Literate Scientist

These two volumes I bought a few years ago, started reading the first chapter and then other books got reading priority, for example, Rosen’s “Life Itself”. A few weeks ago I picked up the first volume again and started reading from the beginning. I’m was really amazed how I understand it better after reading Rosen’s books. These volumes are highly recommended to learn about models of reality and mathematical modeling itself. The first chapter that discusses the relationship of models to observation is awesome. The book requires an undergraduate engineering level of mathematics: linear algebra, calculus and a bit of mathematical analysis. You will also learn about catastrophe-theoretic models, chaos, cellular automata, geometry of human affairs, patterns, fractals, and many other things. There is even a discussion about controversies in catastrophe theory involving Rene Thom. I think the first volume of this book set is a prerequisite reading before starting with classic Structural Stability And Morphogenesis.

Reality Rules, 2 Volume Set

- Dmitry Vostokov @ LiterateScientist.com -

I bought this book (as used, it seems no longer available in print) after reading Fashionable Nonsense which refers to it. Highly recommended to anyone starting to write on non-technical subjects to avoid inventing new jargon and repeat obvious as well as to anyone trying to get a (self-)education in social sciences like me and be suspicious to excessive verbiage. I like his formula V = A / K - 1, where V is the amount of produced verbiage, A is the amount of ambition and K is the amount of knowledge on the subject and related disciplines.

Social Sciences as Sorcery

I don’t have its cover jacket with me today but I’ll take a picture of it later and put here.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ LiterateScientist.com -

I finished reading Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich a few weeks ago and started reading this book. Because it was written 40 years after William Shirer’s book it provides fresh insight and analysis into why things happened certain way. The book is not focused on Hitler but more on a Nazism as a political religion in a totalitarian society. I’ve read about 140 pages so far and still not disappointed. I have a few books on the same topic to read after I finish this book next year.

The Third Reich: A New History

- Dmitry Vostokov @ LiterateScientist.com -

Robert Rosen mentioned this book in his Essays on Life Itself which I’m reading now (Chapter 9, Genericity as Information) and I immediately ordered it. It arrived today and a brief glance at it convinced me that I shall start reading it now as it might give some additional insight into Rosennean Complexity. I hope to write more about this book and ideas it will have brought to me when I finish reading it.

Structural Stability And Morphogenesis (Advanced Books Classics)

- Dmitry Vostokov @ LiterateScientist.com -

If you ask me now what book I recommend for a broad overview of mathematics I would not hesitate to point to this latest book that I just started reading:

The Princeton Companion to Mathematics (Hardcover)

Although it is 1000 page book with two columns of text it is actually intended to be read from cover to cover! This book is now on top of my math overview recommendations which previously included these books:

• The Road to Reality
• Comprehensive Mathematics for Computer Scientists
• Mathematics: Form and Function
• All the Mathematics You Missed
• The Nature and Growth of Modern Mathematics

- Dmitry Vostokov @ LiterateScientist.com -

If you ask me to recommend the only one semi-popular book about modern physics that has everything in it and explaining all necessary mathematics too I would not hesitate to point to Roger Penrose’s book:

The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe

It is not a light read and requires some mathematical maturity. It has more than 1,100 pages and my first attempt to read it in 2005 when I bought a hardcover edition lasted until the page 160. Since then I read many other popular and semi-popular physics and math books and now feel more confident. I started reading it again last week from the first page before tackling with The Anthropic Cosmological Principle book which is heavy on general relativity and it reads very well now. Therefore I would recommend not to give up reading this book and even read it couple of times to thoroughly understand various mathematical ideas and their connection with physics. It is well worth it if you are keen to understand modern science. There is no other science book with the same breadth and depth covering both physics and mathematics. It looks like it springed various smaller books like The Comprehensible Cosmos I read earlier.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ LiterateScientist.com -

If you ask me about the single book to learn about mathematics used in computer science I would recommend without hesitation the following two volumes:

Comprehensive Mathematics for Computer Scientists 1: Sets and Numbers, Graphs and Algebra, Logic and Machines, Linear Geometry

Comprehensive Mathematics for Computer Scientists 2: Calculus and ODEs, Splines, Probability, Fourier and Wavelet Theory, Fractals and Neural Networks, Categories and Lambda Calculus

The breadth of covered mathematics is astonished. Each topic from 43 of them is fit into 10 to 20 pages which is very manageable to read if you need just a review and want to understand major concepts, definitions and theorems. I read the first edition of the first volume when it was published couple of years ago. Now I decided to refresh my knowledge, read the second edition of the first volume and then read the second volume. 

- Dmitry Vostokov @ LiterateScientist.com -