Some time ago, I was fortunate to meet Len Shustek. During our conversation about museums, computer science, physics and books etc, Len recommended to me the novel Einstein’s Dreams written by physicist Alan Lightman. I am grateful to Len for introducing me to this book and for the discussion. Naturally, I was curious about the … Continue reading Einstein’s Dreams
Q Is For Quantum
Recently I read Q Is For Quantum by Prof. Terry Rudolph and had the very good fortune of meeting Terry in person. The book itself is absolutely hilarious and thought provoking at the same time. If you frown upon classical physics and fear quantum physics, I recommend giving this book a go for the sheer … Continue reading Q Is For Quantum
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
As a reward for completing my one-book-a-week project in 2017, my family gifted me a beautiful book as Christmas present: The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Having not been exposed to many picture books as a child, I first saw and read this at my friend Dr. Mary Marshall’s office in Oxford a few years ago. It … Continue reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar
The Theory of Everything
During the holiday break, I read Stephen Hawking’s The Theory of Everything. Reading this book was excruciatingly agonising. If not for the awesome Christmas dinner my friends Marilena and Kostas cooked for our big group of Greek friends, and the wonderful Yorkshire Bettys tea and Christmas cake supplied, along with plates, teacups, classical music and … Continue reading The Theory of Everything
The English and Their History
As I have kept up with my 2017 resolution of reading and writing about one book a week, choosing a book for the last week of the year has been painfully challenging. There are a large number of books about many fascinating topics that I would love to read and so few I possibly … Continue reading The English and Their History
How To Solve It: A New Aspect of Mathematical Method
My book of this week is How to Solve It: A New Aspect of Mathematical Method by eminent mathematician George Polya. Polya was one of the most influential mathematicians of the 20th century. O'Connor and E F Robertson wrote a short biography of Polya, giving us a glimpse of this extraordinary scientist and teacher. In … Continue reading How To Solve It: A New Aspect of Mathematical Method
Far from the Madding Crowd
Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy, I had not realised it is viewed by many as a book of love stories till recently. How blind was I. Fortunately that blindness fooled me with the desire of re-reading it. Strictly speaking, listening to its audio format. Had I classified it into the category … Continue reading Far from the Madding Crowd
Who Moved My Cheese?
One Sunday afternoon recently, I decided to unpack the book boxes. Many of them. One by one. It has been a very daunting project. Right now tons of books are scattered on the floor, each of them anxiously waiting for the sentence I hand down: shelving, return to a labelled box, or donation. How … Continue reading Who Moved My Cheese?
Site Reliability Engineering
Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) is a collection of articles written by dozens of Google engineers and edited by Betsy Beyer, Chris Jones, Jennifer Petoff and Niall Richard. This book was not on my list. I had to negotiate (with myself) to remove one book and make space for this one. Why did I choose to … Continue reading Site Reliability Engineering
Never Split The Difference
I read part of Never Split the Difference during a long-haul flight recently. An overnight long-haul flight serves as a great test of measuring how engaging the reading material is. In this type of settings, the book in hand typically competes for your attention against the in-flight entertainment system, motion sickness, engine noise, people … Continue reading Never Split The Difference