Hacker News Reader

I think this article is being somewhat selective in it's evidence. Several great mathematicians were highly selective in what they published, e.g., Gauss and Riemann. I don't think Einstein published that many papers. Though it might be the case that gauging quality is easier in math and physics, so being prolific is less important.

View on HN

Gauss and Riemann may have been selective publishers, but they produced and thought about topics constantly. We can see this in their correspondence and private notes.

They probably weren't making lists of topics they wanted to study one day and getting stuck not even starting.

>They probably weren't making lists of topics they wanted to study one day and getting stuck not even starting.

Is that common? I have this problem of making lists of things that I want to do, but typically it doesn't get much further than that. I feel like a constantly plan, but never do anything.

Also, I agree regarding those that may have selectively published, it doesn't mean that they weren't incredibly prolific.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com