Reddit mentions: The best energy production books

ok, on the power-out:power-in, I didn't realize it was even a thought that they were planning on producing more than they consume (at any point, obv not overall... it being a research project). But, even with that, I still doubt it can ever be made to be economical. The neutron buildup will always be a problem, and even if it can be solved (unlikely), it will require materials that will make the whole thing too expensive, and those material (technologies) will just as capably be applied other sectors as well... solar, nuclear (fission), as well as just efficiency and various different technologies across the board, not just energy specific.

I just don't ever see the EROEI ever being net positive... they'll have to shut the thing down too often, it has too many parts that will break and need to be replaced... its just an overly complex cluster-fuck of a design that has great scientific merit and contribution but for the intended goal of energy generation is a horrible mis-allocation of capital. I debate (as I've read others much more versed and embedded in the industry as well) that the reason for it is to tie up that capital and resources (how many great minds are working on it?) so as to not direct it towards more fruitful and more quickly deployable ventures. I am not impressed. If nothing else, they should at least focus on aneutronic materials.

I'm not pushing for (though I must argue that the technology does make a lot of sense) thorium, but it, and even solar for that matter (or geothermal or... lots of technologies) make the idea of energy scarcity a moot deal... which is one of the things fusion pretty much clears up... at least of the ITER design. There is no fuel limitation, thus, once it can be figured out from an engineering aspect, the energy (resource) scarcity issue becomes moot. But these (solar, thorium, geothermal) and other technologies render the same 'problem' moot as well.... outside of that, what fusion allows is an energy density solution but... for what application? Are these things really going to be loaded onto submarines, ships, and various other energy dense needing applications... or hoisted up into space to power some sort of fusion-based propulsion system? Is that whats really the limitation for such ventures? Nuclear seems more than capable of filling this role today, yet its not density that's holding it back but policy. Can you imagine the complexity of these things? I'm not talking a Popular Science diagram or a HowStuffWorks.com description, but the true inner workings of these things? They're so complex it doesn't even seem worth it to begin with. What are the real benefits of fusion on an end-product approach? (moving the scientific exploration argument aside ... which I'm all for scientific exploration (just look at my posting-history to see that I see a definite need for this) but there are various science 'projects' that are losing out because of the allocation of capital/resources to this one... it is almost a net-negative to progress for humanity from a scientific perspective).

Let me move to your Bussard/polywell design... I'd read a bit here and there, usually just side-comments relative to the drawbacks of the Polywell design, most notably that it had a very poor or minimal efficiency on energy returned/produced... I'm not plugging its design anymore than I am backyard windmills for example, but that it didn't scale very well was something he even talked about in his google-talk. The max they could ever be is 15m across (I believe him saying), but at that, they could just roll off an assembly line and stacked together. I mean, even windmills and coal power plants have multiple reactors/turbines and just run them in unison as opposed to making huge ones. It almost seems easier to maintenance... to a point. But the fact that they scale-down so well is almost as much a benefit as it is a problem. Could ITER or D-T based fusion be designed to be engineered mass-production style and shipped around the world in shipping containers only to be reassembled IKEA-style? Solar panels can, windmills practically can, Hyperion reactors can... etc etc.

I'm not arguing against the necessity for scientific advancement, I'm not even arguing that it may possibly work, and that in (possibly) working, it won't change the fundamental economic basis structure for the planet... unlimited clean energy will definitely change things, I'm arguing for the mis-allocation of capital, resources, and intelligence vs other ventures and investments that could produce much greater results, much sooner, and with much less. I read (and recommend for a quick crack-like read) Charles Seife's "Sun in a Bottle" in a few hours back in the early spring and he, even in his magazine-article level of depth sort of way, made a decent argument outlining the same point. If not, he did a pretty thorough job covering the history and overall industry investment behind the ITER design. (forgot where I was going with that, more just a quick-read recommendation).

Point is, quick fix, fusion, or not... it just costs way too much money, has way too much talent tied up into it, and the end result is great, but ultimately not necessarily the most efficient path to essentially the same result (vs others).

I work as a MWD field engineer on land alongside Directional Drillers everyday. Both jobs don't have a set schedule at all. We work a job from when we're called there until the finish. This can be anywhere from a week to 6 or more weeks, working 12 hours a day/7 days a week. Usually we get maybe a week in between jobs, but when it gets busy you'll get sent straight to another job without a break. Every now and then there will be rigs where they like the crew on location and have multiple wells to drill, so a rotation is set up for 20 on 10 off. Most of these rotations i've seen last maybe a few months, until work gets busy enough to where they have to pull one of the guys off rotation for another job, so it really all depends on luck.

Personally, I don't regret the field but for me its more of a means to an end. There's great training and lots to learn, and working as a field engineer is the perfect opportunity to get your foot in the door for better positions later on in your career. Of course many stay in the field for the money which is amazing, but social/family life is non existent.

Most companies i've seen rarely hire Directional Drillers straight from school, they usually require someone with 2-3 years experience as a MWD, or a Driller who worked their way up from roughneck. This is mainly due to how much knowledge and how important the Directional Driller's job is, so before applying I would do my research on everything rig related and learn the equipment/techniques used to drill. A good intro book I used was A Primer of Oilwell Drilling, which I know many companies use in training their new engineers. Best of luck!

I'm no physicist. My degree is in computer science, but I'm in a somewhat similar boat. I read all these pop-science books that got me pumped (same ones you've read), so I decided to actually dive into the math.

​

Luckily I already had training in electromagnetics and calculus, differential equations, and linear algebra so I was not going in totally blind, though tbh i had forgotten most of it by the time I had this itch.

​

I've been at it for about a year now and I'm still nowhere close to where I want to be, but I'll share the books I've read and recommend them:

• First and foremost, read Feynman's Lectures on Physics and do not skip a lecture. You can find them free on the link there, but they also sell the 3 volumes on amazon. I love annotating so I got myself physical copies. These are the most comprehensible lectures on anything I've ever read. Feynman does an excellent job on teaching you pretty much all of physics + math (especially electromagnetics) up until basics of Quantum Mechanics and some Quantum Field Theory assuming little mathematics background.
  
• Feyman lectures on Quantum Electrodynamics (The first Quantum Field Theory). This is pop-sciency and not math heavy at all, but it provides a good intuition in preparation for the bullet points below
  
• You're going to need Calculus. So if you're not familiar comfortable with integral concepts like integration by parts, Quantum Mechanics will be very difficult.
  
• I watched MIT's opencourseware online lectures on Quantum Mechanics and I did all the assignments. This gave me what I believe is a solid mathematical understanding on Quantum Mechanics
  
• I'm currently reading and performing exercises from this Introduction to Classical Field Theory. . This is just Lagrangian Field Theory, which is the classical analog of QFT. I'm doing this in preparation for the next bullet-point:
  
• Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell. Very math heavy - but thats what we're after isnt it? I havent started on this yet since it relies on the previous PDF, but it was recommended in Feynmans QED book.
  
• I've had training on Linear Algebra during my CS education. You're going to need it as well. I recommend watching this linear algebra playlist by 3Blue1Brown. It's almost substitute for the rigorous math. My life would've been a lot easier if that playlist existed before i took my linear algebra course, which was taught through this book.
  
• Linear Algebra Part 2 - Tensor analysis! You need this for General Relativity. This is the pdf im currently reading and doing all the exercises. This pdf is preparing me for...
  
• Gravity. This 1000+ page behemoth comes highly recommended by pretty much all physicist I talk to and I can't wait for it.
  
• Concurrently I'm also reading this book which introduces you to the Standard Model.
  
  ​
  
  I'm available if you want to PM me directly. I love talking to others about this stuff.

> The efficiency of one of these burners compared to a hand made black iron burner should be well worth the extra cost.

I don't make any friends when I start this argument, but:

The efficiency claim is a myth.

Most people judge efficiency by the propane pressure dial, probably because that's what they have. Even Larry's charts do that, and that's not the right way to look at it.

Efficiency is about mass-flow rate of your combustion fuel, not the input psi. It doesn't matter if you are feeding 0.5lb/hr of propane in at 10psi or feeding 0.5lbs/hr of propane in at 5 psi - you're still using 0.5lbs of propane an hour, and should still expect to get something around 10k BTU of energy from that fuel.

However well constructed, Larry's burners cannot get more BTU energy out of propane than propane contains.

Basically: A well tuned burner will burn (almost) all the fuel inside the forge with a slight amount of dragon's breath (to ensure the forge is not oxidizing). Any burner that does that will operate at the same efficiency measuring heat output to fuel mass input.

There are many modern burner designs that are practical for someone to make that are stable and tuneable and will produce the same flame that Larry's burners do. If you get the same flame, you get the same efficiency (measured the way it matters - heat/fuel-input)

What Larry's burners might give you is easy tuning and operational stability. And good looks I suppose.

I say "might" because I've not actually used them and thus can't endorse them - by all reports people who own them love them though.

If you want to try and build a similar burner, you could use Michel Porter's book: https://www.amazon.ca/Gas-Burners-Forges-Furnaces-Kilns/dp/1879535203

...he actively tells people to go and steal it off the internet (pdfs are available) - I'm not sure how serious he is, and I don't think that's very fair given his investment researching and testing burners over the years. I've talked burners with him now quite a lot. From what I understand Larry worked with him for a long while. Larry then created the Z burners, while Michel further refined the design into what's in the book. Michel considers the Z burner to be several generations behind what's in the book (aka the "MikeyBurner"). I've never used one of Michael's burners either, so I can't comment on that, but I take anything Michael says very seriously.

All resources and economic activity tie directly into energy.

Food, fiber, goods, tech, it all has energy inputs and cost is determined largely by the cost of the energy needed to produce and move these things.

I'm working through a really good book on this subject called Environment, Power and Society for the 21st Century on this subject which lays it all out very well.

It's pretty technical about how to model energy flows through systems such as ecosystems, human civilizations, economies, etc.

Something really interesting was that the author claims that around 1973 we saw the US economy move from an era of superacceleration into an era of slow growth (and even stagnation), and that this had largely to do with energetic underpinnings of slower and more difficult extraction of oil, as is seen clearly on this graph (you can see the clear transition from exponential growth to slower linear growth).

That really caught my eye as I had long been interested in why there was a sort of sudden shift economically around the early '70s where wages stopped growing and inequality began growing very quickly. Kind of interesting to see that correlation.

The author is a big proponent of investing energy resources now into the energy resources of the future, and basically shows that it gets more expensive as time goes on, so those who are investing strongly in energy transition now are at an advantage.

There are smart things to do during each phase of what is going in the global energy scenario. During the acceleration and growth phase the US capitalized very well on the situation. But now we're in a stagnation phase and there will come a time soon where we must go through a bit of energy descent, until hopping on a more stable income of renewables.

What the US is trying to do is to grasp at policies that worked in the superacceleration phase, but which are not wise in the current phase we're in.

For example, under Trump we're talking about literally subsidizing the old methods that aren't worth it anymore so they can work again. This is also something that is mentioned in the book as a sort of dysfunctional loop of investing more and more energy into extracting forms of energy that are dying out, which ultimately just wastes energy and thus wastes wealth.

Really a fascinating perspective once you begin getting it more and more.

You won't find any argument from me concerning the fact that ITER is an expensive, time-consuming, bureaucratic and poorly managed project. There are improved concepts out there, including better ones in the tokamak regime. I personally am involved with a startup that seeks to commercialize a spheromak configuration into something called a dynomak (www.ctfusion.net), which could reduce the cost of fusion by a factor of 10 below tokamaks. All that being said, tokamaks perform the best out of any other device today. Part of the reason why is surely that the majority of funding has been spent on it, but realize that the physics going into ITER is based on decades of learning from many failures. As someone working in the field, I'd encourage you to read this book (http://www.amazon.com/Piece-Sun-Quest-Fusion-Energy/dp/1468308890) as it describes the history of fusion in quite some detail. It really put ITER more in context. I still think there are many different ideas that we should be pursuing in parallel, but do realize we're not just sitting on our asses doing nothing because we want job security. Fusion really is very hard, so much so that we had to invent a whole new branch of physics to understand what's going on, called plasma physics. We have built hundreds of small reactors, and we have determined that with the technology of the time, ITER was one of the best shots at making a net gain reactor based on our data. Using improved technology, of course, would improve the design point, but the issue with ITER is just how long it is taking... technology tends to become obsolete over time. Do not think of ITER as being the consensus of the mainline fusion community of what we should be doing today. It isn't unanimously accepted as the right path, not even close, but at this point governments around the world have spent so much money that there's nearly unstoppable inertia behind it at this point. Governments choose what they fund, scientists can only give their opinions about those choices. You would be amazed at how little power we actually have over the decision process of what gets funded. But, we'll see what happens if it is further delayed and even more expensive. If we completely scrapped ITER and used new technology to redesign a net-gain tokamak, it would look different and likely be less expensive.

That being said, myself, and many others, are thinking of ways to bring about fusion quicker, and for a much lower price than a conventional tokamak. And, though ITER represents the best chance at making fusion work at this point, I do not believe it will scale into an economical power plant. We have to start thinking differently, which is part of the reason why I'm focused on an alternative fusion idea that could solve the economic problems facing fusion without throwing out all the ideas that we know work. Some of the biggest errors you can make while doing something new is that you listen to much to past failures that you don't try anything new, or that you don't listen enough and end up repeating past mistakes thinking its a new discovery. There's a optimal point in between where I think we'll have the best chance of making something work that is also economically attractive.

> but some models mention USB 3.0 ports so I'm a bit confused (are those the front USB ports?). Do you think I can simply keep this one?

Yes, to both. The USB specs of case talk about the front usb ports, and you can (and should) just keep yours. Saves money.

> And maybe change/add some fans to it (I've got only the 3 included with the case).

Three fans are enough. But since they are old and older fans get noisy you could make your system quieter by replacing them.

> Psu... I intend to change it, but I'd like to know your opinion.

9 years really is long. I'd replace it now.

> The hard drives, well, I'll wipe 'em and be good to go I think

Sure, hard drives can be reused, just be sure to use old drives only as data sink. Having the OS on them will make your system crawl.

To your system: The RX 580 is just too expensive right now. Heck, even the GTX 1060 is too expensive right now. What I'd do is to get a GTX 1050 Ti now, the prices in Germany for that card are somewhat reasonable. I'd be annoyed by the proprietary driver, but upgrade to AMD as soon as prices become reasonable, and profit from the great Mesa driver and all its improvements it will have then. Support AMD by getting a Ryzen cpu.

That would be the build:

pc-kombo shared list

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 1600 | 164.90€ @ Amazon.de
Motherboard | MSI B350 PC Mate | 79.99€ @ Amazon.de
Memory | G.Skill Aegis DDR4 DDR4-3000 16GB (16 GB) | 163.89€ @ Amazon.de
SSD | SanDisk Plus 240GB TLC (240 GB) | 69.95€ @ Amazon.de
Video Card | ASUS GeForce GTX 1050 Ti PH | 179.99€ @ Amazon.de
Power Supply | Corsair Vengeance Series V550M (550 W) | 64.90€ @ Amazon.de
| Total | 723.62€
| Generated by pc-kombo 06.04.2018 |

That's pretty equivalent to the system you showed, apart from the gpu. Mix and match. But please note the bigger SSD: It is not a good idea to get two small ones, they are less reliable and slower, and normally also more expensive. One bigger SSD is better, Windows and Linux can still share it if that was the idea.

OK, I'll go first:

1. I first read Buddhism Without Beliefs on the advice of a friend about a year ago. I'd always been vaguely interested in Buddhism, but never really known where to start and "bad" at meditation. BWB helped me change the way I think about Buddhism in a really powerful way. I'm interested in it less as a belief system, and more as a set of practices and processes that can help one lead a better life, for some definitions of the word "better".
   
   
2. I'm a private consultant living in NYC. I like to get out of the city and go hiking whenever I can. The thing I miss most about my childhood in rural Alaska is looking at the stars.
   
   
3. I'm hoping that in having rituals with and obligations to other people, I'll be more likely to stick to the course long-term. Of course, that will only happen if there are people here, so it also encourages me to make this the best possible study group subreddit ever.
   
   I have been running /r/SF_Book_Club for over 4 years now, and will use what I have learned about managing small, active, discussion-based communities.
   
   
4. It's a tie between The Ego Tunnel by Thomas Metzinger, this talk about African Fractals, and this funny story from /r/buddhism last week.

If you're looking for a course introductory book with some (very little) math, you could look at F.F.Chen, the standard undergrad plasma book. It's a bit simplistic, but it's an easy overview of plasma physics. He also wrote a more pop-sci-esque book that is (supposedly, I haven't read this one) a very good and informative book that avoids math completely.

If you wanted more rigor and details, you can try the Goldston book which has the basic concepts like F.F.Chen without the babying. I used the Goldston to review general concepts sometimes, but with more complicated or modern stuff, you have to just read papers.

Personally, my favorite is the free book/html/pdf offered by Fitzpatrick. It's got good organization, pretty good explanations, and doesn't skirt the mathematics. There are some more detailed books for specific things (such as Ideal MHD by Friedberg, Plasma Diagnostics by Hutchinson, Plasma Waves by Stix, Plasma Astrophysics by Tajima, and a crapton other).

In any case, I would say, go with the pop-sci one if you don't want to look into the math, go into the F.F.Chen intro book if you want to look at math but aren't strong in math, and go with the Fitzpatrick if you want to learn on the side, don't mind the math, and you're pretty good in math.

You're thinking far too small. We don't need to leave the solar system to find other environments to live - we can easily (relatively speaking) create such places here in the solar system, almost anywhere we choose. If your conception is that we have to live on a planetary body, jettison it, and you'll find a lot more options open up. Within current engineering ability, we can build large, earthlike habitats that offer 1G.

It's not about saving a few thousand people, or about the very richest of humanity escaping. It's about using the resources of space in a big way to both enrich those on Earth, by providing lots of clean energy from space, and seeing millions of people living and working offworld. We have the ability to do it, and if we use it wisely, it will help us clean up Earth faster than expecting all our solutions to come from what we have on Earth itself.

For a more hopeful view of the future than what you see, I seriously recommend reading both of these books: The High Frontier and 2081. I think you'll find that there's a lot more to recommend to space travel and use than what the public has been exposed to through decades of government dominance.

If you're just looking for good references or general information I've found this book to be pretty helpful in the past. You can read the Amazon reviews and look for similar things but the concepts are there for design and selection.

If you get some of your research done and want to know more specific information please feel free to reply here or post another thread when the time comes and we will be happy to help you out. Good luck in your studies.

Fun/informative books:


[A Piece of the Sun: The Quest for Fusion Energy: By Daniel Clery] (https://www.amazon.com/Piece-Sun-Quest-Fusion-Energy/dp/1468308890)

[Sun in a Bottle: The Strange History of Fusion and the Science of Wishful Thinking by Charles Seife] (https://www.amazon.com/Sun-Bottle-Strange-History-Thinking/dp/0670020338)

[An Indispensable Truth - How Fusion Power Can Save the Planet, by F.F. Chen] (http://www.springer.com/us/book/9781441978196)

[A Green Sun by Charles Gray] (https://www.amazon.com/Green-Sun-The-Fusion-Book-ebook/dp/B005GBPEAE)
-------------
Technical books:

[Physics of Fully Ionized Gases by Lyman Spitzer Jr.] (https://www.amazon.com/Physics-Fully-Ionized-Gases-Revised/dp/0486449823)

[The Physics of Inertial Fusion: Beam Plasma Interaction, Stefano Atzeni] (https://www.amazon.com/Physics-Inertial-Fusion-Hydrodynamics-International/dp/0199568014)

[Tokamaks by Wesson] (https://books.google.com/books/about/Tokamaks.html?id=BH9vx-iDI74C)

[The Release of Thermonuclear Energy by Inertial Confinement: Ways Towards Ignition by Friedwardt Winterberg] (https://www.amazon.com/Release-Thermonuclear-Energy-Inertial-Confinement/dp/9814295906/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1473696256&sr=1-1&keywords=winterberg+inertial+confinement)
Note: This last book by F. Winterberg contains some of the most difficult mathematics (perhaps something that a Junior in Math might not mind) but contains an extraordinary wealth of new fusion ideas - something that old guard fusioneers would like to see in the hands of the young.
---------
Mathematics is the portal to advanced skills in fusion physics and nuclear engineering. It is not really possible to find a professional first position in the fusion field without a high level of mathematics competency.

For those that have already had two years of college calculus I would recommend the following book if you are interested in a career in fusion.

[Higher Math for Beginners by Y.B. Zeldovich] (https://www.amazon.com/Higher-Mathematics-Beginners-application-physics/dp/B000IW9YSO/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1473696949&sr=1-2&keywords=Higher+for+Beginners+Zeldovich)
----------
Student Internship at the Nation’s National Labs
You get paid while you learn lots of terrific fusion related stuff and there is an avenue leading to a first job in the field of your choice (something everyone needs).
http://see.orau.org/ProgramDescription.aspx?Program=10055
https://internships.llnl.gov/
http://www.lanl.gov/education/undergrad/internships.shtml
http://science.energy.gov/wdts/suli/
-------
NIF Laser Fusion in Fulldome -true out of this world new technology
(note: this high-rez image is interactive - click on picture and drag with your mouse to see additional views of the NIF target chamber)
http://www.xrez.com/case-studies/nif-laser-fusion-in-fulldome/
------
Fusion is a lot closer than most of the main stream analysts currently believe.
Fusion from the engineering side perhaps does not get as much publicity, but many fusion jobs in funded projects have a lot of engineering content. It may actually be easier to get your first position if you have a math or engineering focus (only so many physics professionals get hired, even in really large fusion programs).

Good work on the burner so far. You will need to flare the end to establish the correct burn, but so far so good. After having built a few forges I would suggest that you start by building a firebrick forge like this one here, it's orders of magnitude easier to get firebricks and build them like Lego into what you want. Grinding away at a propane tank to make a forge is honestly a pain in the ass. Also you might want to check out this book for future projects. Running two burners is a really good way to burn through propane. Take the time to build a really good adjustable burner and you will find that you only need to run one burner for the majority of the projects you work on if it's burning really well. Spend the money to insulate and coat your forge and you will save a considerable amount of time and energy (literal energy too) in the end.

First of all I will say that no matter what you look at, physics is one of those things where you can never be "correct" per se without understanding the math. That goes double for QM which is math all the way down. No matter how you explain it, you will always find that "but what about this exception" can be answered to your satisfaction only by getting a mathematically rigorous treatment of the topic.

That said, for understanding quantum on a "fun" level (i.e. skipping a couple of years of calculus, linear algebra, and numerical analysis), I'd recommend Richard Feynman's QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter. A very well-known and highly respected physicist with a talent for teaching. Although "quantum electrodynamics" as covered in the book is not strictly QM as generally imagined, he does cover the core of what is at interest in quantum theory (electromagnetic interactions at a subatomic level) in a pretty interesting and decently understandable way. That sounds like about what you're looking for.

Fundamentals of Heat and Mass Transfer by Incropera is pretty much the standard text on the subject by my understanding.

I used Hibbeler for Mechanics of Materials, but Beer is also a popular choice.

Hibbeler for dynamics as well.

Larson has a pretty good calculus book, will take you from derivatives up through multivariable.

A good resource if you feel like digging deeper is the physics forums - science and math textbook forum.

Maybe the coal isn't really 300 million years old...

Maybe coal isn't formed from decaying plants, but rather by the condensation of carbon -rich gases pouring out from tthe earth's mantle.

Maybe the coal formed around the piece of metal. Recently.

I'm just saying....maybe.

EDIT :

Sure, it sounds crazy when I say stuff like this. But what if I told you my theory came from a renowned physicist, an indisputably brilliant scientist who has been called "one of the world's most original minds"? In the [The Deep Hot Biosphere] ( http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0387985468/ref=mw_dp_mdsc?dsc=1) , Thomas Gold sets forth truly controversial and astonishing theories about where oil and gas come from, and how they acquire their organic "signatures." The conclusions he reaches in this book might be at first difficult to believe, but they are supported by a growing body of evidence...

>I feel like you don't understand what is being asked.

Actually, I do understand what's being asked. It simply seems you don't understand my answer.

>You wouldn't care if someone took you girl/boyfriend, house, all your money, and your job? Really?

What do you mean "someone"? It's me taking my stuff.

>If that's your position I honestly don't think you're being honest with yourself.

I understand my position quite perfectly but it seems you haven't thought about your existence very thoroughly.

Like I already suggested to someone else: If you are actually interested in further discussion on this topic I suggest reading the book Being No One by famous German cognitive scientist Thomas Metzinger, which has become essential reading for anyone interested in cognitive psychology by now or the less scientific description of the book's basic ideas in the more popular book The Ego Tunnel.

Your post has too little context/content for anyone to give you particularly relevant or specific advice. You should list what you know already and what you’re trying to learn. I find it’s easiest to research a new subject when I have a concrete problem I’m trying to solve.

But anyway, I’m going to assume you studied up through single variable calculus and are reasonably motivated to put some effort in with your reading. Here are some books which you might enjoy, depending on your interests. All should be reasonably accessible (to, say, a sharp and motivated undergraduate), but they’ll all take some work:

(in no particular order)
Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid (wikipedia)
To Mock a Mockingbird (wikipedia)
Structure in Nature is a Strategy for Design
Geometry and the Imagination
Visual Group Theory (website)
The Little Schemer (website)
Visual Complex Analysis (website)
Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos (website)
Music, a Mathematical Offering (website)
QED
Mathematics and its History
The Nature and Growth of Modern Mathematics
Proofs from THE BOOK (wikipedia)
Concrete Mathematics (website, wikipedia)
The Symmetries of Things
Quantum Computing Since Democritus (website)
Solid Shape
On Numbers and Games (wikipedia)
Street-Fighting Mathematics (website)

But also, you’ll probably get more useful response somewhere else, e.g. /r/learnmath. (On /r/math you’re likely to attract downvotes with a question like this.)

You might enjoy:
https://www.reddit.com/r/math/comments/2mkmk0/a_compilation_of_useful_free_online_math_resources/
https://www.reddit.com/r/mathbooks/top/?sort=top&t=all

Explaining anything quantum is always frustrating, because the logic behind it is completely alien to our brains, and you have to use a complex mathematical framework to explain it ... unless your name is Richard Feynman and you have God-like explaining powers.

Here's a book with transcripts of seminars that he gave explaining one of his theories named "quantum electrodynamics" - theory for which he was awarded a Nobel prize. The seminars were geared towards people who do not have a mathematics background, but are curious and still want to understand a bit more about quantum mechanics. And he nails it. I think that he uses only a single equation during all the seminars, and still he manages to pass the ideas behind his theory very well.

I'll try to explain the advantage of quantum computers without entering into the ... well ... quantum details. First thing, forget anything from the video that talks about "parallelization" and stuff like this. It's not technically incorrect, but it's not a good way to describe the advantages of a quantum computer.

Let us take the classical example of finding the prime factors of a number (which she talks about a bit at the end of the video). This problem has a series of mathematical properties which we can exploit to solve it. The thing is, the ways that we can use these exploits are limited by the tools that we have at hand - in this case, which operations a computer can do.

In the case of this factorization, the toolset of classical computers is not good enough to do this efficiently - there's a key component (named Fourier transform) of this exploit that's reeeeally expensive to be done using a classical computer's toolset.

BUT, quantum computers have a different, more general toolset than classical computers ... including a "built-in" and fast form of Fourier transform. That's why a quantum computer can solve certain problems faster than a classical one: not because it's faster or more powerful (a quantum computer will never run Crysis ...), but because it has a more appropriate toolset to deal with the problem.

For a comparison in terms of real-world computers: take an old Pentium 4 and a modern Core i7. Their clocks are not so different, maxing around 3.8 ~ 4GHz. Still, there is no question that the i7 is a lot more faster than the P4. Why? Because it has a more efficient architecture and instruction set - a better toolset - and can do more at this same frequency. A similar thing happens with quantum computers, but on steroids.

Here's a blog post that explains all this quite well, and in relatively simple terms.. He also explains what is this "Fourier transform" operation in the context of quantum computers.

Ok, here's a list of books that might interest you.

• [Introductory Mining Engineering] (http://www.amazon.com/Introductory-Mining-Engineering-Howard-Hartman/dp/0471348511/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1412111081&sr=1-1&keywords=introductory+mining+engineering) as others have mentioned is a good, not too technical introduction to mining engineering and the industry as a whole.
  
  
• [Mining Explained] (http://www.smenet.org/store/mining-books.cfm/Mining-Explained%2C-11th-Edition/9041) is a good little overview of the industry, I believe it was written as an introductory guide for investors.
  
  
• [The Deep Dark] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Deep-Dark-Disaster-Redemption/dp/0307238776) is about the Sunshine Mine disaster. It is a well written book that reads like a novel. It gives a good overview of hardrock mining techniques in northern Idaho, but is more focused on the people, the disaster and the recovery efforts.
  
  
• [The World of Mining] (http://www.amazon.com/World-Mining-Richard-Woldendorp/dp/0415671892/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1412111733&sr=1-1&keywords=the+world+of+mining) is more of a photography book, but it has a lot of great contemporary pictures from mines around the world.
  
  
• [Deep Enough] (http://www.amazon.com/Deep-Enough-Working-Stiff-Western/dp/0806125292/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1412110097&sr=1-1&keywords=deep+enough) is the memoir of a man from an affluent New York family that decides to go to the western US in the early 1900's, where he ends up working in mining. This is a good one if you're interested the culture of a 1900's mining camp as well as the technical aspects.
  
  
• [Trapped] (http://www.amazon.com/Trapped-1909-Cherry-Mine-Disaster/dp/0743421957) is about the 1909 Cherry Creek mine disaster at a coal mine in Illinois.
  
  
• [The Making of a Hardrock Miner] (http://www.amazon.com/making-hardrock-miner-experiences-molybdenum/dp/0831071168/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1412110431&sr=1-1&keywords=the+making+of+a+hard+rock+miner) is similar to Deep Enough, but written in the 1970's.
  
  
• [Mines, mules and me in Mexico] (http://www.amazon.com/Mules-Mines-Me-Mexico-1895-1932/dp/0816506264/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1412110933&sr=1-1&keywords=mines+mules+and+me+in+mexico) similar in style to Deep Enough, it was written by a mining engineer that was working in Mexico before and during the Mexican Revolution.
  
  
• [Grasberg] (http://www.amazon.com/Grasberg-richest-deposit-mountains-Indonesia/dp/0965289001) is a historical account of the discovery and development of the Grasberg mine in Indonesia.
  
  
• [The Roar and the Silence] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Roar-And-Silence-Shepperson/dp/0874173205) is a historical account of Virginia City, Nevada which was the most advanced and affluent mining camp of its day. It follows Virginia City from a gritty mining camp, to a city whose influence rivaled some of the biggest cities of its day, through its slow fade into obscurity.
  
  
• [Out of the Fiery Furnace] (http://www.amazon.com/Out-Fiery-Furnace-History-Mankind/dp/027100441X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1412110707&sr=1-1&keywords=out+of+the+fiery+furnace) is a look at how world history was shaped by mankind's discovery and utilization of different metals. It discusses how mining techniques have evolved over time.

Personally, I love learning about quantum mechanics and relativity.

Stuff like this: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7_gcs09iThXybpVgjHZ_7g if you want to watch cool animated explanations of advanced science.

* Almost forgot Fermilab: https://www.youtube.com/user/fermilab

Stuff like this if you want to read laymen textbooks to wrap your head around QM and relativity: (Altho get the paper versions, because they have diagrams and illustrations and stuff illegible on the ebooks):

https://www.amazon.com/Six-Not-So-Easy-Pieces-Einstein-s-Relativity/dp/0465025269/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0

https://www.amazon.com/QED-Strange-Princeton-Science-Library/dp/0691164096/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0

https://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Universe-Anything-That-Happen/dp/0306821443/ref=sr_1_1_twi_pap_1

https://www.amazon.com/Why-Does-mc2-Should-Care/dp/0306818760/ref=sr_1_1_twi_pap_2

All of those are mind-bogglingly cool, as well as being actual real science!

No problem at all. A lot of people disagree with this and fight it, because the implication is that the only real solution to our problem is to force everyone to move towards the equator so they consume less energy for heating/cooling, have less kids, quit driving, basically accept a sort of 2nd-world lifestyle. Obviously this will never happen, I suspect humans will basically keep going down this path until their demise.

Here are a few things I'd recommend on the subject:

http://energy-reality.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/09_Energy-Return-on-Investment_R1_012913.pdf

https://www.amazon.com/Environment-Power-Society-Twenty-First-Century/dp/0231128878/ref=pd_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=XQGQEPWX5X3VJY0B5S63

This professor writes a lot of good stuff on the subject:

http://www.esf.edu/EFB/hall/#publications

I guess the key concept in what you are asking about, is energy return on energy invested (EROEI). This is imo one of the most important concepts all people need to understand about energy generation. Something is only a resource, if you get more energy out of it, than what you have to put in to extract it. So for example, if it takes a gallon of oil in energy to pump one gallon of oil out of the ground, then that oil in the ground is no longer a resource.

There is a lot of debate about the true EROEI of these different types of energy production. For example this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Spains-Photovoltaic-Revolution-Investment-SpringerBriefs/dp/144199436X/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1358872742&sr=1-2

In which the authors do a complex analysis on the true EROEI of solar and come up with a much lower return on energy invested than others often claim. They find that in amazingly sunny areas like Spain, the EROEI is only around 2, where in less sunny countries like Germany, it is between 1-1.5, which is absolutely abysmal.

You can see this is already becoming a problem with nuclear, in particular. There have been a few nuclear plants recently that were abandoned halfway through the project, because they blew so far over the budget, and the energy/money they were putting in to build the plant to modern standards, with all of the safety regulations, etc, made it a net loss to finish the plant. So it would never generate anywhere near the energy that it would take society to build it to spec. This will likely be a trend we see as technology gets more and more complex - things just require too much of societies resources to build, to the point that it is a net loss.

Another book on this subject is from Joseph Tainter:

https://www.amazon.com/Collapse-Complex-Societies-Studies-Archaeology/dp/052138673X

...who argues that the reason all societies eventually collapse, is because increasing complexity provides diminishing returns. Eventually things get so complex, that society doesn't have the energy and resources to maintain everything and to keep solving the harder and harder problems that complexity inevitably creates.

Two books that should help, depending on what exactly you want to do -

1: A Primer of Oilwell Drilling (This is a UTexas book that is super-expensive if you buy from the publisher, but there should be cheap used copies floating around).


2: Nontechnical Guide to Petroleum Geology, Exploration, Drilling, and Production - This is also expensive from the publisher, but honestly feels more like a textbook on the petroleum industry (whereas the first one feels more like a big pamphlet).

edit- Amazon links

1: you can make burners fairly cheaply and easily. Just search "how to make a forge burner" on youtube and you'll find plenty of vids.

2: if you're going to build a gas forge, it depends on the size of the billet/stock you'll be using the most. If you're going for knives, tongs, hand tools, etc. Then I dont imagine you'd be using stock larger than 1". If you plan on making things like axes, hammers, decorative pieces, or (if you feel like going this route when making them) swords that you'd draw out from a chunk of steel, the max size of stock/billet I feel you'd use is 4ish". If you plan on making long pieces, you can just leave both sides open so it's more of a tunnel rather than an open box. The number of burners is more quality of life rather than necessity. More burners equals more heat and more heat means faster heating. Do you /need/ multiple burners? Probably not. The only time multiple burners are necessary is when you need to heat a large length (such as heat treating a sword or bending a length of metal) one thing to keep in mind is the internal size of the forge. If you make a forge with a 10"×10" chamber (this is hyperbole, while I know they exist--atleast 10" tall chambers--I highly doubt you will ever make anything requiring that) and only one burner, that single burner has will try to heat up that entire chamber (because that's how heat works) and you'll wind up using fuel a heck of a lot faster. Using 2 or more burners will distribute heat in more than one place, thus lowering the fuel usage close to less than half of the single burner. So, when I say that it heavily depends on what you're going to be making, I mean it. To give you some rough internal dimensions, I'd say something like 5"-6" tall, 5"-6" wide and 9" long.

I suggest reading this book before you make one, though. It tells you all the do's and don'ts as well as the whys and why nots.

https://www.amazon.com/Gas-Burners-Forges-Furnaces-Kilns/dp/1879535203

To put it simply, though, one burner is more than sufficient.

3: I suggest the latter option to the former. The fiberglass lining is simply to prolong the life of whatever refractory material is below it (not to mention it's easier to replace) I'd stray away from firebrick if possible, as it wears much more quickly than other alternatives. I reccomend using a high alumina kiln shelf.
https://www.sheffield-pottery.com/High-Alumina-Cone-11-Kiln-Shelves-s/317.htm
You can simply cut it to match the size you need. (Also, you should read the instructions on the page)

4: well, if saving money is the goal, you can go as cheaply as putting a sledgehammer head in some cement. There are so many forums and pages that talk about what can be used as a cheap but efficient anvil that I dont even really need to link one to you. All you have to do is google "anvil alternatives" and you'll get all the information you need.
I'll summarize what you'd read though; broken forklift tines, rr track, drop steel from a machinist/steel supplier, a block of steel, a stump with a rail track tie plate fastened to it, but dear lord dont use cast iron anvils.

If you don't really mind $300, then that is honestly the anvil you should buy. In fact, if it's even an option, i'd reccomend that to anything else.

5: preffered metal cutting tools are a hot cut hardy hole tool, chisels and punches.

6: for necessity items, I highly reccomend a 4"x72" belt sander (you can find how to make those in excess on youtube), files, a ///post/// vice, and decent files meant for removing metal. Also, not much of a necessity, but I like sharpening my knives on a full spectrum of whetstones (full spectrum meaning I'd start at around 320 grit and end at 10,000 grit) but that's expensive in itself. I also suggest getting a bench grinder with a buffing wheel, some black and green metal polish that you can pick up from harbor freight, and a leather strop.

That's all I can think of in regards to main points but if you want detail on anything related to blacksmithing or have any more questions, I recommend going to sites like iforgeiron and blacksmithforums.com

There's actually a strain of philosophy of mind and neuroscience dealing with this question right now:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Ego-Tunnel-Science-Mind/dp/0465020690

is a good example. While you might feel like "yourself" has a unifying central intelligence, and it is most certainly true from a subjective personal standpoint, analysis of the actual neural substrates and cognitive processes that generate of that sense of selfhood shows that it might actually be a very powerful illusion.

Alright, so with all the suggestions, which were basically split between upgrading the build to fit the 1080 or downgrading to fit the Ryzen 5, I've made two different versions:

Intel, 1300 Euro:

pc-kombo shared list

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Core i5-8600K | 273.90€ @ reichelt
Motherboard | MSI Z370-A Pro | 109.90€ @ caseking
Memory | Corsair Vengeance LPX blue DDR4-3000 CL15 (16 GB) | 170.79€ @ Amazon.de
SSD | Crucial MX300 (525 GB) | 131.00€ @ Amazon.de
Video Card | KFA2 GeForce GTX 1080 EXOC | 506.00€ @ Amazon.de
Case | Kolink Luminosity Midi-Tower - black Window | 46.90€ @ caseking
Power Supply | Corsair TX550M Series Modular (550 W) | 76.89€ @ Amazon.de
CPU Cooler | Arctic Freezer I11 - 92mm | 18.85€ @ Amazon.de
| Total | 1343.82€
| Generated by pc-kombo 22.11.2017 |

(I'd probably go with a different cooler, Cryorig H7, but it wasn't listed on pc-kombo)


AMD, 1050 Euro:

pc-kombo shared list

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 1600 | 198.99€ @ Amazon.de
Motherboard | MSI B350 PC Mate | 79.90€ @ caseking
Memory | G.Skill Ripjaws V DDR4-3000 8GB (8 GB) | 98.17€ @ Amazon.de
SSD | Crucial MX300 (525 GB) | 131.00€ @ Amazon.de
Video Card | MSI GeForce GTX 1070 Armor 8G OC | 405.91€ @ Amazon.de
Case | Kolink Luminosity Midi-Tower - black Window | 46.90€ @ caseking
Power Supply | Corsair TX550M Series Modular (550 W) | 76.89€ @ Amazon.de
| Total | 1041.75€
| Generated by pc-kombo 22.11.2017 |


Not sure which one I'll go with yet, I'll probably wait until the weekend and see if there are any sales. If there are any problems with either of these builds please tell me, otherwise thanks everyone!

Very nice. Its nice to see this particular school of philosophy-of-mind getting out there. If you enjoyed this, I would also recommend the fantastic Out of our Heads by Alva Noe, and The Ego Tunnel by Thomas Metzinger.

Well do you prefer traditional books or ebooks? I used this textbook during my undergrad and it's ok but I think there are better options on Amazon. What is your baseline? If you're going into a specific subset such as automotive or stationary plant you can get an intro on YouTube before spending the money on a good book. LearnChemE and LearnEngineering are two good YouTube channels for introductory learning.

I would start with fundamentals

Hill and Peterson is pretty good for broad thermodynamics for propulsion systems:
https://www.amazon.com/Mechanics-Thermodynamics-Propulsion-Philip-Hill/dp/0201146592

Gas turbine theory is pretty good start for turbomachinery:
https://www.amazon.com/Gas-Turbine-Theory-H-I-H-Saravanamuttoo/dp/0132224372

You can build a turbopump without looking to power a rocket. (Pump water with steam or something) and in the endeavour I can guarantee you will learn so much.

I'm not sure if this is the book /u/IC_Pandemonium was referring to, but it might be:

The Jet Engine by Rolls-Royce

I haven't had a chance to read it yet but I have heard it is very helpful.

Some other suggestions:

Gas Turbine Theory by Saravanamuttoo

Elements of Gas Turbine Propulsion by Jack Mattingly

Jet Propulsion: A Simple Guide to the Aerodynamic and Thermodynamic Design and Performance of Jet Engines by N.A. Cumpsty
(I think this may be the book /u/IC_Pandemonium was referring to actually. The previous book I have not had a chance to go through but I believe it is supposed to be written very accessibly as well.)

Compressor Aerodynamics by Cumpsty

The Design of High-Efficiency Turbomachinery and Gas Turbines by D.G. Wilson

Hopefully one or a few of these help!

Being an FE doesn't suck and not everyone hates it. There are certainly bad things about it - the schedule is the main one people complain about, but there are bad parts to every job.

As far as what you should study, it will be better off for you to read and understand then training materials you will be given rather than re-hashing Thermo. You aren't going to ever hear the word Enthalpy again, at least if you stay close to the wellhead.

You'll learn more in the field by asking questions than by reading a book. However, you need to understand the big picture of what all is going on, and this is the best book for you to read now.

Ask plenty of questions, learn how to run and maintain every piece of equipment you encounter, and don't be a dick head. If you can do that, you'll be just fine out there. Be safe.

There's a very convincing hypotheses out there which proposes that oil, methane, and the like are formed by inorganic means rather than by the decomposition of organisms. It's called the Abiogenic Petroleum origin Theory.

Thomas Gold wrote a great book about it called The Deep Hot Biosphere. I highly recommend it.

I don't think you'll have a problem as MechE. I suspect a knowledge of the complexities of full engine design wouldn't be necessary for OEM but if you want to know more Gas Turbine Theory is beautifully written and has everything you could want to know. If you can get it from your library I would definitely recommend it. I suggest an understanding of the relationships between total and static pressure/temperature before reading it though.

http://www.amazon.com/Nontechnical-Petroleum-Exploration-Drilling-Production/dp/087814823X

I was in the same boat as you and purchased this book. It is great and I highly recommend a copy to reference throughout your career if you stick with Oil and Gas.

If you are in the Houston area you can borrow my copy for a couple months (I recommend taking notes as you read). PM me if interested.

All of the books I can see from top to bottom on Amazon:

1. http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Chemical-Reaction-Engineering-Edition/dp/0130473944 -- used price: $90.98.
   
2. http://www.amazon.com/Molecular-Thermodynamics-Donald-McQuarrie/dp/189138905X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407531821&sr=1-1&keywords=molecular+thermodynamics -- used price: $70.00 (paperback is $29.99)
   
3. http://www.amazon.com/Physical-Chemistry-Molecular-Donald-McQuarrie/dp/0935702997/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407531925&sr=1-1&keywords=physical+chemistry+a+molecular+approach -- used price: $72.44 (paperback is $42.65)
   
4. http://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Physics-Molecules-Solids-Particles/dp/047187373X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407532022&sr=1-1&keywords=quantum+physics+of+atoms+molecules+solids+nuclei+and+particles -- used price: $52.66
   
5. http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Chemical-Engineering-Thermodynamics-Mcgraw-Hill/dp/0073104450/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407532094&sr=1-1&keywords=introduction+to+chemical+engineering+thermodynamics -- used price: $129.96 (paperback is $84.38)
   
6. http://www.amazon.com/Organic-Chemistry-8th-Eighth-BYMcMurry/dp/B004TSKJVE/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407532227&sr=1-5&keywords=organic+chemistry+mcmurry+8th+edition -- used price: $169.33 (paperback is $79.86)
   
7. http://www.amazon.com/Elementary-Differential-Equations-William-Boyce/dp/047003940X/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1407532549&sr=8-7&keywords=Elementary+Differential+Equations+and+Boundary+Value+Problems%2C+9th+Edition+solutions -- used price: $8.00
   
8. http://www.amazon.com/Numerical-Methods-Engineers-Sixth-Edition/dp/0073401064/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407532859&sr=8-1&keywords=numerical+methods+for+engineers+6th+edition -- used price: $47.99 (paperback is $22.48)
   
9. http://www.amazon.com/Applied-Partial-Differential-Equations-Mathematics/dp/0486419762/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407532927&sr=1-5&keywords=applied+partial+differential+equations -- used price: $8.32 (paperback is $1.96)
   
10. http://www.amazon.com/Transport-Phenomena-2nd-Byron-Bird/dp/0471410772/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407533036&sr=1-1&keywords=transport+phenomena+bird+stewart+lightfoot+2nd+edition -- used price: $28.00
    
11. http://www.amazon.com/Basic-Engineering-Data-Collection-Analysis/dp/053436957X/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407533106&sr=1-2&keywords=data+collection+and+analysis -- used price: $80.00
    
12. http://www.amazon.com/Calculus-9th-Dale-Varberg/dp/0131429248/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407533219&sr=1-1&keywords=calculus+varberg+purcell+rigdon+9th+edition+pearson -- used price: $11.97 (paperback is $2.94)
    
13. http://www.amazon.com/Elementary-Principles-Chemical-Processes-Integrated/dp/0471720631/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407533286&sr=1-1&keywords=elementary+principles+of+chemical+processes -- used price: $161.72
    
14. http://www.amazon.com/Inorganic-Chemistry-4th-Gary-Miessler/dp/0136128661/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407533412&sr=1-1&keywords=inorganic+chemistry+messler -- used price: $75.00
    
15. http://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Heat-Transfer-Theodore-Bergman/dp/0470501979/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407533484&sr=1-1&keywords=fundamental+of+heat+and+mass+transfer -- used price: $154.99 (loose leaf is $118.23)
    
16. http://www.amazon.com/Biochemistry-Course-John-L-Tymoczko/dp/1429283602/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407533588&sr=1-1&keywords=biochemistry+a+short+course -- used price: $139.00 (loose leaf is $115)
    
17. http://www.amazon.com/Separation-Process-Principles-Biochemical-Operations/dp/0470481838 -- used price: $93.50 (international edition is $49.80)
    
18. http://www.amazon.com/University-Physics-Modern-13th/dp/0321696867/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407545099&sr=1-1&keywords=university+physics+young+and+freedman -- used price: $83.00
    
    Books & Speakers | Price (New)
    ---|---
    Elements of Chemical Reaction Engineering (4th Edition) | $122.84
    Molecular Thermodynamics | $80.17
    Physical Chemistry: A Molecular Approach | $89.59
    Quantum Physics of Atoms, Molecules, Solids, Nuclei, and Particles | $128.32
    Introduction to Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics (The Mcgraw-Hill Chemical Engineering Series) | $226.58
    Organic Chemistry 8th Edition | $186.00
    Elementary Differential Equations | $217.67
    Numerical Methods for Engineers, Sixth Edition | $200.67
    Applied Partial Differential Equations | $20.46
    Transport Phenomena, 2nd Edition | $85.00
    Basic Engineering Data Collection and Analysis | $239.49
    Calculus (9th Edition) | $146.36
    Elementary Principles of Chemical Processes, 3rd Edition | $206.11
    Inorganic Chemistry (4th Edition) | $100.00
    Fundamentals of Heat and Mass Transfer | $197.11
    Biochemistry: A Short Course, 2nd Edition | $161.45
    Separation Process Principles: Chemical and Biochemical Operations | $156.71
    University Physics with Modern Physics (13th Edition) | $217.58
    Speakers | $50.00
    
    Most you can get is $1476.86 (selling all of the books (used and hard cover) in person), and if you sell it on Amazon, they take around 15% in fees, so you'll still get $1255.33. But wait...if you sell it to your university's book store, best they can do is $.01.
    
    Total cost: $2832.11 (including speakers)
    
    Net loss: -$1355.25 (books only). If sold on Amazon, net loss: -$1576.78 (books only). Speakers look nice; I wouldn't sell them.
    
    Edit: Added the two books and the table. /u/The_King_of_Pants gave the price of speakers. ¡Muchas gracias para el oro! Reminder: Never buy your books at the bookstore.
    
    Edit 2: Here are most of the books on Library Genesis
    Thanks to /u/WhereToGoTomorrow

Um, to be honest I haven't read much from neuroscience other than Libet's Experiment and the clinical neuropsychologist Paul Broks saying, “We have this deep intuition that there is a core… But neuroscience shows that there is no center in that brain where things do all come together.”

There are some articles and books I have in my reading list, but once you get that this can be easily confirmed in DIRECT EXPERIENCE, the other materials are just superfluous, IMO. Here, I'll share them anyway.

“Who’s There?” Is The Self A Convenient Fiction?

Ego Trick: In Search of the Self

The Self Illusion: How the Social Brain Creates Identity

What Exactly Is the Self? Insights from Neuroscience

Neuroscience of Self and Self-Regulation

The Ego Tunnel: The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self

Who's in Charge?: Free Will and the Science of the Brain

And check out The Ascent of Humanity for a thorough discussion of the implications of the separate self on lots of aspects of our (collective) lives. Eisenstein traces all of the converging crises of our age to a common source, which he calls Separation. It is the ideology of the discrete and separate self that has generated these crises; therefore, he argues, nothing less than a "revolution in human beingness" will be sufficient to transform our relationship to each other and the planet.

If you mean turbine engines, Gas Turbine Theory by HIH Saravanamuttoo is an excellent text. I had the privilege of taking a course from the author during my undergrad and he is a walking repository of aircraft propulsion information. I believe he still delivers a lecture at Cranfeild once a year, I would definitely attend if you have the opportunity.

http://www.amazon.com/Gas-Turbine-Theory-6th-Edition/dp/0132224372

I got World of Atoms and Quarks for my own kids. Richard Feynman's book QED is also really good. I don't know your age or background, but learning about symmetries and Noether's theorem are really valuable.

My background is in physics, and though for a time I wanted to do particle theory, I learned of so much other interesting stuff going on while I was in grad school that I'm more content as a generalist. I work in an EE-type job now.

My favorite intro book is Nontechnical Guide to Petroleum Geology, Exploration, Drilling and Production by Hyne. Someone with a geology background should be able to go through the ~600 pages pretty quickly.

Your university's bookstore probably has a list of the textbooks that were required for those courses in semesters past. Try calling if the bookstore has a poor website. If that doesn't work you can email professors or look at the website of another university's bookstore.

iTunes has a section called iTunes U which offers downloads of video lectures of undergrad and sometimes graduate level courses online for free. There is a course on petroleum geology in there taught at Delft University in the Netherlands (in English). Delft also has a bunch of free online stuff for offshore engineering.

Also, read this.

Alright - going off your advice, this is what I've come up with:

pc-kombo shared list

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 1600 | 199.99€ @ Amazon.de
Motherboard | MSI B350M Mortar | 87.42€ @ Amazon.de
Memory | Crucial Ballistix Elite Series DDR4-2666, CL16 - 8 GB (8 GB) | 76.90€ @ alternate
SSD | SanDisk Plus 240GB TLC (240 GB) | 84.99€ @ Amazon.de
Video Card | ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1060 Mini | 279.00€ @ Amazon.de
Case | Thermaltake Versa H22 Midi-Tower - black | 33.99€ @ Amazon.de
Power Supply | Xilence Performance A+ (530 W) | 45.99€ @ Amazon.de
| Total | 814.27€
| Generated by pc-kombo 21.09.2017 |

Would this be more viable? Also - any idea on whether the case I listed above would be suitable? Cheers.

We'll have a working fusion reactor (DEMO) putting electricity into the grid by 2050. That is the goal the fusion community has set, and if it isn't met there is very little hope for continued political support. We could do it much, much sooner though if we had the funding (along the lines of the Apollo program). For more on this see An Indispensable Truth by FF Chen

My point was that a fusion rocket is very different from a fusion reactor because the plasma confinement requirements for a rocket are much less than for a reactor. Furthermore you don't need all of the hardware for heat exchange or radiation shielding with a rocket. You only need to shield the astronaut habitat, which can be on the far end of the vehicle, and which already requires shielding from background radiation.

Not sure how modern you are looking for, but "The making of a hardrock miner" by Stephen Voynick (published in 1978) is a good read if nothing else. A little dated in many ways, but an excellent look at mining metals in the western US nevertheless.

https://www.amazon.com/making-hardrock-miner-experiences-molybdenum/dp/0831071168

Try these:
Electricity Grid Infrastructure,
Oil and Natural Gas Infrastructure.
Maybe this site can help with some basic information. Valclav Smil is an excellent source for many areas you're investigating: Energy Transitions, Energy Myths and Realities, Rise and Retreat of American Manufacturing, Oil, Prime Movers of Globalization, and Energy at the Crossroads

>whether the self has an objective basis

The self is an illusion; per Metzinger’s Ego Tunnel:
"the conscious self is the content of a model created by our brain—an internal image, but one we cannot experience as an image. Everything we experience is 'a virtual self in a virtual reality.'"

This book will help you understand the neurological foundation for the sensation of self.

>and if so, life itself would not be individual existence in itself? What is biological life and why is it created?

Life is a series of complex chemical reactions driven by the energy of the sun and the earth, existing only to maximize entropy.

As far as courses - I have used some of the online freeware courses. Coursera had the Wharton Corporate Finance course online which I completed (I think you even get a little certificate). MIT Open courseware, Stanford has everything online. But none of those offer any O&G options. For O&G I can recommend this book

Good job with the networking, keep it up!

If you head to Houston, check into O&G temp agencies and O&G recruiters. There should be plenty if you're googling. Also, we have something like $120 billion of industrial project starts happening in 2014. Everything from ethylene crackers to power plants to pipelines to LNG export terminals. All these would require many many mechanical engineers. Start researching the big construction firms and start cold-calling them to see what's going on. If HR doesn't respond, move on to calling managers, etc.

This book has a pretty foolproof set of guidelines to build one, as well as a standard propane tank forge:

Gas Burners for Forges, Furnaces, and Kilns

The dimensions are pretty critical.

Old but good: The High Frontier, with the studies for orbital colonies from the 70s.

There's also the recent "update" The High Frontier: An Easier Way.

Have you read or watched Feynman's lectures on QED? I find the book better, but either is a decent overview of the topic.

It's pretty cool how he starts out with some simple but seemingly counter-intuitive ideas, but brings in how they explain diffraction gratings, focusing lenses, etc.

This. It's both expensive and looks boring, but I'm saving up to get it because of reasons.

Or this, unless the giver is both insanely generous and a massive Whovian.

There is a good book that explores this issue, with each chapter dealing with the consequences of +1ºC increase. This short TEDx presentation explains it more briefly although it's 2 years old.

In my opinion the most imminent problem is our food supply. As an example, in 2010 Russia suffered a heat wave that reduced it's wheat crops by around 30%. Russia is one of the top 5 wheat producers in the world. You can imagine that when this happens on a more global scale on different types of crops it will pump the food price index up, which will have disastrous consequences.

> There are a myriad of technologies that could change the course of human history and we just need to achieve one of then to massively increase our chances of long-term survival; fusion power, self-replicating nanomachines, mind uploading, human-like AGI, the realisation of an Alcubierre drive or discovery of wormholes...

It sounds great, but as of today it's science fiction. The reality is that globally most of our energy comes from fossil fuels. Oil production has become more and more expensive due to the fact that we have to dig deeper to find it, which is why most of the world is turning to coal and fracking (natural gas).

Vlacav Smil points out in one of his books that even in the case of oil, the cheapest and more abundant energy humanity has ever found so far, it took many decades to switch from coal as the primary energy source during the 20th century. At that time, the EREOI of oil was about 100:1. So even if today we had a thorium or cold fusion reactor already working, the investment to switch from fossil fuels would be huge in time and money. Of course the effort would only be possible if every government on earth understood the gravity of the situation. But the world is still arguing if climate change is even real...

I work in drilling. My location has copies of A Primer of Oilwell Drilling for new hire engineers to study. It gives a good overview of the drilling process and has a lot of pictures.

Good luck with the job search, but be sure to have a backup plan.

It depends what type of work you would be doing. If you are knowledgeable in GIS and new to natural gas, I would recommend learning about the characteristics of the pipes and regulations via Youtube Videos, [books] (https://www.amazon.com/Oil-Gas-Pipelines-Nontechnical-Language/dp/159370058X), etc. You would need to be more specific as to what you are looking to accomplish.

>Self as illusion is a central view in Buddhism, for example. I know Sam Harris has studied Eastern religions, so why not just admit that some religions, at least, have something to offer?

Here is an old essay by him on the subject of Buddhism having things to offer: Killing The Buddha - Sam Harris, Shambhala Sun

Also, speaking on the matter of the self being an illusion, Thomas Metzinger's Self-model theory is pretty interesting. There are several lectures on youtube... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFjY1fAcESs

The Ego Tunnel: The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self. Thomas Metzinger.

Who's in Charge?: Free Will and the Brain. Michael Gazzaniga (neuroscientist)

Neuroexistentialism: Meaning, Morals, and Purpose in the Age of Neuroscience. Gregg Caruso and Owen Flanagan, Eds. (Part 3: Free Will, Moral Responsibility, and Meaning in Life has 6 essays by Derk Pereboom, Caruso, Gazzaniga, and others, and other essays scattered throughout the book are also pertinent)

I'm in finance too, so similarly biased - when I first started looking at this space I leaned pretty heavily on "X in Nontechnical Language". Oil & Gas Pipelines for example: https://www.amazon.com/Oil-Gas-Pipelines-Nontechnical-Language/dp/159370058X/. I'm sure you'll graduate to something more technical, but it's a good starting point

Nice, here are some more.

https://rbnenergy.com/

http://www.amazon.com/Oil-101-Morgan-Downey/dp/0982039204

http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/publication/24870/falling_short.html

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/2470

http://www.igu.org/sites/default/files/node-page-field_file/IGU%20-%20World%20LNG%20Report%20-%202014%20Edition.pdf

There is the occasional subreddit food-for-thought, like this

Just got this for xmas, but haven't read it yet... supposed to be good

Well, I'm not super well-versed in physics tbh but I use to really want to be a physcisits so I know a little stuff here and there.

I've read:

https://www.amazon.com/Surely-Feynman-Adventures-Curious-Character/dp/0393316041

https://www.amazon.com/Genius-Life-Science-Richard-Feynman-ebook/dp/B004LRPQIO/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=genius+feynman&qid=1569787475&s=books&sr=1-1

https://www.amazon.com/QED-Strange-Princeton-Science-Library/dp/0691164096/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=QED+feynman&qid=1569787491&s=books&sr=1-1

Also, Feynman is related to philosophy because quantum physics makes many epistemological and metaphysical claims and Feyman made many advances in the quantum physics field. Look up some interviews online, his thought process is really cooled and really makes you wonder about the natural world and how its works/structured

I found both of these books very helpful for someone who had little knowledge of the oil industry at first. They give a general overview in layman's terms. These are the amazon links, I haven't been able to find online pdf's or .mobi's for free unfortunately.

http://www.amazon.com/Oil-Gas-Production-Nontechnical-Language/dp/1593700520/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1396195787&sr=1-7&keywords=petroleum+nontechnical

http://www.amazon.com/Petroleum-Refining-Nontechnical-Language-Fourth/dp/1593701586/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1396195758&sr=1-1&keywords=refining+nontechnical

So for Space colonization you really cannot go wrong with:

• 'Mining the sky' - By John S. Lewis
  
  
• 'The High Frontier' - By Gerard K. O'Neill
  
  There are a lot of other books on colonising space, but these are the pair I have read and they are still entirely valid pieces of work (imo). An other you might want to check out is ['The Starflight Handbook' - By Eugene F. Mallove] (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Starflight-Handbook-Pioneers-Interstellar-Editions/dp/0471619124/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1465674138&sr=8-1&keywords=starflight+handbook) which covers the maths behind conceivable interstellar propulsion methods. All very cool stuff.
  

I'll have to check that book out, and highly recommend Metzinger's The Ego Tunnel in turn.

In the context of #2 I often think about Hoftadter's I Am a Strange Loop and tangled hiearchies.

It seems like awareness arises when systems that integrate internal and external processing reach a certain amount of complexity.

For non-fiction I'd recommend:

• An Indispensable Truth by Francis Chen - Chen is a world famous Plasma Physicist who stands out in all areas of the field, excelling in theory, experiment and even engineering. In this book he looks at the energy crisis and climate change and the ability of fusion power to solve both. The book is written for laymen but will teach you some pretty cool physics (Raleigh-Taylor instabilities anyone?) so even if you disagree with his conclusions you'll have learned a lot!
  
  
• Towards A New Socialism by Cockshott and Cottrell - Although the title may discourage many - it contains groundbreaking ideas about the application of technology to governance. It introduces and explains many technical concepts such as neural networks etc. and economic theories, and how they may be used to create a working economic system. This is not another left-wing whinging book at all, it is quite technical and I would say it is a must-read for anyone who claims to seriously ponder future governments and socio-economic systems.

https://www.amazon.ca/Nontechnical-Petroleum-Exploration-Drilling-Production/dp/1593702698

Search for pdfs of this title. It's not specific to Alberta but you'll gain a general understanding of the oil and gas industry.

Good summary.

I'd add one more point, related to this quote. I've encountered this in another piece of fiction, and the author actually credited this in part to Metzinger's book called The Ego Tunnel. I'm guessing there's other works that touch on this too. Anyway, the gist is that the conscious self is the content of a model created by our brain—an internal image, but one we cannot experience as an image. Everything we experience is "a virtual self in a virtual reality." But this isn't philosophy not informed by science; Metzinger draws on a whole lot of studies and experiments into human cognition. Worth checking out, although it's a big honking work.

There so many specialized books out there about the O&G life-cycle. Oil 101 is definitely a place to start. Aside from that, understand the step of the O&G life-cycle that your project will focus on and do a deep dive as needed. Ex: Is it exploration, appraisal, development, production, abandonment, etc.?

Few books I would recommend besides Oil 101,

1. Nontechnical Guide to Petroleum Geology, Exploration, Drilling & Production - https://www.amazon.com/Nontechnical-Petroleum-Exploration-Drilling-Production/dp/1593702698/
   
2. Deepwater Petroleum Exploration & Production: A Nontechnical Guide - https://www.amazon.com/Deepwater-Petroleum-Exploration-Production-Nontechnical/dp/1593702531/
   
3. The Global Oil & Gas Industry: Management, Strategy and Finance - https://www.amazon.com/Global-Oil-Gas-Industry-Management/dp/1593702396/

The answer to the headline question is no, a thousand times no.

Even Citi's vice chairman Robert Rubin was blind to e.g. 'liquidity puts' on massive off-balance sheet liabilities, which drastically changed Citi's economics to put in mildly. If Citi doesn't understand their own balance sheet, what chance have you got?

Even Warren Buffett sometimes gets blindsided. For instance, Amazon's cloud is eating IBM's lunch of running corporate IT departments and data centers, commoditizing what used to be a high-ticket, high-margin service business.

Even Warren Buffett puts a lot of stuff (most stuff?) in the too hard pile. Especially Warren Buffett.

You don't have to understand how to drill an oil well (although it helps, see e.g. http://amzn.to/24hNwlw , http://amzn.to/1sIYV22 ). What you have to understand is whether we're going to keep drilling oil wells, whether the guys who own and drill wells are going to keep needing Halliburton, and whether Halliburton can keep earning, growing and making a good return on capital re-invested.

Here are some more cool stuff on Rotating Habitats if your interested.

Here is a video about them by this great Youtube channel Issac Arthur
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86JAU3w9mB8&list=PLIIOUpOge0LtW77TNvgrWWu5OC3EOwqxQ&index=5

And here is the first book I read on them, written by the designer of this concept, Gerald O'neill himself
https://www.amazon.com/High-Frontier-Human-Colonies-Space-ebook/dp/B00CB3SIAI

If you're looking for a good lay explanation, start here: QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter. Nice short book by Feynman.

A Primer of Oilwell Drilling


Oil & Gas Production in Nontechnical Language

The first one is available online, for free, I’ve found.

Read up on the industry so you can ask your uncle informed questions.

Not sure how old you are, or your fitness level, but in past years, a good “entry level” role was working as a rig hand... tough work, but it gave you firsthand experience with a lot of the tools.

I have this book and it's REALLY good.

https://www.amazon.com/Gas-Burners-Forges-Furnaces-Kilns/dp/1879535203/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481605664&sr=1-1&keywords=propane+burners+for+furnaces

Look into nontechnical guides that will give you a broad look into the industry and help you understand it without going into the finer details that can be difficult to grasp. Check your school's library as well, often times they will have them available.

Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Nontechnical-Petroleum-Exploration-Drilling-Production/dp/1593702698

or this: https://www.amazon.com/Oil-Gas-Industry-Nontechnical-Guide/dp/159370254X

My wedding cost a lot more than $400. :D

If you HAVE welding equipment or could borrow it, it would greatly expand your forge possibilities.

• Hammer: A Nordic Forge Rounding Hammer in 1.5# is about $30
  
• Tongs: A GS Tongs Bent Knee tong (for square 3/8" stock probably) is $37
  
• Anvil: A 4"x4" stake anvil will run you about $125 from Old World Anvils
  
• Forge: The forge is the part you'll need to DIY for the $200 you have left.
  
  For building the forge, there's TONS of instructions on the internet, though a lot of them are REALLY small OR for the coal ones, fairly hard to use in practice. I like the forge you build in the book Gas Burners For Forges, Furnaces & Kilns.

Read Ron Reil's pages on gas forges. Read a copy of Gas Burners for Forges, Furnaces, and Kilns by Michael Porter. Browse the old threads on http://www.iforgeiron.com/ and http://knifedogs.com/. It's not difficult to get a burner working with a few hours reading and a couple trips to a good plumbing supply house (or ordered from Grainger, etc.).

That was O'Neill's original plan. I just picked up a new edition of his book, and in the forward he said it turned out not to have much advantage over other high circular orbits.

To quote Richard Feynman
>"...there is also an amplitude for light to go faster (or slower) than the conventional speed of light. You found out in the last lecture that light doesn't go only in straight lines; now, you find out that it doesn't go only at the speed of light! It may surprise you that there is an amplitude for a photon to go at speeds faster or slower than the conventional speed, c."

When Feynman said "amplitude" he meant "the square of the probability of an event." The above quote came from a series of lectures he gave at UCLA that were subsequently published.

Two contemporary books, by western scientists, pretty much confirm the position about "self" found in Buddhist philosophy.

The Self Illusion by Bruce Hood (https://www.amazon.com/Self-Illusion-Social-Creates-Identity/dp/0199988781)

The Ego Tunnel by Thomas Metzinger (https://www.amazon.com/Ego-Tunnel-Science-Mind-Myth/dp/0465020690)

> Or are you saying that it must be the case that anything which can do these tasks must have a first person experience?

Closer to this, but I'm not saying that it would have to be to the level of an "experience," much less that it would necessarily entail the capacity to reflect on it or slice and dice its meaning. Even a Roomba needs some sense or internal modeling of a first-person perspective, emphasis on "some." The unit has to know where it is in relation to a ledge, for example. But even at this rudimentary level there is still the kernel of a self, because something has to be differentiated from the other somethings around which the first something must navigate.

> But why not 'we'?

Because it doesn't mean the same thing. If I lock you in a cell and don't bring you food, you'll starve. "We" (the royal we) could be well-fed and comfortable, but one of us will starve to death. This doesn't hinge on verbiage. You can use other labels if you like, but the underlying facts remain the same. A sandwich being eaten and you getting to eat the sandwich are not the same things. Only one nourishes you.

>Or perhaps there are many different experiences occuring that provide a perception as if there is one entity doing all of it and experiencing all of it.

Perhaps I'm just a Boltzmann brain and I'm imagining all of this. Perhaps this, perhaps that. I focus on how I and others actually engage the world. There is a vast sea of possibilities that we can't prove false. But I want to know how people actually think the world is, and why they think so.

>It's not clear to me what you mean when you refer to yourself.

When you cross the road, do you take care to avoid getting hit by cars? Do you pause in the middle of a busy street to parse what the "I" is you're trying to preserve from being hit by a car?

If you call the police and say someone is trying to kill you, would it make sense for them to say that it's not clear to them what you mean when you refer to yourself? I'm not asking merely if it would be appropriate in that emergency situation, rather I'm saying it would look like a silly and facile question. The question does not seem deep to me. Are you arguing for something, or trying to coax me towards an idea?

Sure, our sense of self can be looked at more closely. I particularly enjoyed Metzinger's The Ego Tunnel, and I've read a number of other books on the neuroscience underlying our sense of self. And there are indeed interesting philosophical conundrums, like the teletransportation problem for one example. But in everyday life we know what "I" and "you" mean. When we ask the waiter to bring us a salad, they know to whom we're referring. I'm using these terms in that colloquial, dictionary sense.

Read "The Ego Tunnel" by Thomas Metzinger.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Ego-Tunnel-Science-Mind/dp/0465020690

Then read "Being No One" by Thomas Metzinger.
http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/being-no-one

The Ego Tunnel is a pretty easy to digest book on the subject matter, Being No One is a pretty heavy book (literally) with lots of complicated formulations that might be very difficult to comprehend without at least some education about the concepts discussed, in it he discusses the self-model theory of subjectivity. Being No One is standard reading for any student of philosophy of the mind.

Study cognitive science.

Metzinger is a German philosopher of the mind and pretty much the leading export on these issues.

Just found a .pdf of Being No One:
http://skepdic.ru/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/BeingNoOne-SelfModelTheoryOfSubjectivity-Metzinger.pdf

A good read on a related topic is The Deep Hot Biosphere by Thomas Gold

this is a good book that i keep as a reference

Some good starting points

https://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Nature-Economics-Survival-Mattered/dp/0865716730/

https://www.amazon.com/Nature-Economic-History-Geerat-Vermeij/dp/069112793X/

https://www.amazon.com/Energy-Civilization-History-MIT-Press/dp/0262035774/

https://www.amazon.com/Overshoot-Ecological-Basis-Revolutionary-Change/dp/0252009886/

https://www.amazon.com/Environment-Power-Society-Twenty-First-Century/dp/0231128878/

https://www.amazon.com/Collapse-Complex-Societies-Studies-Archaeology/dp/052138673X/

http://bpeconomics.org/

https://biophyseco.org/

http://www.amazon.com/Gas-Burners-Forges-Furnaces-Kilns/dp/1879535203
I highly recommend this book.

On the subject of the self, check out the well-researched book Ego Tunnel. It proposes, convincingly, that the self is categorically not some kind of substantial, essential invariant like a spirit or homunculus, but an experiential, transient and brittle construct (it disintegrates when you sleep, for eg) within the broader process of consciousness. There's too much to explain, so check it out.

http://www.amazon.com/Sun-Bottle-Strange-History-Thinking/dp/0670020338

Is a good book to start with. The general idea is that we always think we are close. That a bit more money would solve any current problems. Bigger reactors tend to just have bigger problems.

That being said we may actually be close for the first time in history. DEMO seems like it will be the first reactor to work and it's slated to start running in 2033.

There's a book about exactly this theory called The Deep Hot Biosphere by Gold. I've read it and it's very thought provoking, and well worth reading.

Nontechnical Guide to Petroleum Geology, Exploration, Drilling and Production

Skip some chapters and read the others.

Also, the Unwritten Laws of Engineering.

> Fusion - how long has that been five or ten years away for now?

This is a great read on the histry and bullshit of fusion

That is not to say we shouldn't research but it is not a savior.

The Ego Tunnel: The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self by Thomas Metzinger

https://www.amazon.com/Ego-Tunnel-Science-Mind-Myth/dp/0465020690

Read The Ego Tunnel by Thomas Metzinger

http://www.amazon.com/The-Ego-Tunnel-Science-Mind/dp/0465020690

http://www.amazon.com/Oil-Gas-Pipelines-Nontechnical-Language/dp/159370058X

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0123876931/ref=mp_s_a_1_9?qid=1449196720&sr=8-9&pi=AC_SX110_SY165&keywords=Pipeline

You are using the word theory wrong. If it means what you think it does, please explain the book Gas Turbine Theory. Do you believe we just have to "guess" at how they work?

What type of Space Station O'Neill Cylinder (i.e. Babylon 5), or a ring station, or a 0g space station? O'Neill Cylinders could handle just about anything, a Island 3 Type O'Neill Cylinder is as wide as B5 was supposed to be long 20 Miles by 5 Miles. 0g limits the types of foods you can grow but it is still possible. If you can't guess I recommend O'Neill Cylinders.

The Round Table - Gerard K. O'Neill, Issac Asimov.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DM88sUBTTRM

The High Frontier: Human Colonies In Space by Gerard O'Neill
https://www.amazon.com/High-Frontier-Human-Colonies-Space-ebook/dp/B00CB3SIAI

there is no self there ! Aaaaaaaah !

The Ego Tunnel, Thomas Metzinger.

Reading this book liberated me from the lingering doubts I had about the supernatural. It shows that even when an experience is vivid, compelling, or even hyper-real that it is not necessary to take it as confirmation of vitalism, dualism or any other variety of supernatural thinking. Supernature is superfluous.

Our explanations of such experiences are usually wrong because they are based on cultural assumptions and an inability to really think analytically. It turns out that human's are really bad at solo reasoning and, more often than not, fall into fallacies and biases. We extrapolate our private experiences into ontological conclusions and we are almost always just wrong. Liberated from the mill stone of pre-scientific thinking about experience, we can begin to pay attention to what is actually happening in experience without all the overlays from culture and tradition.

Most of us are so loaded up with half-understood doctrine that we have no possibility of having an experience without unconsciously and automatically overlaying it with interpretations drawn from our existing beliefs. Thus we never really pay attention to the qualities of the experience itself. We're always dealing at one layer of abstraction remove. Most of the Buddhism we've learned just gets in the way of experience in the end.

I spent the first 10 years of being a Buddhist reading dozens of books, and the second 10 years discovering that most of what I read was useless or wrong or both. Metzinger's book might help others take a shorter route. He's completely wrong about Buddhism, but it's still the most important book on how the mind words that I've read because of how it make me reconsider my own conclusions.

We. Me. I.

What is an I? Where is the "thing" that is the stuff of a separate entity somewhere under your skin, behind your eyes?

The reality is that there is no center to one's experience. No separate long-lasting "me" that experiences. Only experience itself. The ego arises out of thought, and a "me" is just a concept that the thinking mind conjures up. No agent means no agency. No chooser.

While on first glance this may sounds either incredibly stupid, confusing or woo-woo. But take a look and see.

I suggest you check out this video by Sam Harris that explores the concept of "illusion of self."
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/wakingup

Or a book by Bruce Hood that scientifically explains this illusion:
http://www.amazon.com/Self-Illusion-Social-Creates-Identity/dp/0199988781

Or others:

http://www.amazon.com/Ego-Tunnel-Science-Mind-Myth/dp/0465020690/ref=pd_sim_14_1?ie=UTF8&dpID=61R1WPTGL%2BL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL320_SR216%2C320_&refRID=0DKBDNE0ZCT2P7423FK2

http://www.amazon.com/Ego-Trick-Julian-Baggini/dp/1847082734/ref=pd_sim_14_5?ie=UTF8&dpID=41AJedx6m9L&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR101%2C160_&refRID=1A6QPVE3CNXPPJFX84Z9

Once you break the spell of "self-identity", unity arises.