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Topic: Read any good books? (Read 6189 times) |
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Sir Col
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Read any good books?
« on: Sep 4th, 2003, 9:12am » |
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It struck me that between us we've probably read, and are able to constructively critique, a library worth of books. Perhaps we could use this thread to recommend for reading, or avoiding, books covering whatever may appeal to the mindset of members of the forum.
My personal taste lies with biographical/historical works of mathematicians. In accordance with this I will start by recommending three books. It might help, if we give a quick review of the book, we also add a personal rating out of 5...
Euler: The Master of Us All, by William Dunham
An outstanding account of the life and mathematics of, perhaps, one of the greatest mathematicians to have lived. Covering the history and methods (details and proofs) of some of his greatest mathematical achievements.
Rating: 5/5
Prime Obsession: Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics, by John Derbyshire
A beautiful biographical account of the life of Riemann, presenting the history and context of his famous 1859 paper and following its widespread impact up to recent mathematics. The author is very brave with regards the level and depth of mathematics covered, but his excellent writing and ability to expound with clarity makes it all the more enjoyable and interesting.
Rating: 5/5
Mathematics and the Imagination, by Edward Kasner and James Newman
This is an old book, first published in 1940, and to my knowledge is only available from Dover Publications now. The authors take the reader on a diverse tour of mathematics. In one sense, Martin Gardener has recreated this with his popular books on recreational mathematics; the difference being, these authors take no prisoners on their rollercoaster journey through some fascinating and challenging mathematics.
Rating: 4/5
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| « Last Edit: Sep 4th, 2003, 9:15am by Sir Col » |
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Sir Col
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Re: Read any good books?
« Reply #1 on: Sep 4th, 2003, 9:39am » |
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Some good mathematical puzzle books...
Five Hundred Mathematical Challenges, by Edward Barbeau, Murray Klamkin, and William Moser
A superb collection of 500 (obviously) problems of varying areas of mathematics; difficulty ranging from high school to olympiad level. The solutions are detailed and the emphasis of the authors is to offer efficient and logical approaches to all of the challenges.
Rating: 4/5
The Inquisitive Problem Solver, by Paul Vaderlind, Richard Guy, and Loren Larson
Written in a similar style to the last book, with the addition of a hints section and extensions. The problems are largely original and although they start relatively easy, they cover some very challenging problems with difficult generalisations.
Rating: 4/5
The Mathematical Olympiad Handbook: An Introduction to Problem Solving Based on the First 32 British Mathematical Olympiads 1965-1996, by Tony Gardiner
An excellent resource covering general techniques in problem solving, a comprehensive reading list, and, of course, the BMO papers from 1965 to 1996. Gardiner expects an active involvement throughout and even in solutions he refuses to provide all of the answers, leaving the reader to complete solutions.
Rating: 5/5
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| « Last Edit: Sep 4th, 2003, 9:40am by Sir Col » |
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ThudnBlunder
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Re: Read any good books?
« Reply #2 on: Sep 4th, 2003, 10:13am » |
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I am presently reading The Code Book by Simon Singh (1999), a highly entertaining and accessible introduction to the history of codes and code-breaking.
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| « Last Edit: Jan 18th, 2006, 8:36am by ThudnBlunder » |
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william wu
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Re: Read any good books?
« Reply #3 on: Sep 4th, 2003, 4:17pm » |
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I maintain a small reading list of my own at http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/readordie/readordie.shtml. You might like to read the articles at the top of the page by richard hamming and herbert wilf.
I'll recommend one here:
Mathematics: The Man-Made Universe, by Sherman Stein
Stein gives a very entertaining introduction to many fascinating topics in mathematics, including sperner's lemma, map coloring, travelling salesmen, strange algebras, memory wheels, prime numbers, infinity, and tiling. Although his proofs are rigorous, Stein's writing is so accessible that the reader's only prerequisite is basic arithmetic! Problems are included after each chapter, ranging from very easy to unsolved worldwide. A great book for getting someone hooked on math.
Rating: 5/5
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maryl
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I have to give credit to Hemingway, and the feeling of freedom all his books give. He really did rock.
Of course my ultimate book would be the Bible, but that is a spiritual craving of it's own.
And last but not least is any book of poetry.
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ThudnBlunder
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Re: Read any good books?
« Reply #5 on: Jan 18th, 2006, 8:38am » |
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The End of Science by John Horgan.
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JocK
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Re: Read any good books?
« Reply #6 on: Jan 18th, 2006, 11:47am » |
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Good idea to revive this thread.
Currently I am reading (or should I say studying?) Roger Penrose's The Road to Reality.
The book takes you from the roots of science (Plato, Euclid, Pythagoras) via subjects as diverse as Riemann surfaces, Clifford algebras, fibre bundles, Minkowskian geometry and Quantum algebra to the most fundamental laws of physics.
Written by a mathematician, this is the first popular science book that does not avoid equations, but goes deep into the beauty of the mathematics that represents our present understanding of the universe.
Hundreds of diagrams, thousands of equations, 1100 pages loaded with the insights of one of the world's most brilliant minds.
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solving abstract problems is like sex: it may occasionally have some practical use, but that is not why we do it.
xy - y = x5 - y4 - y3 = 20; x>0, y>0.
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ThudnBlunder
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Re: Read any good books?
« Reply #7 on: Jan 19th, 2006, 7:28am » |
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Sounds good, Jock.
I have reserved it at the local library. 
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ThudnBlunder
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Re: Read any good books?
« Reply #8 on: Feb 17th, 2006, 2:47am » |
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The Art of Intrusion by Kevin Mitnick and William Simon (2005)
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| « Last Edit: Feb 17th, 2006, 2:48am by ThudnBlunder » |
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rmsgrey
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Re: Read any good books?
« Reply #9 on: Feb 17th, 2006, 6:22am » |
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Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder
Still the best overview of the history of Philosophy I've come across and a reasonable story with it. The book is probably aimed at mid-teens, but that really just means that the philosophy has actually been explained in a way that the layman can grasp, rather than being aimed at Philosophy majors...
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Barukh
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Re: Read any good books?
« Reply #10 on: Feb 23rd, 2006, 3:31am » |
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The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes.
One of the most interesting and dramatic books I've read in years. The author has also written a sequel:
Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb
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Barukh
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Re: Read any good books?
« Reply #11 on: Apr 9th, 2007, 11:52pm » |
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Have anybody read the following book:
"Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared Diamond.
My friend told me it's worth reading.
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towr
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Re: Read any good books?
« Reply #12 on: Apr 10th, 2007, 1:38am » |
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on Apr 9th, 2007, 11:52pm, Barukh wrote:Have anybody read the following book:
"Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared Diamond.
My friend told me it's worth reading. |
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It sounds interesting enough from looking at the review at http://dannyreviews.com/h/Guns_Germs_Steel.html
A shame you can't look inside the book at amazon. That's always a good way to see if the writing style and subject agree with you..
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Wikipedia, Google, Mathworld, Integer sequence DB
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JiNbOtAk
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Re: Read any good books?
« Reply #13 on: Apr 10th, 2007, 2:31am » |
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A brief history of time by Stephen Hawking I thought that would the obvious choice here !! A 5/5 for keeping it simple for laymen like me.
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ThudnBlunder
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Re: Read any good books?
« Reply #14 on: Apr 10th, 2007, 6:00pm » |
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on Apr 10th, 2007, 2:31am, JiNbOtAk wrote:| A brief history of time by Stephen Hawking I thought that would the obvious choice here !! A 5/5 for keeping it simple for laymen like me. |
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But his grand conclusion is that time is imaginary. 
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Icarus
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Re: Read any good books?
« Reply #15 on: Apr 10th, 2007, 8:41pm » |
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Actually, that was Einstein's conclusion. Stephen just plagiarized it! 
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JiNbOtAk
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Re: Read any good books?
« Reply #16 on: Apr 13th, 2007, 1:41am » |
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on Apr 10th, 2007, 6:00pm, ThudanBlunder wrote:
But his grand conclusion is that time is imaginary.
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What, you're saying it's not ?? 
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ThudnBlunder
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Re: Read any good books?
« Reply #17 on: Apr 13th, 2007, 8:33am » |
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on Apr 13th, 2007, 1:41am, JiNbOtAk wrote:
What, you're saying it's not ?? |
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When I reach the speed of light I will let you know.
on Sep 4th, 2003, 9:12am, Sir Col wrote:
Euler: The Master of Us All, by William Dunham |
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It's rather expensive and not in my local library. But this, this and this (by the same highly-rated author) are; so I will reserve them and, as they are cheaper, perhaps even buy them.
on Sep 4th, 2003, 9:12am, Sir Col wrote:
Prime Obsession: Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics, by John Derbyshire. |
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Ah, this one I have as an ebook.
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| « Last Edit: Apr 13th, 2007, 9:17am by ThudnBlunder » |
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JiNbOtAk
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Re: Read any good books?
« Reply #18 on: Apr 19th, 2007, 9:49pm » |
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Oh yeah, another book all of us is waiting for, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. 
Should be available in June. July ( as noted by SMQ )
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| « Last Edit: Apr 20th, 2007, 7:42pm by JiNbOtAk » |
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SMQ
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Re: Read any good books?
« Reply #19 on: Apr 20th, 2007, 4:23am » |
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July 21, and if you somehow get it before then and post any spoilers here, I will personally track you down, Malaysia or not, and slap you silly! 
--SMQ
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Barukh
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Re: Read any good books?
« Reply #20 on: Nov 18th, 2011, 1:05am » |
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I would like to revive this thread once again. Here are a few books I've read lately which I would recommend to everybody at this forum:
"Euler's Gem" by D. Richeson - an excellent account on the history of topology.
"Just Six Numbers" by M. Rees - why the constants of nature have specific values, and what would happen to our universe if they were different.
"Measuring the Universe" by S. Webb - how scientists learned to measure distances to astronomical objects, from ancient Greeks to nowaday's space telescopes. Also an excellent reading.
I am also planning to read the following book:
"A History of Western Philosophy" by B. Russel.
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| « Last Edit: Nov 18th, 2011, 1:06am by Barukh » |
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ThudnBlunder
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Re: Read any good books?
« Reply #21 on: Nov 18th, 2011, 3:04am » |
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A Writer at War
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Barukh
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Re: Read any good books?
« Reply #22 on: Nov 18th, 2011, 4:42am » |
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on Nov 18th, 2011, 3:04am, ThudnBlunder wrote:
I should definitely try this!
Have you read his book Life and Fate? I read it in late 80-s, when I was living in the former Soviet Union; and was greatly impressed.
The history of the novel is interesting in its own right.
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ThudnBlunder
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Re: Read any good books?
« Reply #23 on: Nov 18th, 2011, 5:59am » |
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on Nov 18th, 2011, 4:42am, Barukh wrote:
No, but I haave read a bit of Solzhenitsyn.
I really like The Pleasures of Counting.
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malchar
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Re: Read any good books?
« Reply #24 on: Nov 20th, 2011, 12:28pm » |
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on Apr 9th, 2007, 11:52pm, Barukh wrote:Have anybody read the following book:
"Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared Diamond.
My friend told me it's worth reading. |
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I don't read much, but I have read some of Diamond's other popular work Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed and watched the film version. It is quite interesting, and changed my view of ancient civilizations. I have heard good things about Guns, Germs, and Steel, but alas there is no film version.
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