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Things a Computer Scientist
Rarely Talks About Donald Knuth |
This book is a transcript of MIT's God
and Computers Lecture Series, given by Don Knuth. Knuth gives
his thoughts on God, religion, and spirituality with the perspective
of a computer scientist. The book touches on topics including artificial
intelligence, aesthetics, meaining, and linguistics. |
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On Numbers and Games John H. Conway |
This is a good book on combinatorial game theory
and the development of the numbers from set theory. Also has good
information on the surreal numbers. |
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Prisoner's Dilemma/John
Von Neumann, Game Theory and the Puzzle of the Bomb Willaim Poundstone |
This is a VERY interesting read, with three
interconnected themes: The life of John Von Neumann, the development
of Game Theory, and the Cold War. Poundstone examines the development
of game theory, how people act when put into adversarial situations, and
the limits of applying rational theory to model the actions of irrational
people. The biographical stories of Von Neumann are hilarious.
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The Man Who Loved Only Numbers : The Story
of Paul Erdos and the Search for Mathematical Truth Paul Hoffman |
This is an interesting biography of Paul
Erdos. |
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The Recursive Universe William Poundstone |
This book concentrates mainly on
Conway's game of Life and cellular automata. It gives a brief
overview of how a self-replication machine can be built within the Life
plane. Overall an excellent read. |
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Mind Tools Rudy Rucker |
I remember reading this book when I was
in high school. It's largely about mathematical philosophy, and
considers the ideas of self-replicating machines. |
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The Fourth Dimension Rudy Rucker |
This book uses many analogies to give the
reader an understanding of a fourth spatial dimension, frequently referencing
Abbot's Flatland. It's been years since I've read
it, but I remember really enjoying it when I was in high school. |
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Magic Key To Spanish Margarita Madrigal |
This is the best Spanish book I've seen.
Madrigal does a great job of presenting the material in a way
that's easy to learn and doesn't get boring. |
| "Planet Without Laughter" Raymund Smullyan |
This is an interesting short story from the
book This Book Needs No Title: A Budget of Living Paradoxes.
I learned of it while reading Knuth. Don Knuth has the full text
available on his website. |
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A Pirate Looks at 50 Jimmy Buffett |
Jimmy Buffett celebrated his 50th birthday
by giving himself a trip around the Carribean. This book recounts that
trip with frequent flashbacks and stories about growing up in Alabama, sailing,
fishing, flying seaplanes, and working through the music business. There's
a lot more to Jimmy Buffett than just the musician. After reading this
book, you'll likely think of him as more of writer than musician. |
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Garfield Vol.1 - Vol. 8 Jim Davis These are Garfield at his best. When he still acted like a cat. |
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