Found Items: Physics Equations

This weekend at the bookstore, a family brought in six large plastic bins full of science books. The books had belonged to the wife/mother's brother. He had recently passed away.

As we went through the books, it became increasingly more clear what a rare gift we'd been given. Science and math books don't find their way to the bookstore very often. When they do, they're usually very, very outdated. But these books were absolutely beautiful and new. He had obviously loved his books well, and, judging by the little pieces of paper with notes on them that we found in each book, he must have read every single one of them.

The variety was mind-boggling: microbiology, neuroscience, astronomy, quantum theory. And those are just the ones that I can remember (and pronounce). One of our fellow volunteers is a science buff. We had to consult with him to even figure out what some of these books were about!

I have to say that watching his face light up when he realized what all the books were about was priceless. It's a good lesson to keep in mind, folks. I used to hold on to all of my books, but now I think I'll always give all but the ones I like the most away. If you're also a reader, then you can probably imagine how much joy you feel when you find a book that you've always wanted for cheap.

At any rate, this man was obviously a genius and a modern-day Renaissance Man. I thank his family from the bottom of my heart for sharing this gift. Here is a page of some of his physics equations that I found in one of the books: