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Prof. Sussman's Reading List

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Re: Prof. Sussman's Reading List

#51

Post by grey-area »

dublinben wrote: post #31
baddox wrote: post #25

Interesting to see Stranger in a Strange Land on his list. It shows up quite often on top lists of sci-fi books and Heinlein books. I'm halfway through it, after reading The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and Stranger in a Strange Land is certainly the weaker book so far in my opinion.

As I struggle to wade through it, I wonder why it was ever as popular as it once was. What is it about this book that make so many people recommend it?

His writing is terrible on the level of style, characterisation, and even plot, but I think many of the ideas he expressed about human relations in his books are profound - that the rules which govern our societies are temporary, contingent and negotiable, that we don't live according to the principles we claim to, that free is often anything but, that colonies often become stronger than the parent society, that revolution comes when there is too big a gap between perception and reality, the tension between soldiers and citizens etc.

Re: Prof. Sussman's Reading List

#52

Post by cmdli »

im3w1l wrote: post #47
dnt404-1 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do find psychology to be speculation? Do they not use empiricism in their studies (maybe not all of them)?

Until very recently (mid 90's) many psychological phenomena were explained by childhood experiences, in line with Freud's psychoanalytical theory. Many of these have since been disproved. One criteria I have for trustworthiness of a scientific discipline is that of stability. If the previous theory has been found to be very wrong, very recently, then I am cautious to trust again. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoan…

At least in the US, up until the 50's/60's behaviorism (which at least claims to be based in observation) was a dominant school of thought in psychology.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behaviorism

In the 1950's, behaviorism fell out of favor (primarily because it lacked the explanatory power for some things, especially language).

Re: Prof. Sussman's Reading List

#53

Post by mtraven »

im3w1l wrote: post #47
dnt404-1 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do find psychology to be speculation? Do they not use empiricism in their studies (maybe not all of them)?

Until very recently (mid 90's) many psychological phenomena were explained by childhood experiences, in line with Freud's psychoanalytical theory. Many of these have since been disproved. One criteria I have for trustworthiness of a scientific discipline is that of stability. If the previous theory has been found to be very wrong, very recently, then I am cautious to trust again. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoan…

It's pretty funny to see Freud being trashed in a Marvin Minsky thread: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118555927.ch1...

Re: Prof. Sussman's Reading List

#54

Post by olalonde »

iamcurious wrote: post #30
jfe wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't read whatever people recommend to me; I prioritize what's available based on what I think will have the greatest impact on me. But whatever I do read, I try to read it all the way through. Books have layers, like an onion. Each time you read a book, you peel back another layer of meaning. The first time I read a book, I don't let myself get hung up on what I don't understand; I just keep reading until I've re…

I do the same. I also have the philosophy that a book worth reading is worth re-reading. Sadly, you have to read it the first time without knowing if it will be worth reading at all.

Paul Graham wrote an essay on this: http://www.paulgraham.com/know.html

Re: Prof. Sussman's Reading List

#55

Post by tjl »

kjak wrote: post #9

I'm happy to see The Variational Principles of Mechanics (by the great Lanczos) on that list. It really is deep, and I think it does a fantastic job of explaining classical mechanics. I've read the vast majority of the book multiple times. Since we're on the topic of Sussman, has anyone here read through SICM? I've heard that the code is difficult to get to work, but does anyone have an opinion on the rest? I haven't…

I referred to the Lanczos book quite often when I was working on my PhD. I've read the first part of SICM and skimmed the rest. Based on that, it looks like it does an excellent job in building up an understanding of how the math works. By the time I looked at SICM, I had implemented my own code to do something similar (coded in Maple). It looked like the progression of the code was well handled. On the whole, I think Lanczos is a better book, but SICM is fairly decent. I'm also partial to Meirovitch's Methods of Analytical Dynamics which I think does the best job of explaining the inclusion of non-conservative forces in the Principle of Least Action. This is needed for applied forces and torques like a motor. It also covers the inclusion of damping forces well. Like Lanczos, the Meirovitch book is available from Dover, so it's pretty inexpensive.

The SICM code really only works for a specific scheme interpreter, so if you have that it should be fine.

Re: Prof. Sussman's Reading List

#56

Post by tjl »

baddox wrote: post #25

Interesting to see Stranger in a Strange Land on his list. It shows up quite often on top lists of sci-fi books and Heinlein books. I'm halfway through it, after reading The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and Stranger in a Strange Land is certainly the weaker book so far in my opinion.

My problem with Stranger in a Strange Land is it kind of falls apart around halfway to 2/3rds of the way through the book. The ending is pretty weak (as is most of Heinlein's endings). But, I found the first half of Stranger in a Strange Land to be excellent. In contrast, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is a solid book all the way through. Also, a later book has a nice, little tie-in to it.

Re: Prof. Sussman's Reading List

#57

Post by tjl »

grey-area wrote: post #51
dublinben wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I struggle to wade through it, I wonder why it was ever as popular as it once was. What is it about this book that make so many people recommend it?

His writing is terrible on the level of style, characterisation, and even plot, but I think many of the ideas he expressed about human relations in his books are profound - that the rules which govern our societies are temporary, contingent and negotiable, that we don't live according to the principles we claim to, that free is often anything but, that colonies often become stronger than the parent society, that revo…

For me, I really like the first half of the book where he's viewing society from outside. It kind of falls apart for me when that is kind of set aside. Heinlein almost always has problems with the endings of his books. There's some that stay consistent throughout, like The Moon is a Harsh Mistress or Podkayne of Mars, but most kind of land with a thud. I love his books quite often for the ideas and settings, but yes, the writing isn't the best.

Re: Prof. Sussman's Reading List

#58

Post by bandrami »

kjak wrote: post #9

I'm happy to see The Variational Principles of Mechanics (by the great Lanczos) on that list. It really is deep, and I think it does a fantastic job of explaining classical mechanics. I've read the vast majority of the book multiple times. Since we're on the topic of Sussman, has anyone here read through SICM? I've heard that the code is difficult to get to work, but does anyone have an opinion on the rest? I haven't…

VPM is in my read queue. His "Linear Differential Operators" was the best math book I read in years so I'm looking forward to it.

Re: Prof. Sussman's Reading List

#59

Post by [deleted] »

kjak wrote: post #9

I'm happy to see The Variational Principles of Mechanics (by the great Lanczos) on that list. It really is deep, and I think it does a fantastic job of explaining classical mechanics. I've read the vast majority of the book multiple times. Since we're on the topic of Sussman, has anyone here read through SICM? I've heard that the code is difficult to get to work, but does anyone have an opinion on the rest? I haven't…

[deleted]

Re: Prof. Sussman's Reading List

#60

Post by lmm »

grey-area wrote: post #51
dublinben wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I struggle to wade through it, I wonder why it was ever as popular as it once was. What is it about this book that make so many people recommend it?

His writing is terrible on the level of style, characterisation, and even plot, but I think many of the ideas he expressed about human relations in his books are profound - that the rules which govern our societies are temporary, contingent and negotiable, that we don't live according to the principles we claim to, that free is often anything but, that colonies often become stronger than the parent society, that revo…

Are you sure you're not thinking of Starship Troopers?
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