FIRST, great initial entries coming in to prior post. Please continue to send along your favorite postings for inclusion....
On to today's post:
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While scanning my bookshelf recently I noted that two authors I’ve especially enjoyed, are less referenced (in my experience) than several others, so thought I’d toss a little light in their direction:
1) One is British mathematician (and retired teacher) David Wells, who I suspect is better known ‘across the pond’ than here in the U.S. I have three of his books and love them all!:
The Penguin Book of Curious and Interesting Mathematics
Prime Numbers: The Most Mysterious Figures in Math
Games and Mathematics: Subtle Connections
Highly recommend all of these, or, sight unseen, any of his other volumes:
He has a Martin Gardner-like knack for drawing attention to interesting mathematical content/ideas.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find web links to many of his articles, but here is one that is often cited, having to do with beautiful equations (from “The Mathematical Intelligencer” — also, many of his books are accessible on Google Books):
[If anyone knows of free links to others of his popular math essays, please pass them along in the comments.]
Here also, a transcribed interview with him concerning undergraduate math education:
Anyway, if you enjoy popular math writing and aren’t familiar with Wells’ work I suggest looking him up!
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2) The second person I want to cite here is Bart Kosko, a bit of a polymath with bachelors degrees in Philosophy and in Economics from the University of Southern California, a masters degree in Applied Mathematics from the University of California at San Diego, and Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of California at Irvine. He also has a J.D. degree from Concord Law School, and is a licensed California attorney.
And he’s been previously called “a celebrated maverick in the world of science.”
A partial list of his essays here (including many for John Brockman's "Edge" organization):
Kosko is especially well-known for his promotion of "fuzzy logic" as opposed to the conventional Aristotelian or binary logic we are accustomed to. His most well-known book is “Fuzzy Thinking: The New Science of Fuzzy Logic,” which you can read about here:
[You can also find the volume on Google Books.]
And he’s also author of “Nanotime,” “Heaven In a Chip: Fuzzy Visions of Society,” and “Noise.”
Short YouTube video of him here:
And finally here is audio of him on the late night talk radio show “Coast To Coast” talking about defense, AI, technology, and other matters:
Anyway, two very different folks and writers, both of whom I think deserving of attention.
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