Don't let scantily clad Charlize Theron adroitly fingering her black bikini pants on the cover dissuade you, the November Esquire is chockful of cool tech reads without even the hint of fleshy, sinful distraction. Great science reporting this month, full of engaging human detail, tragic sideshows and a sense of wonder.
Subtitled "The Genius Issue", the magazine has very cool stories about a fusion reactor in New Mexico; stories of Americans with high Q's (So high they're in clubs beyond Mensa); and a portrait of Alan Guth, who I had never heard of before this story, who thinks the revolutionary thought that our universe is to other universes like galaxies are to other galaxies or: One among an infinity. Scary thing, though, is that the initial findings from sensors that have heard the faint echo of the Big Bang are proving his math.
Frankly, anyone who gives this issue of Esquire less than four stars is somebody who hasn't read it. There were a ton of well written, interesting highlights.
I think the best story I read had to do with an attempt to create working fusion in New Mexico. Just like the earlier nuclear explosions, the story explains they're not entirely certain that they're not going to blow everything up in the process. Or to quote the story: "And what if everything worked perfectly and they got a huge energy release that blew up Albuquerque itself? It was a scenario that had been considered at the highest level. As had something worse: What if people later wished that in fact, it had only been Albuquerque that blew up?"
Nice to know that blowing up half the continent, for a good cause no doubt, is considered an acceptable risk. But when you think about the potential of fusion--a clean inexhaustible energy source--it's probably worth it. And no I live in Pittsburgh which is far far away from New Mexico. Your sacrifice will be thought of as noble to we the survivors wise enough not to live in a state doing fusion experiments.
Not only that, aside from a decent history of Project Z--comparative efforts, the ideology of the science efforts so far, the driven personalities behind the project, etc.-- there are also good looking photos interspersed throughout, some of them remind me of those classic shots of a calm, seated Tesla drowned in swirls of electricity.
The other story that caught my eye (among many) had to do with profiles with actual folks with high IQs. The one with the highest, one Christopher Mike Langan, has an IQ of 195, looks like a big beefy Hell's Angel. The guy is massive. On page 144 you can see him riding his Harley with no hands. He's working on the theory of everything. In case you didn't know, that's the theory Einstein couldn't solve before he died--at least as far as I can understand it. But Mike thinks he's got a handle on it. There's another, Gina LoSasso, IQ 164, who would like to clone herself because "I would know how to raise me to my full potential." Not an idle threat since her PH D is medicine related. Real life Good Will Huntings, with life stories just as compelling.
Now, there's even more stuff. There's the aforementioned profile of Alan Guth who looks as if he's going to prove that ours is just one unverse, orbiting around other universes. Furthermore, if I understand the math correctly, we can see only a fragment of the universe we're in, like seeing the edge of a drop of water in the ocean. Now, call me square, but I think that's interesting.
There's even more. There's a story about a guy who takes smart drugs and gives us his own personal results. There's a map of the United States that points out where all the tech meccas are. There's a profile of American genius that includes scientists like Bill "Java/Jini" Joy and Linus "Linux" Torvalds and some other guys, deserving guys actually, like Beck and Hoopster Allen Iverson.
Bottom line: If you are at all interested in science or technology, then the November issue of Esquire is a must read.
By the way, if you liked that review, please check out www.threerivertechreview.com and www.majic12.com.
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