Robert!
Thanks for the suggestions.
The metaphor I am currently working on is of a well used chisel. Its tip
has been smeared out by the work it has done.
The big news for me here is hearing from you. I have missed your
"voice"!!!Where are you, what are you doing, and what have you become
Quanta Magazine recently had a nice illustration of entropy
https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-is-entropy-a-measure-of-just-how-little-we-really-know-20241213/I
would say addition of heat increases disorder/entropy in general because in a
typical thermodynamic system which is isolated from the
Personally, I found it easier to learn about entropy by starting from
thermodynamics and then later trying to grok the statistical mechanical
perspective. Maybe start with a good thermodynamics textbook? A couple of
popular science options are Hanlon’s *Block by Block* and Atkins’
*Thermodynamics*
