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Alan Kay’s reading list

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Re: Alan Kay’s reading list

#11

Post by frossie »

jodrellblank wrote: post #5

One thing I've been pondering lately, is the more general purpose of reading books. I used to read quite a lot of books, library books and personal books. Mostly fiction and popular science, I hesitate to admit (not hesitate to read them, just hesitate to admit because they are 'lesser' books). There are a lot of things that I couldn't tell you whether I have read or not, let alone what the main points were. Now I mo…

Am I really a better person for having read more books? For having been exposed to certain ideas?

Yes. Even if you can't directly recall what you have read, if you understood it while you were reading it you would have internalised some of the world view, if not the blow-by-blow account.

As somebody else replied, discussing it with your friends (or, making friends of the people who would discuss such books with you) is a great way of integrating the ideas into your thinking.

As to the list: Anybody interested in reading Arthur Koestler (and he is really worth reading) might want to start with The Sleepwalkers. It is a very readable account of the development of science - if you like it you will be motivated to delve into some of his other work.

Re: Alan Kay’s reading list

#12

Post by absconditus »

jodrellblank wrote: post #5

One thing I've been pondering lately, is the more general purpose of reading books. I used to read quite a lot of books, library books and personal books. Mostly fiction and popular science, I hesitate to admit (not hesitate to read them, just hesitate to admit because they are 'lesser' books). There are a lot of things that I couldn't tell you whether I have read or not, let alone what the main points were. Now I mo…

You may want to read How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren.

http://www.amazon.com/How-Read-Book-Touchstone-book/dp/06712...

Re: Alan Kay’s reading list

#13

Post by Radix »

frossie wrote: post #11
jodrellblank wrote: post #5

One thing I've been pondering lately, is the more general purpose of reading books. I used to read quite a lot of books, library books and personal books. Mostly fiction and popular science, I hesitate to admit (not hesitate to read them, just hesitate to admit because they are 'lesser' books). There are a lot of things that I couldn't tell you whether I have read or not, let alone what the main points were. Now I mo…

Am I really a better person for having read more books? For having been exposed to certain ideas? Yes. Even if you can't directly recall what you have read, if you understood it while you were reading it you would have internalised some of the world view, if not the blow-by-blow account. As somebody else replied, discussing it with your friends (or, making friends of the people who would discuss such books with you)…

I was going to say this. Specifically that this is particularly true when you are young. I recall discussing Atlas Shrugged with a friend not long ago. I can see that book permanently influencing someone's world view. (For better or worse, positively or negatively, I cannot say.)

Re: Alan Kay’s reading list

#14

Post by omouse »

Alex3917 wrote: post #10

Has anyone here actually read Piaget? I've heard that he was such a bad writer that even his closest disciples often had no idea what he was talking about. I'm tempted to read these books, but on the other hand I'm worried it will make it even harder to understand his ideas.

Here you go:

http://books.google.com/books?id=jJZ7aWY4tIcC&printsec=f...

Some pages you can read to see if you understand his writing.

Re: Alan Kay’s reading list

#15

Post by baddox »

jodrellblank wrote: post #5

One thing I've been pondering lately, is the more general purpose of reading books. I used to read quite a lot of books, library books and personal books. Mostly fiction and popular science, I hesitate to admit (not hesitate to read them, just hesitate to admit because they are 'lesser' books). There are a lot of things that I couldn't tell you whether I have read or not, let alone what the main points were. Now I mo…

Your question is a common one. Literary critics often joke about how critics in general rate James Joyce's "Ulysses" as a top novel, yet "no one has actually read it." The same goes (to a lesser extent) in cinema for "2001: A Space Odyssey."

Re: Alan Kay’s reading list

#16

Post by Alex3917 »

omouse wrote: post #14
Alex3917 wrote: post #10

Has anyone here actually read Piaget? I've heard that he was such a bad writer that even his closest disciples often had no idea what he was talking about. I'm tempted to read these books, but on the other hand I'm worried it will make it even harder to understand his ideas.

Here you go: http://books.google.com/books?id=jJZ7aWY4tIcC&printsec=f... Some pages you can read to see if you understand his writing.

Thanks for the link. Yeah, it's even worse than I'd imagined. I think I'll stick to just reading Duckworth's summaries of his ideas for now.

Re: Alan Kay’s reading list

#17

Post by Alex3917 »

jodrellblank wrote: post #5

One thing I've been pondering lately, is the more general purpose of reading books. I used to read quite a lot of books, library books and personal books. Mostly fiction and popular science, I hesitate to admit (not hesitate to read them, just hesitate to admit because they are 'lesser' books). There are a lot of things that I couldn't tell you whether I have read or not, let alone what the main points were. Now I mo…

What I do to avoid this is whenever I read a book I put a little dash in the margin next to anything that's worth remembering, and then after I finish the book I copy down all these sentences into a mindmap. The means that I've read all the insightful/informative parts at least twice, typed them once, and then have them in a format that makes it really easy to refer back to them.

Re: Alan Kay’s reading list

#18

Post by b-man »

Alex3917 wrote: post #10

Has anyone here actually read Piaget? I've heard that he was such a bad writer that even his closest disciples often had no idea what he was talking about. I'm tempted to read these books, but on the other hand I'm worried it will make it even harder to understand his ideas.

If you want an advice, read Seymour Papert's articles and books (http://www.papert.org/works.html, also take a look at http://learning.media.mit.edu/content/publications/EA.Piaget...)

Papert's style is very accessible, and he was, at least in my view (and in Piaget's view) the guy who grok his ideas the most.

Re: Alan Kay’s reading list

#19

Post by Alex3917 »

b-man wrote: post #18
Alex3917 wrote: post #10

Has anyone here actually read Piaget? I've heard that he was such a bad writer that even his closest disciples often had no idea what he was talking about. I'm tempted to read these books, but on the other hand I'm worried it will make it even harder to understand his ideas.

If you want an advice, read Seymour Papert's articles and books ( http://www.papert.org/works.html , also take a look at http://learning.media.mit.edu/content/publications/EA.Piaget... ) Papert's style is very accessible, and he was, at least in my view (and in Piaget's view) the guy who grok his ideas the most.

Thanks, I'll check these out.

Re: Alan Kay’s reading list

#20

Post by GHFigs »

Alex3917 wrote: post #10

Has anyone here actually read Piaget? I've heard that he was such a bad writer that even his closest disciples often had no idea what he was talking about. I'm tempted to read these books, but on the other hand I'm worried it will make it even harder to understand his ideas.

I second the recommendation of Papert. The first few chapters of Mindstorms are extremely accessible and probably more relevant to any HN reader than anything direct from Piaget.
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