Just a filler post today to pass along 3 non-math books I’ve perused/enjoyed lately:
1) (Physicist) Paul Steinhardt’s “The Second Kind of Impossible” is one of the more interesting (to me) popular physics volumes I’ve seen for awhile. Partly because it entails a bit of adventure along with the science/physics, but also because its main focus, quasicrystals, isn’t covered that much in other works. Since quasicrystals leads into a lot of discussion of symmetry there IS some mathy feel to parts of the text as well. The book gets away from some of the cosmology debates that frequent a lot of popular physics writing these days (though with that said, I did also enjoy Sabine Hossenfelder's "Lost In Math" volume). Steinhardt is an award-winning Princeton theoretical physicist well-known for offering alternative notions to the popular 'multiverse' view of cosmology.
2) No doubt many of you will agree with me that the greatest living writer of English literature is Dave Barry ;) and his latest work, “Lessons From Lucy” is a must read for all dog lovers, probably all pet lovers, and generally lovers of fine literature everywhere, or simply those in need of a little self-help philosophy-of-life. Dave, now past 70, recounts lessons he’s learned about life from his mutt Lucy. Hysterically funny, in patented Barryesque-style, though with a final section (about a family matter) that completely veers off in an unexpectedly different, but poignant and touching, direction and tone. Just perhaps more 'self-help' available in this little volume than in many books approaching the topic more seriously.
3) William Poundstone is among my favorite popular writers, in part because he often deals with topics related to human cognition that interest me. Somehow I missed his 2016 volume, “Head In the Cloud” which basically reviews the ‘shocking ignorance’ of citizens in today’s world, with a lot of focus on the much-cited “Dunning-Kruger” effect. He has recommendations to improve the situation, but, given that the book came out in 2016, I have to wonder if he still sees hope after watching Trump get elected in November of that year! There are lots of examples and surveys (some of which I was a bit skeptical of), and I very much enjoyed the book overall (it's my favorite of the 3 mentioned here), though it bogged down a bit toward the end. It was timely, if not prescient in 2016, and just as timely now. I mean we humans need to be reminded repeatedly what doofuses we are.
[On Wednesday, by the way, I posted about one question posed in the volume.]
[On Wednesday, by the way, I posted about one question posed in the volume.]
Anyway, I recommend all 3 of these books, varied as they are.
[For next Sunday another mathematician 'profile' is in the works...]
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