Today I went on a quest to find Dava Sobel's new book, "The Planets." Since it was a new release, I assumed I'd have better luck in a larger chain store than a smaller, old-school bookshop. So I went to my local Books, Etc. Nice place; in a mall and everything. JK Rowling had a signing there- fairly high profile. Such a place should have the latest book from the author of Longitude; after all, that was on TV.

So I went up to the enquiries desk.

"Do you have any books on astronomy?" I asked.

"Astronomy, yes. Try the New Age section."

Now I am a naive enough person to assume that the man had not confused "astronomy" with "astrology" and that, for some reason, books on astronomy were included in the New Age section. So I went over there, and found that the New Age section comprised three entire shelves, floor to ceiling, but no books on astronomy.

So I returned to enquiries, my "Talking to idiots" cap firmly on my head.

"Do you have a science section?" I asked.

"Yees.. try the reference section near children's literature."

OK. Reference. Lots of titles on how to fill out your tax forms, or the philosophy of religion, but no science books. At all.

So I left in a huff, determined never to buy anything from that coffee-stained hell-hole ever again.

On a happy note, I did eventually find the book. In a small, old-school bookshop, among many other intellectually stimulating titles.

But please, what is happening to the world when a major bookshop can have three shelves devoted to half-baked New Age mysticism and no books on science?

What do you expect when more people know whats going on between Brad/Jen/Angelina than know who their state senator is. All one has to do it look at the Mainstream TV lineups to get your finger on the pulse of the American public.

True science means asking questions and the willingness to explore your beliefs and discard any that are found to be errant. For most people that takes too much time and effort/

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The More I learn, The More Ignorant I Become

Eagle Eye Observatory

And who is Brad/jen/Angelina...or more accurately, who on this board cares about them, and their...shall we say mating habits to keep it clean...ish.

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Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.

--Niels Bohr, Danish Physicist.

What we need is an all science bookstore.

Did you try barnes & noble?

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Ay, amor
Dime como debo hacer
Para arrancarme este deseo
Que no me deja ni comer
Y que me da cuando te veo

Going to book stores in general is getting to be a big drag. I look for Weatherwise magazine and I see more rag mags dedicated to thinning one's self and how to please one's man than science journals. I look for a book for my political book club, and I see more "I Hate Liberals" and "Oh, Yeah? Well I Hate Conservatives" books than more level-headed publications. I go to the Earth Sciences section (no Books, Etc. in my area) and half of the weather books are about how global warming is going to produce basketball-sized hail, boiling oceans, continent-sized hurricanes, and beachfront property in Phoenix.

What really scares me is thinking of who actually pays good money on stuff like this. I'm all for freedom of the press and all, but it really fumes me when people seem to write and publish stuff just to a) inflate their ego in a childish manner (Ann Coulter, I'm looking at you) or b) make money off of sensationalist tactics.

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These aren't the droids you're looking for.

I've resorted to mostly using Amazon.com, though the bookstore on my campus generally has good stuff.