Re: The Barnes & Noble Effect


"PD" <TheDraperFamily@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:e6a9e27d-91c6-4d36-b4dc-a0a6da2dfb1d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Over time, several people have wondered why it is that relativity
draws more cranks than, say, quantum theory. Why isn't there a
sci.physics.quantum full of cranks attempting to show that Heisenberg
was a nincompoop, a plagiarist, or a charlatan?

I submit that the simple answer is the Barnes & Noble Effect. There
are more books on the shelves having to do with Einstein, with a
layman's presentation of relativity, or that have an early chapter
that spends a good amount of time talking about Einstein. Einstein has
a lot of popular press. This is what angers cranks: the shelf-space.
They see a disproportionate amount of B&N linear inches, compared with
a remarkable lack of mention from their own chosen profession in the
same bookstore. (It's a bit harder to find, for example, laudatory
biographies of famous engineers, programmers, or tire salesman.)

Interestingly, physicists do not give Einstein the same
disproportionate attention that is seen in the B&N effect. Einstein is
just another luminary in a long list of names that include Gibbs,
Dirac, Feynman, Bardeen, Landau, Rutherford, and others. But you see,
those names don't occupy shelf-space at Barnes & Noble.

The only physicist of late that has gotten the same kind of attention
is Feynman, who made enormous contributions to quantum field theory.
So why doesn't he draw the same kind of fire? Here there is a
corollary to the Barnes & Noble Effect: The Head-Down Clause. Feynman
didn't try to make quantum field theory accessible and completely
understandable to the hobby reader. There are a couple of gentle
introductions, but nothing that gives the impression that "you too can
do the math here". This is where he parts from Einstein, and the fact
that his subject matter is still relatively inaccessible is his condom
against crackpottery.


Nice observation. You are probably right but I do tend to see a lot of "QM"
books there too. I think Einstein's theory's, on the surface, are pretty
easy to grasp and this is why it's a popular choice not only to write about
but for cranks to talk about.

You can do away with B & N but you'll still have the cranks.


.

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    (sci.physics.relativity)