Chaos Versus the Multiverse

“Science predicts only the predictable….It is only the way we look at the universe that gives us the illusion of structure.”

Dr. Noson Yanofsky authored my favorite book of 2013, “The Outer Limits of Reason” (and in fact one of my favorite books of all time!), and now has a new provocative Nautilus article out weaving together more interesting topics, including number systems, the octonions, multiverse theory, and the way our perception acts as a sieve for the patterns we recognize and structure that may be an illusion. I recommend both physicists and mathematicians give it a whirl:

http://nautil.us/issue/49/the-absurd/chaos-makes-the-multiverse-unnecessary

Dr. Yanofsky and Category Theory

Delighted to see Dr. Noson Yanofsky getting some further publicity in this piece from FQXi on category theory:

http://fqxi.org/community/articles/display/192

I interviewed Yanofsky last year after reviewing his popular work, "The Outer Limits of Reason," which I regard as the best, most important book I've read in a very long spell. I'll again reiterate that anyone interested in cross-disciplinary math-science-related fields ought devour this volume!

Yanofsky on "7th Avenue Project"

My favorite book of 2013 (and one of my favorites EVER!), though not strictly a math book, was Noson Yanofsky's "The Outer Limits of Reason." Yesterday, the author was interviewed on the "7th Avenue Project" (a great radio series, I've just learned of). Try to set aside an hour for a listen:

https://soundcloud.com/7th-avenue-project/noson-yanofsky-radio-interview-the-outer-limits-of-reason
[You may wish to check their archives for past episodes as well.]

I hope you've read Dr. Yanofsky's book, but if not, this podcast will give the flavor of what he discusses therein.

Thursday Potpourri

1) I'm delighted to learn that Noson Yanofsky's "The Outer Limits of Reason" has won a PROSE Award in the "Popular Science and Popular Mathematics" category for 2013.

"The PROSE Awards annually recognize the very best in professional and scholarly publishing by bringing attention to distinguished books, journals, and electronic content in over 40 categories. Judged by peer publishers, librarians, and medical professionals since 1976, the PROSE Awards are extraordinary for their breadth and depth."

I LOVED this volume, calling it a "phenomenal book" in my review last November (indeed it is my FAVORITE book of the last couple decades, and I'm glad to see it get further acknowledgement!):

http://mathtango.blogspot.com/2013/11/phenomenal-book.html

Congratulations to Dr. Yanofsky!

2) And in the 'suddenly-it-came-to-me' category, another nice story on the continuing saga of Yitang Zhang and his work on the twin-prime saga conjecture:

http://tinyurl.com/mbukg36

excerpt:

" 'There's nothing wrong with working at a Subway, but normally these proofs, these breakthroughs, are achieved by those that are working at Princeton, Harvard, these kind of really elite places,' Tony Padilla, a physics professor at the UK's University of Nottingham, says... 'And now we've got somebody who's literally come out of nowhere, that no one expected to produce this kind of results, and has done something impressive that many great minds were unable to do'...
"Zhang himself, a self-described 'shy person,' said in a UNH statement that the proof came to him during a vacation in Colorado, when he was feeling particularly relaxed. 'I didn't bring any notes, any books, any paper,' he said. 'And suddenly it came to me.' "

3) Last week I was writing about the age-old topic of math and beauty over at MathTango and now a new study points to a neuroscience substrate linking the two:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-26151062 

4) Finally, h/t to Derek Smith of AMS blogs for pointing out a nice listing of interesting math-related documentaries available from this MathOverflow page:

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/100033/interesting-mathematical-documentaries