About nine months ago I went to a brown bag seminar given by James Hyman of LANL on the keys to success in science. The idea of his talk was that success comes from passion, ie that if you are doing what you are passionate about - you will be successful. During his talk he listed some things he had done in his life that he claimed contributed to his success*. The one I liked the best was read science-y literature. Here is a list of the mathy books I have read to enrich myself as a scientist.
Everything and more : a compact history of infinity - David Foster Wallace. Referred to sometimes by the familiar DFW, he writes a punny fairly interesting history of how the idea of infinity was developed by Cantor and others. Notice the pun in the title on compact.
How the universe got its spots: a diary of a finite time in finite space - Janna Levin. A kind of sad, kind of true story about managing life and academia while a new postdoc. Some cool ideas about determining whether the universe is finite via radio waves and laplaces equation.
A short history of nearly everything - Bill Bryson. This one is very colloquial. To call Bill Bryson a scientist is a stretch.
Nonlinear dynamics and chaos - Steven Strogatz. This was my textbook for undergrad ODE's, however it reads like a novel. Since I recently reread it in the bathroom, it makes the list.
A brief history of time - Stephen Hawking. Perhaps the most famous of all pop-science books. Very readable, yet full of content.
Einsteins dreams - Alan Lightman. This one is fun. It is a collection of short stories by an MIT prof about what would life be like if the ideas of general relativity were taken to extremes. I read this in Bern (Einstein's home town). Lightman has written some other collections which are on my shelf now.
Surely your joking Mr Feynman - Richard Feynman. Fabulously funny essays by the nobel prize winner about physics, strippers, and los alamos. A must read.
What do you care what other people think - Richard Feynman. The sequel, a little too much about challenger, but after reading Surely your joking I challenge you not to want more.
8 Little Piggies - Stephen J. Gould. This one I read eons ago. Gould was my first experience in pop scientific essays. These are about evolution, as most of his are.
Disgrace J. M. Coetzee. The second nobel prizewinner on the list, this time for literature. In general Coetzee writes about south africa, this being no exception. It makes the list because it begins in academia, in frightening fashion. I recommend it for graduate students and everyone else.
* A whole other question is whether he is in fact successful.
1 comment:
Re: Mac Hyman
A lot of it depends on what you call 'successful'. Here at LANL he's probably the biggest wheel in the T-Division (thoroetical math/physics/etc), mainly because he runs the (very large) student program here, and has for a very long time. Almost half of LANL's permanent staff was in the student program here, so lots of people know Mac. Who you know is just about as important to your success as how intelligent you are, and Mac certainly has the upper hand there.
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