I read A LOT as a kid, probably every Hardy Boys book ever written (yes even the paperback ones, and the Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys combo books).  I read a lot of SciFi (Science Fiction) books with my dad when I was younger, and by myself later on.  They were really formative for me, showing me the dreams and ideas of people throughout our world, and how it related to science and fantasy.

NPR recently did a survey of the SciFi books most recommended its listeners.  It’s a great list! I’ve read a huge number of the books on it.  Check out their main article for details on each book, but for brevity here is the text list.

I am not surprised by the top 10, although, I am surprised there are a couple on there I haven’t read (yet).  I’m also a bit surprised that one of my favorites (The Mars Series) came in at #95.  Most of all, I have to say I’m happy Dune is in the top 10, and that Atlas Shrugged is not on the list at all.  Sure it’s probably not a SciFi book anyway, but Gah!  I have a reoccurring fear that it will show up on random reading lists, and I absolutely hated that book.

1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien

2. The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams

3. Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card

4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert

5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin

6. 1984, by George Orwell

7. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury

8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov

9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley

10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman

11. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman

12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan

13. Animal Farm, by George Orwell

14. Neuromancer, by William Gibson

15. Watchmen, by Alan Moore

16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov

17. Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein

18. The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss

19. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut

20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley

21. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick

22. The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood

23. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King

24. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke

25. The Stand, by Stephen King

26. Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson

27. The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury

28. Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut

29. The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman

30. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess

31. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein

32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams

33. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey

34. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein

35. A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller

36. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells

37. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, by Jules Verne

38. Flowers For Algernon, by Daniel Keys

39. The War Of The Worlds, by H.G. Wells

40. The Chronicles Of Amber, by Roger Zelazny

41. The Belgariad, by David Eddings

42. The Mists Of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley

43. The Mistborn Series, by Brandon Sanderson

44. Ringworld, by Larry Niven

45. The Left Hand Of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin

46. The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien

47. The Once And Future King, by T.H. White

48. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman

49. Childhood’s End, by Arthur C. Clarke

50. Contact, by Carl Sagan

51. The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons

52. Stardust, by Neil Gaiman

53. Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson

54. World War Z, by Max Brooks

55. The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle

56. The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman

57. Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett

58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson

59. The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold

60. Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett

61. The Mote In God’s Eye, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle

62. The Sword Of Truth, by Terry Goodkind

63. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy

64. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke

65. I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson

66. The Riftwar Saga, by Raymond E. Feist

67. The Shannara Trilogy, by Terry Brooks

68. The Conan The Barbarian Series, by R.E. Howard

69. The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb

70. The Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger

71. The Way Of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson

72. A Journey To The Center Of The Earth, by Jules Verne

73. The Legend Of Drizzt Series, by R.A. Salvatore

74. Old Man’s War, by John Scalzi

75. The Diamond Age, by Neil Stephenson

76. Rendezvous With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke

77. The Kushiel’s Legacy Series, by Jacqueline Carey

78. The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin

79. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury

80. Wicked, by Gregory Maguire

81. The Malazan Book Of The Fallen Series, by Steven Erikson

82. The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde

83. The Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks

84. The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart

85. Anathem, by Neal Stephenson

86. The Codex Alera Series, by Jim Butcher

87. The Book Of The New Sun, by Gene Wolfe

88. The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn

89. The Outlander Series, by Diana Gabaldan

90. The Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock

91. The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury

92. Sunshine, by Robin McKinley

93. A Fire Upon The Deep, by Vernor Vinge

94. The Caves Of Steel, by Isaac Asimov

95. The Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson

96. Lucifer’s Hammer, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle

97. Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis

98. Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville

99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony

100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis

Soap, like fire, is one of the basic things that keeps us healthy happy humans.  It also happens to be something I’ve never made.  Liz has though, and so she, Aaron, and I spent Saturday morning making soap, and it was Awesome! 

Here is a photo journal of the process,

 Selecting ingredients and getting ready:

Basically it’s pretty simple, lye gets combined with some sort of fat product at about 135F to create trace.  Essential oils (or whatever weird stuff I chose to put in my soap) gets added at this point. 

I made three types of soap (which I will classify by their given names): coffee soap (bacon based), cedar soap (olive oil based) and rose soap (canola oil based). 

Here is the bacon fat heating:

Here is the mortar and pestle used to grind up the coffee, chili peppers, cedar wood, etc.:

The lye waiting to be mixed with water :

Essential oils ready for adding (Liz had an awesome selection needing to be used).

Cedar for decoration:

Rose petals for decoration:

Aaron stirring the trace:

Coffee and chili for adding and decoration:

Liz measuring the water to add to the lye:

Aaron monitoring the lye solution as it cooled to the proper temp:

My three soaps all done! Now they have to sit for a month to properly harden (and lose most of their color).

1. Wake Up Soap! Bacon fat, ground dried chili, menthol, cayenne, ground Indian coffee
2. Castilian Beauty Soap: Olive oil, red rose petals, rosemary, clary sage, lavender, honey, vanilla extract
3. An attempt to make soap that is actually usable by humans: Canola oil, ground cedar wood, peppermint, ground apricot pits for exfoliation

One of Liz and Aaron’s monster bars:

The cool hat I crocheted that evening!

The weekend was quite an adventure in science and domestic awesomeness.  Thanks Liz for the know-how and supplies!  Later we used the glycerin from the soap to break into a DNA sequencing lab (well mostly it was Liz’s key and access code) and spun heavy whipping in a centrifuge.  We determined there is a fundamental difference between the fat in organic whipping cream versus cheep-o brand whipping cream.  Imagine that!

I see these mirrors almost every day, but still every time deal with these mirrors it blow me away how awesome JWST is; how great the team is, and how much careful thought went into the science of making this thing work. 

We had quite an audience of MSFC personnel this time, and seeing their smiles was yet another great reminder.  I love showing new people the program or telling them about it for just that reason, the excitement and wonder is contagious, and revives my love of space stronger than ever.

Here are a couple photos from the week:

Also check out JWST General Summary

and JWST Ships 6 Mirrors

for a couple other recent developments and background info.

Looking to my left I smiled to see that my friend had dodged sideways in her seat as well, and was just as startled by the epic scenery and integrative experience the 3D movie was causing. 
 
I’m an Optical Engineer; I’ve been studying and working with light almost daily for a decade.  I understand how a LASER works and know what it stands for.  I’ve built and aligned many of them.  I’ve created holograms in labs and use them to test 18 million dollar space optics.  I’m working on JWST whose goal is to look at light billions of years old to find out about the first moments of our universe’s existence.
 
I also have deep naturalist roots.  I was born at home, spent the first half of my life pooping in an outhouse, and shared months every summer in the forest with my family.  I’ve had many woodland creatures as friends, nurtured animals back to life, and hunted with hand made tools for food. I’ve collected more seeds and berries than most squirrels, know how to process acorns into a delicious meal, regularly sleep under the stars, drink water from springs, graze for food while on hikes, and feel and embrace the energy of the natural world. 
 
I loved Avatar. It shouts awesomeness to the optical engineer in me and embraces my naturist-hippy core. But more than either of those, it gives me hope.
 
Avatar has been sold out in theaters for almost a month now.  It is currently the 2nd highest grossing movie of all time.  Last I checked (yesterday) Avatar was still trending on Twitter.  Amazingly James Cameron was able to create a film that could knock the socks off our world, and also include an incredible message about respecting and participating in life.  James Cameron, right on!  You’ve spent years promoting pushing 3D technology so you could make this movie right, and now you have, and astoundingly, the world appreciates it!
 
Brittney  wrote something a couple days ago that sums up the energy Avatar shares really well.  She is a being whose connection with nature runs clear, swift, and strong. She doesn’t have a blog (yet!), so I’m including some if it here because it encompasses what I would have written, plus some beautiful gems and perspectives I could never describe.
 
“Just saw Avatar! What an amazing experience! The 3D was quite impressive, however the underlying story was what captured my attention….”
 
“…If you strip away all the layers of man made material, these layers that have blinded and bound us, you can see, feel, hear everything and everyone around you…”

“…How is it that we should be evolving as a species, however seem to be living our lives so far from the truth of what is “real” and what may ultimately sustain us?…”

“…I am a creature of this earth, as are you, and him and her. Walk into a forest and sit. Walk into a forest by yourself. Face a tree and touch it. What do you feel? What do you smell? What do you see? Hear? Let your senses come together and allow yourself to be immersed in the full sensation that may occur. Smell the bark…moist and fungal, dry wooded, sweet sunkissed sap…life. See the array of colors covering each square inch in front of you…rich brown, warm auburn, cool ash, rust, black, charcoal, vibrant and muted greens…a halo of light surrounding the tree tops. Listen to the branches dancing peacefully or perhaps at a full happy sway…moving to the music of the wind. Feel the love… light… life enter ever so gently into your spirit. You are connected. You are the tree. You are the wind. You are the grass. You are the flower and the vine. You are the eagle overhead. You are me. I am you.

Shhh…listen…look…give…take…eat…feed…flow…love”

Love you Brittney, and your way of sharing.

hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu

I could talk for quite awhile about the technology that went into 3D movies.  It is fascinating, brilliant, and oh so cool!  James, another optical engineer and great friend, and I saw it together, and we both came out grinning for so many reasons.  One of which was watching the world finally getting a taste of the spark of wonder we both get exploring a universe moving only at 2.99792458×10^8 m/s, and inhabited by beings of pure light.

If you haven’t seen AVATAR yet, see it before it leaves the Theaters.  And see it in 3D!  A friend asked me if there is much of a difference and my response still stands.

“3D my friend! Avatar is the movie 3D was designed for; it’s a crime to see it in 2D: like seeing a rainbow in black and white…” 

Think about it!  This film is being seen by million of people throughout the world; all of them getting at least a bit of its message.  It’s time we deepen our appreciation for what keeps us alive at the core level.  It’s time we admit that we are ready to share this world with each other.  It is time we stand up and acknowledge our gift as responsible loving citizens of the universe.

 Awareness precedes change as the blossom precedes the nourishing fruit.

“I See You”

1. Ask yourself what the goal is for writing in the first place.  Before you even get a sentence down, why are you writing at all? This is often a tough one, but it is the most important.  If you don’t have a reason to write, then don’t! The world is cluttered with meaningless bad writing, don’t add to it.

 I’m not talking about simple reasons like “I want to finish the first two pages of my English paper before midnight.” Or “I’m going to write a blog post about Ignite Boulder.”  Both of these reasons will probably result in junk. Think deeper!  It should be something like: “I want to formalize the important lessons I’ve learned about writing into a simple, understandable list while maintaining the reputation of my blog portraying things from a unique perspective.” Or “I want to share how much I’m enjoying my new camera with the hope that better photographers than myself will leak  jewels of useful knowledge because I show photographer potential, drive to learn, and a capable mind, as well as humble appreciation.”

2. Target your audience.  Who do you want to read your writing? Is it the general twitterverse or a panel of field experts? This helps shape word choice, structure, and length.

3. How much info are you sharing? Whether there is a 140 character limit or a 140 page minimum it is important to assess this before beginning.

4. Rough it out. The first three steps serve to focus the mind on the essential parameters.  Now let the creativity and thoughts flow onto the page!  This stage can be like a dam breaking, as the ideas often come faster than we write.  As the ideas start to slow a bit read back over what you’ve just written to give important ideas forgotten in the initial flood a chance to reappear.

5. Review. Keeping, your goals, your target audience, and your info volume in mind, read over everything you just wrote implementing the hack-and-slash edit approach as you remove parts that don’t fit, combine duplicate sections, elaborate on important subjects, and refine rough parts.

This is a good time to do an initial spelling/grammar check as well, as this is imperative before finalizing.

6. Gut check: Is it still worth it? At this stage take a step back and look at the entire piece.  Does it make sense? Do you think it will accomplish the goals? If not, shelve the idea and try again.  It is far better to take time finding the correct approach rather than to force a bad piece into existence just because you’ve already started. 

This is also the place where the world is saved from drunken texts and angry rants.  If you get a bad feeling about what you just wrote, and think it could be taken the wrong way, or backlash somehow than take a moment to step back and judge whether it’s appropriate.

7. Correct spelling and grammar. It is essential to show the reader that you appreciate the time spent reading what you wrote, and because you are proud of it, you took the time to make sure there are no errors. Many readers will get annoyed if there are obvious spelling or grammar mistakes, and some will even quit reading altogether. 

8. Final polish. Tweak words, massage phrases, add clarification, check punctuation so that each thought is expressed pleasantly and succinctly. This is where your vocabulary comes in. Words in the English language are constantly evolving new meanings.  Make sure you’ve used powerful ones where you want them, and that each sentence says exactly what you intend it to.

Also read it out loud. It will help catch final mistakes, judge flow, and force you to step back away from the details and see the piece as a whole. This is especially important if you don’t have someone else around to look it over.

9. Publish it. Often we write in a different media format than it is read in, so do a final check to make sure original information was preserved.  Do you have a subject line in your email?  Is paragraph formatting correct? Do special symbols and characters show up the way you want them to? Blogs often go to online readers immediately, and do not regularly check for updates; texts and emails are difficult to recall, letters are hard to intercept, all of these are reasons to get it right the first time.

That’s it!  Remember, often these steps can be combined.  A tweet or text for instance already has a predefined audience and length, so you can go straight from defining your goal to writing, do a quick scan for errors and publish.

Writing is quickly becoming the most common form of communication in our culture.  What you write says a lot about who you are, so make sure everything you write says exactly what you want it to, and shows the world the person you want to show off.

When you are confident your writing is succinct and effective try implementing some of these strategies into other actions and communications.  Meetings, events, conversations, dates, photos, art projects and every day actions will all go smoother and mean more if they include a moment of “what do I hope to accomplish with this?”  It will soon become subconscious, and add meaning to every moment without you realizing it.

Happy Communicating, Doing, Being, and Manifesting!