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Richard Chambers
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2004 5:47 pm
Post subject: Re: Book recommendations for Christmas and 2005. |
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"Laura F Spira" <laura@DRAGONspira.fsbusiness.co.uk> wrote
| Quote: |
In computer science, I would recommend one of the many excellent books
on
Fractals, such as "The Beauty of Fractals" by H O Peitgen (going by
memory -
I do not have a copy of the book to hand). A fractal is an infinitely
convoluted surface or boundary. A good everyday example of a
near-fractal is
the lung, with a cubic capacity of (I'm guessing) 2 litres, but because
its
surface is so convoluted it has a surface area equal to that of a tennis
court. This convolution is essential for the efficient working of the
lung,
because you need the large surface area so that the lungs can take in
oxygen
at the rate required to sustain your bodily activities. The new (well,
mostly 1990s) Fractal Science can simulate many different types of
fractal
as computer images. Some of these images are stunningly beautiful, and
the
book is worth reading just for the pictures alone.
A most fortuitous recommendation - might help me to understand the
student who has enquired about doing a PhD relating fractals to the
Capital Asset Pricing Model.
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Chaos Theory and Fractals are related subjects. To understand Capital Asset
Pricing Models, I suspect that you will need a book that concentrates more
on the former. For the simplest introduction, go back to the dog in the
night-time, but this time concentrate on the chapter where he discusses the
chaotic rise and fall of animal populations. This chaotic and unpredicable
rise and fall occurs because
1. In order to survive in the gene pool, an animal (or an entire species)
must have the capability to over-reproduce. An animal that did not have this
capability, and which could reproduce only to the extent necessary to
replace losses by death, would become extinct at the first disaster that
might strike.
2. (Mendel) Population growth unrestrained by starvation, disease or
predation is exponential. "Exponential" is a mathematician's way of saying
that things get rapidly out-of-control. For example, the exponential series
1, 2, 4, 8, 16 etc becomes (approximately) 1,000 at stage 10, and 1,000,000
at stage 20.
3. As the population of prey increases, predators find life easier and
also start to over-reproduce. The mathematics of the predator-prey
relationship is very sensitive to small changes in relative numbers. There
is what electronic engineers call "positive feedback", which greatly
magnifies the effect of any small change of the relative numbers. This
results in an unpredictable "boom and bust" of both prey and predator.
The mathematics of the Capital Asset Pricing Model, I suspect, will be
similar (in general terms, but not in detail) to the mathematics of the
chaotic variations of animal population.
To move beyond "The dog in the night-time" exposition, I recommend reading
selected chapters of the popular "Chaos : The amazing science of the
unpredictable" by James Gleick. Particularly the chapter on the Butterfly
Effect.
Richard Chambers Leeds UK.
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Richard Chambers
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2004 5:47 pm
Post subject: Re: Book recommendations for Christmas and 2005. |
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"Richard Chambers" <richard.chambers7@NOSPAMntlworld.com> wrote
| Quote: | 2. (Mendel) Population growth unrestrained by starvation, disease or
predation is exponential. "Exponential" is a mathematician's way of
saying
that things get rapidly out-of-control. For example, the exponential
series
1, 2, 4, 8, 16 etc becomes (approximately) 1,000 at stage 10, and
1,000,000
at stage 20.
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Quickly correcting myself, before anybody else does. Malthus, not Mendel.
Richard Chambers Leeds UK. |
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Mickwick
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2004 5:48 pm
Post subject: Re: Same root, different beast [was: Book recommendations fo |
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In alt.usage.english, Jess Askin wrote:
| Quote: | "Mickwick" <mickwick@use.reply.to> wrote in message
The Skeptical [sic] Environmentalist? (Flawed but fun.)
Guns, Germs and Steel? (Sometimes almost too basic. He repeats
everything about ten times.)
And gets a little carried away with his theory. It works a lot better for
the pre-historic period, possibly because they aren't around to explain
themselves.
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He does get carried away, doesn't he?
Like Ross, I got fed up with the repetition and put it to one side a
couple of months ago. I could sustain interest in the last few chapters
I read only by looking for nits to pick. If the nits get more plentiful
towards the end - well, I might finish it after all. Thanks for the tip!
--
Mickwick
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Mickwick
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2004 5:48 pm
Post subject: Re: Same root, different beast [was: Book recommendations fo |
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In alt.usage.english, Ross Howard wrote:
| Quote: | Yes, I gave up on it about half way though, bored numb by all the
sledgehammer repetition. Its basic premise was interesting enough, but
it could have been covered quite adequately at no greater length than
that of the average *New Scientist* feature article.
|
He said everything he needed to say in the introduction. (Actually, I
think he said it all twice in the introduction.)
| Quote: | As it is, reading it was like watching one of those infuriating
documentaries (hi, History Channel!) that recap all the previous
material every eight minutes.
|
That sort of stuff is becoming more common on the Beeb as well. A brief
fade-out where the ads would be then a recap of what you were told only
seconds before. Must be History Channel co-productions.
--
Mickwick |
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Will
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2004 5:48 pm
Post subject: Re: Book recommendations for Christmas and 2005. |
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the Omrud <usenet.omrud@gmail.com> wrote in message news:<MPG.1bf864bfc612c36d98a9cb@news.individual.net>...
....
| Quote: | Baxter continues to write consistently good SF novels - I've
read a few this year, and would suggest "The Light of Other Days"
(with a nod to Bob Shaw's "Other Days, Other Eyes"), co-written with
Arthur C Clarke. It's difficult to explain the plot without giving
away some of the important points, but it explores a world in which
everybody can see what everybody else is doing, and expands the scope
of this to a point far beyond what I would have thought of.
|
The new Iain M Banks "The Algebraist" should be good - a return the
The Culture, I understand. I'm hoping that Santa Wife might bring it
- I've dropped enough hints. I've just bought for myself the first in
Neal Stephenson's "Baroque Cycle" called "Quicksilver.
I'm currently reading (and enjoying) "Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides.
My book group is reading "The Moor's Last Sigh" next, which I
slightly dread.
Will. |
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Charles Riggs
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2004 8:59 pm
Post subject: Re: When semioticists attack (was: Book recommendations for |
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On Mon, 08 Nov 2004 09:55:21 -0500, Jim Ward
<tomcatpolka@NyOaShPoAoM.com> wrote:
| Quote: | On 7 Nov 2004 20:14:27 -0800, R H Draney <dadoctah@spamcop.net> wrote:
Ross Howard filted:
I can say that I was, at worst, disappointed by "Foucault"...to a greater extent
than "Rose", the story didn't end, it just "stopped happening"...ultimately, it
was a clever premise that didn't prove out as narrative...but I disagree that
Eco's going downhill with each book; "The Island of the Day Before" held my
interest better than either of its precursors....
Haven't had a chance to finish "Baudolino" yet...things are literally piling up
here
I got halfway through "Foucault" and gave up -I agree it was a mess.
|
My greatest pleasure while reading the book came from throwing it into
a wastebasket after, like you, I was halfway through it. What a
disappointment it was after "Rose".
| Quote: | Let us know how you like "Baudolino". I so wish Eco would get back
onto his stride, he can be entertaining.
|
--
Charles Riggs
They are no accented letters in my email address |
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Mickwick
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2004 9:00 pm
Post subject: Re: Book recommendations for Christmas and 2005. |
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In alt.usage.english, the Omrud wrote:
| Quote: | Ross Howard typed thus:
Don't you find, like me,[1] that *Illuminatus!* gets even heavier
going with each reread? Why does that happen?
|
[...]
| Quote: | No, I don't think I have had any problems re-reading Illuminatus
although this year for the first time I gave up during my fourth or
fifth read of the Schroedinger's Cat Trilogy.
|
A saddo's confession: Illuminatus! changed my life. I read the books at
the end of my first year at university and spent the whole of the second
setting up a three-hour version of Ken Campbell's Science Fiction
Theatre of Liverpool eight-hour stage marathon. This involved a lot of
drugs and very few lectures. I like to think that nobody will ever come
close to writing gibberish as alarming and impenetrable as the gibberish
I wrote in my second-year exams. Alas, prizes weren't awarded for that
sort of thing in those days and I was kicked out. (And I'd been the top
student in the first year, honest. The profs made a point of saying so.
Ho hum.)
The play made money (though not for me) and I'm still proud of the
publicity campaign (later copied by the people who publicised
Ghostbusters - or so I used to think when I still took drugs) but, all
in all ... No. It's a quarter of a century since I last had fond
thoughts of Illuminatus!
Should I re-read it again? Is it safe? Will it trigger flashbacks?
Is it any good?
Or is it just a load of hippie nonsense?
--
Mickwick
Sandi Toksvig - stepladder - fellatio - golden apple - miscasting |
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Ross Howard
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2004 9:00 pm
Post subject: Re: Book recommendations for Christmas and 2005. |
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On Tue, 9 Nov 2004 18:51:57 +0000, Mickwick <mickwick@use.reply.to>
wrought:
| Quote: | In alt.usage.english, the Omrud wrote:
Ross Howard typed thus:
Don't you find, like me,[1] that *Illuminatus!* gets even heavier
going with each reread? Why does that happen?
[...]
No, I don't think I have had any problems re-reading Illuminatus
although this year for the first time I gave up during my fourth or
fifth read of the Schroedinger's Cat Trilogy.
A saddo's confession: Illuminatus! changed my life. I read the books at
the end of my first year at university and spent the whole of the second
setting up a three-hour version of Ken Campbell's Science Fiction
Theatre of Liverpool eight-hour stage marathon. This involved a lot of
drugs and very few lectures.
|
That rings a bell. Although I managed to do it without putting on any
theatre productions at all. Do I win anything?
| Quote: | [...]
No. It's a quarter of a century since I last had fond
thoughts of Illuminatus!
Should I re-read it again? Is it safe? Will it trigger flashbacks?
|
The "23" stuff is still entertaining; the Dillinger stuff is now
tedious in the extreme.
Oh, yes.
| Quote: | Or is it just a load of hippie nonsense?
|
Oh, yes. That too.
The last time I reread it (last year), after a many-year layoff, I
kept waiting for the good bits. In fact the only bits I really enjoyed
were right at the end -- the various appendices of pseudomasonic
history.
--
Ross Howard |
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Ross Howard
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2004 9:00 pm
Post subject: Re: Book recommendations for Christmas and 2005. |
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On 9 Nov 2004 07:28:57 -0800, billrigby@hotmail.com (Will) wrought:
| Quote: | the Omrud <usenet.omrud@gmail.com> wrote in message news:<MPG.1bf864bfc612c36d98a9cb@news.individual.net>...
...
Baxter continues to write consistently good SF novels - I've
read a few this year, and would suggest "The Light of Other Days"
(with a nod to Bob Shaw's "Other Days, Other Eyes"), co-written with
Arthur C Clarke. It's difficult to explain the plot without giving
away some of the important points, but it explores a world in which
everybody can see what everybody else is doing, and expands the scope
of this to a point far beyond what I would have thought of.
The new Iain M Banks "The Algebraist" should be good - a return the
The Culture, I understand. I'm hoping that Santa Wife might bring it
- I've dropped enough hints. I've just bought for myself the first in
Neal Stephenson's "Baroque Cycle" called "Quicksilver.
|
I'm enjoying it greatly. The first third (part, really) is a bit of a
dry slog to get through -- until the pirates show up (hi, Sara!), but
it perks up a lot after that. I'm enjoying it even more than
*Cryptonomicon* which must be the best example yet of the term
"seriously flawed masterpiece".
--
Ross Howard |
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Wood Avens
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2004 6:03 am
Post subject: Re: When semioticists attack (was: Book recommendations for |
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On Tue, 09 Nov 2004 10:30:48 -0800, Charles Riggs
<chriggs@comcást.net> wrote:
| Quote: | On Mon, 08 Nov 2004 09:55:21 -0500, Jim Ward
tomcatpolka@NyOaShPoAoM.com> wrote:
I got halfway through "Foucault" and gave up -I agree it was a mess.
My greatest pleasure while reading the book came from throwing it into
a wastebasket after, like you, I was halfway through it.
|
I'm feeling decidedly cheered. Up to now I'd assumed that my own
failure to plough on to the end must be evidence of my weakness of
character. Now I know I'm part of a wider community I'll stop
pretending I'm going to pick it up again one day, and take it out of
the pile by the bed where it's festered for a couple of years.
--
Katy Jennison
spamtrap: remove the first two letters after the @ |
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the Omrud
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2004 6:05 am
Post subject: Re: Book recommendations for Christmas and 2005. |
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Mickwick typed thus:
| Quote: | In alt.usage.english, the Omrud wrote:
Ross Howard typed thus:
Don't you find, like me,[1] that *Illuminatus!* gets even heavier
going with each reread? Why does that happen?
[...]
No, I don't think I have had any problems re-reading Illuminatus
although this year for the first time I gave up during my fourth or
fifth read of the Schroedinger's Cat Trilogy.
A saddo's confession: Illuminatus! changed my life. I read the books at
the end of my first year at university and spent the whole of the second
setting up a three-hour version of Ken Campbell's Science Fiction
Theatre of Liverpool eight-hour stage marathon.
|
Ken Campbell used to live next door to some friends of mine. I met
him one morning as he was putting the bins out.
| Quote: | This involved a lot of
drugs and very few lectures. I like to think that nobody will ever come
close to writing gibberish as alarming and impenetrable as the gibberish
I wrote in my second-year exams. Alas, prizes weren't awarded for that
sort of thing in those days and I was kicked out. (And I'd been the top
student in the first year, honest. The profs made a point of saying so.
Ho hum.)
|
What were you supposed to be studying? There are some subjects for
which this would be good thing.
| Quote: | The play made money (though not for me) and I'm still proud of the
publicity campaign (later copied by the people who publicised
Ghostbusters - or so I used to think when I still took drugs) but, all
in all ... No. It's a quarter of a century since I last had fond
thoughts of Illuminatus!
Should I re-read it again? Is it safe? Will it trigger flashbacks?
|
Sure. Let us know if you survive.
It was last time I read it.
| Quote: | Or is it just a load of hippie nonsense?
|
Probably both.
I have to say that In Real Life I have never met anybody who has even
heard of Illuminatus, never mind actually read the books. Perhaps I
should join Mensa.
--
David
=====
replace the first component of address
with the definite article. |
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the Omrud
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2004 6:06 am
Post subject: Re: When semioticists attack (was: Book recommendations for |
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Wood Avens typed thus:
| Quote: | On Tue, 09 Nov 2004 10:30:48 -0800, Charles Riggs
chriggs@comcást.net> wrote:
On Mon, 08 Nov 2004 09:55:21 -0500, Jim Ward
tomcatpolka@NyOaShPoAoM.com> wrote:
I got halfway through "Foucault" and gave up -I agree it was a mess.
My greatest pleasure while reading the book came from throwing it into
a wastebasket after, like you, I was halfway through it.
I'm feeling decidedly cheered. Up to now I'd assumed that my own
failure to plough on to the end must be evidence of my weakness of
character. Now I know I'm part of a wider community I'll stop
pretending I'm going to pick it up again one day, and take it out of
the pile by the bed where it's festered for a couple of years.
|
OK, you are all with me on Illuminatus but none of you has finished
Pendulum. Thank goodness for that; I am unique, after all.
--
David
=====
replace the first component of address
with the definite article. |
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Chris the Liberal
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2004 6:07 am
Post subject: Re: Book recommendations for Christmas and 2005. |
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Laura F Spira <laura@DRAGONspira.fsbusiness.co.uk> wrote in message news:<418E3E10.3070202@DRAGONspira.fsbusiness.co.uk>...
| Quote: | Richard Chambers wrote:
[..]
a. One recommendation for the best fiction you have read this year
(alternatively, the best fiction you have read in your lifetime).
The two pieces of fiction that have made the greatest impression on me
recently are:
The Minotaur takes a Cigarette Break, Steven Sherill, Canongate 2004
- which I thought addressed the problems of being an outsider in a very
insightful and quite extraordinary way. The Minotaur has somehow become
what I think is called a short-order cook, in a diner but no-one seems
very surprised by this. The difficulties he has in daily life -
problems with accidental damage by his horns, for example, and hang-ups
about his past - could have been farcical but are told in a way that I
found very moving.
Sunset over Chocolate Mountains by Susan Elderkin, 4th Estate 2000
I loved this, another tale of misfits, set partly among the saguaro
cactus (for which I have a great affection) in Arizona, full of quaint
characters, who display great humanity, and live lives full of
belief-stretching coincidences. Reminded me of early Anne Tyler.
(Oddly, both of these books were chance finds, the makeweights in "3 for
2" offers where the other books were those I had specifically wanted to
read.)
b. One recommendation for the best factual book you have read this year
(with the same alternative as above).
I'm reading Binyon's "Pushkin" (Harper Collins, 2003) at the moment and
think that will be the best but I was greatly impressed by
The Rhetoric of Economics by Deirdre McCloskey (University of Wisconsin
1998). McCloskey analyses the rhetorical tropes used by economists in
advancing their arguments in a way that offers a fresh perspective on
academic writing. (She used to be Donald McCloskey and I look forward to
reading her memoir "Crossing" which tells about her gender change.)
My *worst* factual book of the year has to be Galileo's Finger by Peter
Atkins which I found disappointingly unreadable. I really wanted to know
about the ten great ideas of science but I found Atkins' writing style
very irritating as he keeps referring to what has yet to come in
subsequent chapters. I'd be grateful for recommendations of good science
writing, accessible to the person whose knowledge of physics and
chemistry ended at O level 40 years ago!
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The Last Ice Age
Snowball Earth
The Ice Finders
[Obviously I had a chilly summer] |
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Athel Cornish-Bowden
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2004 8:16 pm
Post subject: Re: Book recommendations for Christmas and 2005. |
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D.C.Wood@ukc.ac.uk (dcw) wrote in message news:<41@myrtle.ukc.ac.uk>...
| Quote: | In article <41908725.1060204@dragonspira.fsbusiness.co.uk>,
Laura F Spira <laura@DRAGONspira.fsbusiness.co.uk> wrote:
Yes, I've read quite a bit of Dawkins and Matt ??? who is also readable.
Ridley.
Not to be confused with Mark Ridley, who writes (very well) on the |
same sorts of subjects, but for a more academic audience. Matt Ridley
is (or was) a journalist, whereas Mark Ridley is a biologist. One of
them said of the other (I think it was Matt of Mark) that he was
always happy to be confused with him.
For the opposite point of view from what you will find in Dawkins or
Matt Ridley, there is always Steven Rose's "Lifelines". Personally I
found this book dour and humourless, but it appeals to people who
don't like Dawkins.
athel
--
Athel Cornish-Bowden
athel@ibsm.cnrs-mrs.fr
http://bip.cnrs-mrs.fr/bip10/homepage.htm |
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Donna Richoux
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2004 10:02 pm
Post subject: Re: Book recommendations for Christmas and 2005. |
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Athel Cornish-Bowden <athel@ibsm.cnrs-mrs.fr> wrote:
| Quote: | D.C.Wood@ukc.ac.uk (dcw) wrote in message news:<41@myrtle.ukc.ac.uk>...
In article <41908725.1060204@dragonspira.fsbusiness.co.uk>,
Laura F Spira <laura@DRAGONspira.fsbusiness.co.uk> wrote:
Yes, I've read quite a bit of Dawkins and Matt ??? who is also readable.
Ridley.
Not to be confused with Mark Ridley, who writes (very well) on the
same sorts of subjects, but for a more academic audience. Matt Ridley
is (or was) a journalist, whereas Mark Ridley is a biologist. One of
them said of the other (I think it was Matt of Mark) that he was
always happy to be confused with him.
|
Speaking of confusion, who thinks Richard Dawkins in that nice English
man who was on Hogan's Heroes and also hosted a game show? (Raises
hand.)
....Hmmm. On a same webpage I find both of these:
"The physicist's problem is the problem of ultimate
origins and ultimate natural laws. The biologist's
problem is the problem of complexity."
- Richard Dawson
"This is one of the hardest lessons for humans to
learn. We cannot admit that things might be neither
good nor evil, neither cruel nor kind, but simply
callous - indifferent to all suffering, lacking all
purpose."
- Richard Dawkins
--
Best -- Donna Richoux |
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