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Ask HN: Which books do you consider real gems in your field of work/study?

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Re: Ask HN: Which books do you consider real gems in your field of work/study?

#111
post #79

These two books I read recently are real gems / eye openers for me, which changed my view on many things: Robert C. Allen - The Industrial Revolution: A very short introduction (don't be fooled by the book series, every sentence carries its weight). C.S. Lewis - The Discarded Image (we get so many things wrong about what people before us thought and why).

> we get so many things wrong about what people before us thought and why

I see this a lot in engineering. Almost nobody takes the time to understand the work that came before them.

Re: Ask HN: Which books do you consider real gems in your field of work/study?

#113
post #53
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Maths: Rudin's Real and Complex analysis. Yes!! Rudin kills it, but you need a year or two to get through this gem. A course in university will go too fast for sure.

I often hear Rudin is too challenging to be an introduction to analysis. You need to be very comfortable with relevant proofs already. Then what's so good about it? I'm not doubting it's great because I do hear it lauded, but it's hard to imagine. It is just a collection of mathematical obscurities for super-nerds? I've been ever-so-slowly self teaching higher maths. Right now halfway through Hammond's book of proof…

It’s true that most people will probably drown if you throw them into Rudin first thing (although I’ve known a couple who held their breath, swam the whole length, jumped out and asked for more).

The thing is, “analysis” in (English) mathematical vernacular covers a lot more than were dreamt of in Newton’s philosophy, and that in turn is a lot more than is habitually included in a course entitled “calculus”.

On the other hand, most calculus courses cover (badly and shallowly) many things that are properly from other places (commutative algera [field axioms], order theory [Dedekind completion], general topology [limits and opens], set theory [cardinals]) but just can’t be avoided when talking about the reals.

So, what do you not get in a standard first course in calculus that still goes under “analysis” (but is not a research topic)?

- Filters and/or nets (a coherent viewpoint on all the limits)

- (Multiple) derivatives as objects of (multi)linear algebra (no more horrific “Jacobians” and “Hessians”)

- Implicit / inverse function theorem (local normal form under smooth change of coordinates, cf Morse’s lemma as well)

- All of that in the infinite-dimensional setting (for a decent theory of ordinary differential equations)

- Exponential / trig functions as solutions of ODEs (all other definitions obtained from various solution approximations, requires previous point to be nice and unforced)

- Fourier-Laplace decomposition (take previous point up to eleven, solve all linear ODEs in existence at once, including every passive electric circuit)

- Distributions aka generalized functions (you can, technically, do the previous point without that, but it’s a complete mess; this instead requires a rather advanced theory of infinite-dimensional spaces)

- Differentiation and integration as continuous and smooth operators on infinite-dimensional spaces of functions, infinite-dimensional-vector-valued integrals (you can make do with the classical theory of “differentiating under the integral sign”, but it’s Lovecraftian levels of horrible, better not)

- Integration by residues (together with the previous point, makes the two most powerful methods for computing indefinite integrals when the definite one is intractable and/or inexpressible)

- Functions of a complex variable (required for the preceding to even make sense, unlike mere complex-valued functions is essentially a completely different theory closer to algebra if anything)

- Power series (don’t make sense without the preceding point even if you’re interested in the reals; why I called exponentials and trig the same thing above)

- Lebesgue integration (because Riemann integration sucks for all of the above even if you can make do)

- Stokes theorem (the theorem of multidimensional integration, like Barrow/Newton–Leibnitz is for the one-dimensional case; you did learn multilinear algebra didn’t you?)

- More?

I’m not saying Rudin covers all of that, but no one book does. I’ve also omitted (a lot of) hooks into what are usually considered other disciplines (manifolds, speed of convergence, solution in radicals, probability measures, ...).

Re: Ask HN: Which books do you consider real gems in your field of work/study?

#114

Ihe e-myth book by michael gerber. It hits you right in the face when you're a.. what he calls the Technician masquerading as an Entrepreneur. It's truly an eye opening book and really helps you see the systems in everything from a bakery to the hotel chains as soon as you've read it.

Have to disagree on this one. I thought it was one paragraph (maybe even one sentence) spun out into a really dull book. zzzzzz

Re: Ask HN: Which books do you consider real gems in your field of work/study?

#116

Here's a request: someone once recommended a text book which lays the foundations for understanding all different kinds of programming languages (and presumably their design tradeoffs). And the people who had read it commented that it made it easy to understand different programming languages quickly. Anyone got an idea of what book that might be?

Maybe Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (SICP)?

Re: Ask HN: Which books do you consider real gems in your field of work/study?

#117

Types and programming languages, Benjamin Pierce: https://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/tapl/ Its contents is what I consider the meta game of programming. Understanding types seems to be a real boost to think about architecture, implementation, etc.

Have you read Robert Harper's Practical Foundations of Programming Languages?

Re: Ask HN: Which books do you consider real gems in your field of work/study?

#119
How to measure anything. I think it's targeted for actuaries/insurance, though I'm not in that field. But it did change my idea of what can be analyzed and measured. The beginning is repetitive. Some of it is very unorthodox. But it was very useful in detailing how to evaluate risk.

How to talk to little kids so little kids will listen. I don't have kids and read it on a whim. I've found it's excellent for communicating with people in general during conflict (especially patients). The author is a counsellor and describes real counselling sessions with parents who want better relationships with their children. I enjoyed how the author uses the same techniques on the adults and obtains the same manner of response as when used on the kids.

Understanding Complexity is not a book but a part of the Great Courses. It's hard to say what it directly changed but it did affect how I view everyday life, from traffic to physiology.

Hui's Approach to Internal Medicine was very helpful for transitioning from knowing about medical facts to practical medical knowledge useful to everyday care. It's focus is on 'approach' rather than facts. It has a practical approach to medical issues. First distinguishing by ones in the same category of pathophysiology then practical approach to distinguishing issues within the category. It's a dense book but an excellent read and a good reference.

Re: Ask HN: Which books do you consider real gems in your field of work/study?

#120
The Selfish Gene should be read by everyone who studies biology or life science. Modern biological sciences are underlied by an understanding of evolution an genetics. I had heard variants of the phrase "change in allele frequency in a population over time," as a description of evolution many times starting in high school. But it wasn't until I read The Selfish Gene in college that I really understood what this meant and how it should shape our view of biology.
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