionSabine Hossenfelder „Lost in Math – How Beauty leads Physics astray“ (2018) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36341728-lost-in-math
Fiction:Terry Pratchett „Wyrd Sisters“ (1988) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34504.Wyrd_Sisters
Books mentioned:
Lee Smolin „The trouble with physics“ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/108939.The_Trouble_with_Physics
Brian Greene „The elegant Universe“ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8049273-the-elegant-universe
Sabine Hossenfelder „Existential Physics: A Scientist’s Guide to Life’s biggest Questions“ (August 9th 2022) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59695048-existential-physics
William Shakespeare „MacBeth“ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8852.Macbeth
Other Stuff:
Penguin Randomhouse „Turning Terry Pratchett’s Discworld into Audiobooks“ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zw4kYXx8s4k
LIGO – Gravitational Wave https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/page/gravitational-waves
CERN lhc https://home.cern/science/accelerators/large-hadron-collider -
Fictional and non-fictional politics
To better understand what is happening in the world our local Bookdragon naturally turned to books. SandyJ will share her findings with you in the new episode of Engineered Unicorns.A classic and considered one oft he best non-fiction books of the 20th century Karl R. Poppers „The Open Society and its enemies“ compares the ideas of three known philosophers and their impact on our societies. The fictional politics you can find in Katherine Addisons „The Goblin Emperor“. How does one deal with the pressures and limitations of power and social status?New Fantasy books are available in the Libby App at Karlsruhe Library System and at the American Library in Karlsruhe. And all of this episodes recommendations are available at Karlsruhes libraries.See you in JunePodcast Timetable: Stream on Sunday, May 8th 7 PM local time. Drops on Monday, May 9th, noon-ish, Oldschool Radio (UKW 104.8) Tuesday 10 AM local time. YouTube: whenever we get around to it (Even the older Episodes are now available)Bookdragon, Producer: SandyJMusic: Erwin Schmidt
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Be careful what you wish for
Ever wanted to be a character in a fantasy book? Better be careful what you wish for, you might end up not being the main protagonist but the villain and things might get seriously off track.
This happens to the main character of the Danmei novel of the chinese author Mo Xiang Tong Xiu. Our local Bookdragon SandyJ had not only a good laugh while reading the „The Scum Villains Self-Saving System“, but she also pondered the implications of being drawn into a book and having to deal with snarky RPG Systems and filling in plotholes with a shovel.
New Fantasy books are available in the Libby App at Karlsruhe Library System and at the American Library in Karlsruhe
Next Unicorns episode will be out in May.
Bookdragon, Producer: SandyJ
Music: Erwin Schmidt
Book Recommendation:
Mo Xiang Tong Xiu „The Scum Villains Self-Saving System“ (2021) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58701909-the-scum-villain-s-self-saving-system
Books mentioned:
Katherine Addison „The Goblin Emperor“ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17910048-the-goblin-emperor
T.J. Klune „The Lightning-Struck Heart“ https://www.goodreads.com/pt/book/show/24468673-the-lightning-struck-heart
Benedikt Wells „Hard Land“ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55886863-hard-land
Mo Xiang Tong Xiu „Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation“ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58701673-grandmaster-of-demonic-cultivation
Mo Xiang Tong Xiu „Heaven Official’s Blessing“ https://www.goodreads.com/id/book/show/58701949-heaven-official-s-blessing
Other Stuff:
The Untamed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Untamed_%28TV_series%29
Tor.com https://www.tor.com/
SWR Lesenswert https://www.swrfernsehen.de/lesenswert/index.html -
Audiobooks and Statistics
New Year, new paths based on what we learned from the past. In the January 2022 episode of our Engineered Unicorns Podcast our local Bookdragon SandyJ looks back on her reading year and what she learned regarding the different book formats, producing this podcast and in other parts of her life. So there will be some light changes to the podcast this year and in her reading journey. So you can look forward to quite a few audiobook recommendations and some experiences regarding reading during the last two years.
Podcast Timetable: Stream on Sunday, January 16th 7 PM local time. Oldschool Radio (UKW 104.8) Tuesday January 18th 10 AM local time. YouTube: whenever we get around to it ;-) (Even the older Episodes are now available)
Bookdragon, Producer: SandyJ
Music: Erwin Schmidt
Books:
Douglas Adams „A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy“, read by Stephen Fry https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16.The_Hitchhiker_s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy
Arthur Conan Doyle „Sherlock Holmes: The definitive Audio Collection“, read by Stephen Fry https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34429916-sherlock-holmes
P. G. Wodehouse „The Jeeves Collection 1“ read by Stephen Fry https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56528385-p-g-wodehouse-volume-1
Brandon Sanderson „Warbreaker“ Full Cast https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35063331-warbreaker
Katie Mack „The End of Everthing“, read by Gabra Zackmann https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52767659-the-end-of-everything
B.J. Fogg „Tiny Habits“, read by the author https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43261127-tiny-habits
Nedra Glower Tawwab „Set Boundaries, Find Peace“ read by the Author https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55782639-set-boundaries-find-peace
Lori Gottlieb „Maybe you should talk to someone“ read by Brittany Pressley https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37570546-maybe-you-should-talk-to-someone
Dan Charnas „Work Clean“ Read by the Author https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26114603-work-clean
Susanna Clarke „Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell“ read by Simon Prebble https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14201.Jonathan_Strange_Mr_Norrell
Garth Nix „The left-handed booksellers of London“ read by Marisa Calin https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49867186-the-left-handed-booksellers-of-london
Marie Brennan „The Memoirs of Lady Trent Series“ read by Kate Reading https://www.goodreads.com/series/107373-the-memoirs-of-lady-trent
Kate Racculia „Tuesday Mooney talks to ghosts“ read by Lauren Fortgang https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42478640-tuesday-mooney-talks-to-ghosts
Mikhail Bulgakov „The Master and Margarita“ Read by Julian Rhind-Tutt https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7224260-the-master-and-margarita
Youtube Channels:
MuchelleB https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0K7QgyjMvw
Other Stuff:
Fantasy Book Releases 2022 https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/156993.Can_t_Wait_Sci_Fi_Fantasy_of_2022 -
Cozy Bookdragon Edition
The winter weather and the whole situation in the news cycle is making you feel miserable? Our local Bookdragon is feeling it too. So, SandyJ has some lifestyle recommendations for you to build your cozy book cave to escape temporarily from it all. Starting out with booknook prep she then introduces books and shows that will provide us all with a cozy retreat this December.
Bookdragon, Producer: SandyJ
Music: Erwin Schmidt
Books:
Colin Cowie Chic https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2024492.Colin_Cowie_Chic
Kay O’Neill „The Tea Dragon Society“ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34895950-the-tea-dragon-society
Alexander Wolkow „Der Zauberer der Smaragdenstadt“ (Retelling of the „The Wizard of Oz“) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27211837-der-zauberer-de r-smaragdenstadt
P.L. Travers „Mary Poppins“ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/152380.Mary_Poppins
Manga:
Fujita „Wotakoi – Love is hard for Otaku“ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31826480-wotakoi
Kintatsu Yamada „Sweat and Soap“ https://www.goodreads.com/series/261169-sweat-and-soap
Shows:
The Gilmore Girls https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0238784/
Coffee Prince https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_Prince_%282007_TV_series%29
Her Private life https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Her_Private_Life_(TV_series)
Secret Garden https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_Garden_(South_Korean_TV_series)
Youtube Channels:
Morgan Long https://www.youtube.com/c/MorganLong
Bernadette Banner https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSHtaUm-FjUps090S7crO4Q
How to train your Gavin https://www.youtube.com/c/GavinHetherington
Hardback Hoarder https://www.youtube.com/c/HardbackHoarder
Savidge Reads https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oR6J52wTXs
Other Stuff:
Nintendo „Animal Crossing: New Horizons“
My Neighbor Totoro https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Neighbor_Totoro -
The End and the Beginning, who turned off the light?
November on the northern hemisphere is often dreary, cold and dark. But when the skies are clear can watch the stars quite early. Books allow us to travel not just to nice places on earth but to the dawn of time and the end of the universe. Our Bookdragon SandyJ found on her travels several interesting books.
For the beginning of the universe she recommends Emma Chapman‘s „First Light – Switching on the Stars at the Dawn of Time“. While Katie Mack takes us to „The End of Everything – Astrophysically Speaking“. Two accomplished female scientists who write with a sense of humour. Even November has its perks.
Join our bookish travels.
Bookdragon, Producer: SandyJ
Music: Erwin Schmidt
Book Recommendations
Katie Mack „The end of everything – Astrophysically speaking“ (2020) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52767659-the-end-of-everything
Emma Chapman „First Light – Switching on the Stars at the Dawn of time“ (2020) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50884561-first-light
Book Release by a Black Author
Natasha Bowen „Skin oft he Sea“ (November 9th 2021) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48691825-skin-of-the-sea
Other Stuff Mentioned
Alain de Botton „The Art of Travel“ (2002) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23422.The_Art_of_TravelJames Hoffmann „Brad Pitt Ad“ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nvlh8Bh-QQA
Koramora Nintendo Direct Live React https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gYzNVHb7lQ
Our Opinions are Correct Podcast https://www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/
Our Opinions are Correct: Episode 75 https://www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes/2021/1/14/episode-75-has-jk-rowling-destroyed-harry-potter-fandom
Dr. Becky Smethurst, „A day in the Life of an Astrophysicist“ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XW_qIqLhPkI
Margot Lee Shetterly „Hidden Figures“ (2016) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25953369-hidden-figures