Philosophy

** Ideal Formulas ** In America, math is religion. Its creed might be mostly separate from human affairs, but its method of teaching and acquisition is that of a dogma handed from a higher being. Indeed, mathematics got its Western start with the Pythagoreans, a Greek cult worshipping formulas that carry their name today. Math then became enmeshed in the western philosophical/religious mainstream via Plato and Christianity, fitting nicely into concepts that exist in a world apart from our reality entirely (like heaven!). In a typical classroom, math is taught like the commandments. Why does it work? Nobody has the answer and few ask the question. This is platonic idealism at its finest, and I wonder how many of maths practitioners understand the beliefs they transmit. ...

72nd book of 2019. Breezy read, the author put a lot of effort into making it fun, and those efforts paid off. Essentially a romp through 19th century science and all the advances that we have made in the modern age, along with the quirky scientists that brought us those advances. I would like to think that I knew most of the content in here anyways, but there were just enough tidbits scattered about to keep me engaged. ...

TBW

Me after hearing the recommendation and starting the book. Me after reading the book. Maybe I read it wrong, should have evaluated the book on a more meta level. Perhaps it was a commentary on the limits of print media, or the author’s own lack of context and each flaw was a way to break us out of our traditional media consumption stupor. But no… it was just bad.

The ideas were great, and the pseudophilosophy was fun. Actually I found myself bored in the action sequences that seemed to jar with the more contemplative nature of the rest of the book.

Seriously, Ayn Rand needed an editor. We get to watch an interesting struggle take place in the first 300 pages, only to watch it repeated three more times in the next 900. Like being forced to watch Chronicles of Narnia 4 time in a row or read state of fear cover to cover to cover to cover again.