Ask HN: Do you read math & hard science books? How? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Do you read math & hard science books? How?

#11

Post by zkz » Sat, Jun 20, 2009, 2:37 PM UTC

noonespecial wrote: post #2

If they don't take a good bit of time to read, then you're not doing it right. These are books full of tools for the mind. The best way to read them is a little at a time, taking the parts that click in your mind and trying them out on problems that seemed insurmountable before. The first time you open a big box of strange tools, it won't be immediately apparent to you what they are all for. Finding a good math book…

> If they don't take a good bit of time to read, then you're not doing it right.

Thanks, I needed to know this. I was starting to feel silly, thinking "maybe I don't understand them quick enough, people must read them faster or something".

Re: Ask HN: Do you read math & hard science books? How?

#12

Post by zkz » Sat, Jun 20, 2009, 2:41 PM UTC

stcredzero wrote: post #10

michael_dorfman wrote: post #4

Basically, this is just a classic inventory control problem. If the inventory is piling up, you need to either decrease the rate of acquisition, increase the rate of consumption, or (preferably) both. I can't say how typical the situation is, but it's definitely not just you. I have quite the stack of books on my "to read" list, but I keep working my way through them (and adding more to the pile.) So it goes.

I had this same inventory control problem with cookbooks. I solved it by making a rule for myself: No new cookbooks until I cook 30% of the recipes in all the ones I already have. I have this same inventory control problem with computer science books. Good textbooks are expensive. If you implement a utilization rule like this, you can save yourself a lot of money on books you never end up reading. B&N, Borders and th…

Nice rules. I started to do something similar to your "only learn what you fall in love with". For some of the older books I bought once and I never read, now I know I will never read, because now I know better and I know they are garbage (or I know of better material now). So I won't waste my time reading those just to remove them from my todo list.

I guess I shouldn't have bought them either.

Re: Ask HN: Do you read math & hard science books? How?

#13

Post by yummyfajitas » Sat, Jun 20, 2009, 2:42 PM UTC

stcredzero wrote: post #10

michael_dorfman wrote: post #4

Basically, this is just a classic inventory control problem. If the inventory is piling up, you need to either decrease the rate of acquisition, increase the rate of consumption, or (preferably) both. I can't say how typical the situation is, but it's definitely not just you. I have quite the stack of books on my "to read" list, but I keep working my way through them (and adding more to the pile.) So it goes.

I had this same inventory control problem with cookbooks. I solved it by making a rule for myself: No new cookbooks until I cook 30% of the recipes in all the ones I already have. I have this same inventory control problem with computer science books. Good textbooks are expensive. If you implement a utilization rule like this, you can save yourself a lot of money on books you never end up reading. B&N, Borders and th…

Buy older editions of textbooks and also the "Eastern Economy" (read: china/india printed on cheap paper) editions. You will save a pretty penny, and thermodynamics hasn't changed much since 1975.

(Obviously this won't work for machine learning.)

Re: Ask HN: Do you read math & hard science books? How?

#14

Post by zkz » Sat, Jun 20, 2009, 2:45 PM UTC

plinkplonk wrote: post #8

In my student days, before I became a working programmer, I was desperately poor and couldn't afford all the books I wanted to buy. So I got into the habit of buying books when I had money in my account to avoid a future in which I have to look longingly at a book and not have money to buy it. So, yes your "buying a book and reading a few years later" situation is something i am familiar with. So anyways, I ended up…

Ah, maybe that's why. When a child I was desperate for books, it was hard for me to get those (I had books, but I read them a lot faster than I could get them, I was always re-reading them). So I guess when I started having money I just started buying them, like in a rush, to compensate or something. I should realize it makes no sense anymore. Thank you.

Re: Ask HN: Do you read math & hard science books? How?

#15

Post by Herring » Sat, Jun 20, 2009, 2:51 PM UTC

My parents are in academia & they've each amassed a huge collection of books. I learned very early on that I should be collecting digital books instead.

Re: Ask HN: Do you read math & hard science books? How?

#16

Post by pragmatic » Sat, Jun 20, 2009, 2:55 PM UTC

I bought a Kindle b/c I don't have room for all my books. I recently had a child and his books already fill one of my bookshelves. So I've been cleaning out my physical books, only keeping those I really like. The Kindle DX might be the way to go for texts. So you get unlimited space (Amazon will keep your books online), access to all the classics for free (via gutenberg,etc) and your books are always with you (while you carry the device anyway).

Of all the things you can spend your money on, books are the best investment by far.

Re: Ask HN: Do you read math & hard science books? How?

#17

Post by jodrellblank » Sat, Jun 20, 2009, 2:57 PM UTC

michael_dorfman wrote: post #4

Basically, this is just a classic inventory control problem. If the inventory is piling up, you need to either decrease the rate of acquisition, increase the rate of consumption, or (preferably) both. I can't say how typical the situation is, but it's definitely not just you. I have quite the stack of books on my "to read" list, but I keep working my way through them (and adding more to the pile.) So it goes.

As I was pondering here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=664383 : why do I keep working my way through them like some sort of automaton? "So it goes"? It doesn't have to go like that. You could buy one book and read it and then stop. How much am I really benefitting from reading and how much am I using it as an escapist excuse? Would I be a better person if I read 8 five-star books from Amazon than if I read 8 four-star books?

Is it really better to read a well reviewed book? Isn't a horrible book better for you in the same way that walking uphill is better for you than driving uphill?

Re: Ask HN: Do you read math & hard science books? How?

#18

Post by zkz » Sat, Jun 20, 2009, 3:39 PM UTC

jodrellblank wrote: post #17

michael_dorfman wrote: post #4

Basically, this is just a classic inventory control problem. If the inventory is piling up, you need to either decrease the rate of acquisition, increase the rate of consumption, or (preferably) both. I can't say how typical the situation is, but it's definitely not just you. I have quite the stack of books on my "to read" list, but I keep working my way through them (and adding more to the pile.) So it goes.

As I was pondering here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=664383 : why do I keep working my way through them like some sort of automaton? "So it goes"? It doesn't have to go like that. You could buy one book and read it and then stop. How much am I really benefitting from reading and how much am I using it as an escapist excuse? Would I be a better person if I read 8 five-star books from Amazon than if I read 8 fo…

Sometimes you just read about things you want to learn. At least that's the case of the books I talk about in this thread. For example, I'm driven by the curiosity to understand how some theories of physics work, particularly relativity and quantum theory. I've learned some extremely basic stuff about them, and I want to learn more, and more, and the more I learn, the harder it gets (it needs more mathematical tools, etc.).

Maybe a key is to read books that drive you towards a goal? I can understand your feeling, and I really appreciated your thread when it appeared in hn. But in my case the problem is different: I want to know a lot of things, and learning all of that will take me years, and a symptom of that is that I end up collecting tons of books that I keep reading slowly.

Re: Ask HN: Do you read math & hard science books? How?

#19

Post by _pius » Sat, Jun 20, 2009, 3:59 PM UTC

jodrellblank wrote: post #17

michael_dorfman wrote: post #4

Basically, this is just a classic inventory control problem. If the inventory is piling up, you need to either decrease the rate of acquisition, increase the rate of consumption, or (preferably) both. I can't say how typical the situation is, but it's definitely not just you. I have quite the stack of books on my "to read" list, but I keep working my way through them (and adding more to the pile.) So it goes.

As I was pondering here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=664383 : why do I keep working my way through them like some sort of automaton? "So it goes"? It doesn't have to go like that. You could buy one book and read it and then stop. How much am I really benefitting from reading and how much am I using it as an escapist excuse? Would I be a better person if I read 8 five-star books from Amazon than if I read 8 fo…

Isn't a horrible book better for you in the same way that walking uphill is better for you than driving uphill?

I feel like your analogy would be more akin to learning theorems by deriving them from first principles as opposed to taking them as gospel.

It's the material that should be hard, not gleaning information out of the book.

Re: Ask HN: Do you read math & hard science books? How?

#20

Post by Arun2009 » Sat, Jun 20, 2009, 4:27 PM UTC

I have the same problem. I have TONS of Mathematics (mainly) and Physics books, but I've not really worked through most of them. I've spent a fortune on them so far. I always keep saying that I'll take a couple of years off to concentrate on nothing but hard science, but I know that will never happen.

I actually have a theory that good programmers are frustrated Mathematicians and Physicists who couldn't stomach the real thing and chose the easier way out.