Comment by eigenhombre | Hacker News Reader

Comment by eigenhombre | Hacker News Reader

I do like some "hard" fiction like the Stephenson mentioned in TFA, as well as Pynchon and David Foster Wallace, but my mind immediately went to some of the harder technical writing I've enjoyed - The Art of Computer Programming; SICP and other Lisp texts, math books, etc.

I once spent a very pleasant short vacation on a beach on Lake Michigan reading Peter Gabriel Bergmann's "Introduction to the Theory of Relativity," finding pleasure in gradually unraveling the notation, the mathematics, and the ideas, in a quiet and beautiful setting.

It always surprises me when I meet engineers who don't enjoy reading technical books, but different strokes and all that. It takes a kind of patience and persistence to unravel a technical text, which can be its own reward if you're not trying to solve a specific technical problem at the moment.

When i started reading the Common Lisp Reference Manual i knew neither English nor Lisp. When i finished it reading it for the first time, i learned English better. I read it again 3 times, then i started learning Lisp.

Don't leave us hanging, what happened at the end of the beach on Lake Michigan?

Jokes aside, I do the no note taking on the first read thing as well. Because I like reading, I do sometimes skip the problems in technical books the first time round, but I'm consciously aware it's a form of procrastination when I'm doing it.

> "but my mind immediately went to some of the harder technical writing I've enjoyed [...] math books"

What are your favorite Math books, and what texts did you enjoy the most? Could you please share the titles?

My very first was Naive Set Theory by Paul Halmos. Way over my head in 7th(?) grade but my first intro to math beyond pre-algebra stuff.

Lately I've enjoyed, but did not finish, the Joy of Abstraction by Eugenia Cheng, on category theory. And there was a differential geometry book whose name I have forgotten but whose exercises I really enjoyed, because I could do them in my head while riding the bus, just by thinking about them.

I'm not particularly well read on mathematics (had a lot of math in college, hardly any since) but I would like to circle back to reading more at some point.

Thanks for your reply.

The Halmos book is on my to-read list for some months. Will bump it!

I also started reading the Cheng book, but I did not finish it either.

Let me know the name of the Diff. Geometry book when you remember it.

And wish you the best on your plans of circling back.

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