The Sun and Moon Corrupted

[Royston]

I'm sure 'The Sun and Moon Corrupted' will be enjoyed by many on here, especially anyone who peruses the Speculations forum with a critical eye. My housemate bought me this book for my birthday, the uncorrected bound proof, so I'm lucky enough to have a rare copy.

 

The author Philip Ball is a writer and consultant editor for Nature, and his experience with fringe science becomes abundantly clear in just the first few chapters. The book follows a journalist Lena, who is trying to track the elusive and notorious Karl Neder (the star crackpot), for an article on his ideas, and life. I won't give too much away, but Karl Neder is a special case within the fringe science fraternity, and his story becomes all the more intriguing as you progress through the book.

 

I'm not sure if anyone has read this yet, so I'll leave you with an extract from chapter 4, which shows some examples of articles submitted for publication through the journal 'Natural Science'...

 

 

'Dear Natural-Science-friends,' Dr Rudiger Vogt of Hamburg began 'I was a Computer-Man in lots of stations. I am in the Possibility to resolv every Computer-Problem. Nobody knows - but you.' Dr Vogt added in brackets, '(I have to go in a Hotel in Munich, where the Conditions for Analysis are better for me, concerning Problems of Atom and Relativity.)' There followed three sections, titled 'Astrophysics'. 'Atomphysics' and 'Space Fligt'. It was all handwritten on the back of old flyer's for a piano recital at the Hamburg Konzertsaal.

K.S Venkatasubramanan from Jodhpur had his mind on another matter:

 

LENGTH OF THE SKY

Introduce Alhpabets A to Z and then give the numbers one, two, three and so on from A to Z. By adding 1 + 2 = 3, 2 + 3 = 5, 3 + 5 = 8 and likewise up to Z then we will get 294. Then multiply the Number that is 1 x 2 = 2, 2 x 3 = 6, 6 x 4 = 24 likewise upto Z. Then we will have 92901102606070746780000. By adding both we will have 929011026060707467800294. Introduce [math]\pi r^2[/math]. Then [math]\pi = \frac{22}{7}\times r^2[/math] then we have

 

[math]\frac {22}{7}\times (929011026060707467800294)^2[/math]

 

By concluding it we will get the figure. It is the length in Kilometers of the sky.

 

But things got even stranger. The delicate hand of M.Sato of Hokkaido Medical University told the tale of 'Alice-God in Wonder-universe.' It was like a poem, beautiful and airy as Oriental silk, filled with a sense of yearning... (it gets funnier from then on)

 

 

Hopefully that's given you a taster, I'm literally ten pages from the end, but I've really enjoyed this book, especially due to some of the posts I've read on SFN. If anybody wishes to discuss (after reading it of course) this rather unique book, I'll look forward to any future posts.

 

EDIT: Ewww. I'm sure the font wasn't that large when I posted last night...sorry for shouting.

Edited November 7, 2008 by Snail
multiple post merged