Re: [Phys-l] Lecture vs Advocacy

[Jack Uretsky <jlu@hep.anl.gov>]

Hi all-
	I interpret this as confirming my experience in the world of the 
theater; there are many would-be actors, but very few become popular  with 
their audiences.
	But there are few actors who do not have a litany of self-serving 
reasons for their lack of popularity.
			Regards,
				Jack
On Sun, 4 May 2008, Brian Whatcott wrote:

> I was driving a trailer to a horse show yesterday. NPR was tuned;
> Click And Clack had finished and a comedian's talk show was running.
>  Feldman is not a particular enthusiasm of mine.
>  But he does invite an eclectic variety of guests to interview.
>
>     I was not paying much attention. The guest mentioned Faraday.
>  I have his experimental researches. Then my attention was quickly riveted.
> The guest - Johnson - mentioned a gas lantern with a polarizer placed
> before a big electromagnet.
>
>  Faraday looked through another polarizer - as it might be, a pair
> of sunglasses,
>  as Johnson put it, to extinguish the lantern's light.     When he
> switched on the
> electromagnet, the lantern reappeared. I knew about that. You knew about that
> effect too -  the rotation of the polarization plane of light by a magnet.
>
> Johnson was talking about his book - Ten Beautiful Experiments - and I was
> shocked how powerfully this commentary differed from my received opinion
> about the inadequacy of the lecture method.
>    As far as I can tell, lectures do not generally convey enthusiasm, insight
>  and pleasure: but advocates overcome our barriers with just these virtues.
>
>
> Brian Whatcott    Altus OK    Eureka!
>
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"Trust me.  I have a lot of experience at this."
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		just before leading them into the Little Big Horn Valley