Thursday, January 6, 2011

Math Miscellany

The annual joint mathematics meeting of the Mathematical Association of America, American Mathematical Society, and four other groups has begun in New Orleans. Even if you're not there you may find something of interest at the website for the meeting:

http://www.ams.org/meetings/national/jmm/2125_intro.html

And at the opposite end of the spectrum, I recently came across this page where examples of mathematical 'crackpottery' are listed (looks like there might be some "fun" reading here, though I haven't had time to really look it over enough yet):

http://www.crank.net/maths.html

Finally (and swinging the pendulum back again), for many years now, Harper-Collins has put out a series of end-of-year anthologies on a variety of subjects: "Best Science Writing of 2010," "Best Spiritual Writing of ....," "Best Essay Writing of ....," et. al. Though I like many anthologies, I often find these particular volumes a bit disjointed and only partially engaging --- worthy of a single reading and then off to a used bookstore or thrift shop (as opposed to going up on my shelf for re-relishing multiple times).
Still, I'm happy to see that Princeton University Press has filled a void left by Harper-Collins, by now putting out "The Best Writing On Mathematics 2010." I received a review copy, and scanning the chapters and authors, look forward to reading it; just don't know how long that will take, or if I'll review it here. At first glance it looks to have something for everyone (who's interested in math).

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