Anyone aware of any official/private efforts in China or Russia to digitize or republish these books. Nowdays, finding these books particularly in languages like Hindi is very difficult.
There are private efforts in Russia, but mostly they digitize Soviet-time books written in Russian or maybe in other languages spoken in Russia. (As far as I know, that is; I am, of course, not aware of the whole field.) Mir published in Russian too, but here it mostly printed translated works, a lot of scientifical and technical literature, a foreign sci-fi series and such. It was like a two-way enterprise, connecti…
Mir Books – Books from the Soviet Era
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Re: Mir Books – Books from the Soviet Era
#92A discussion on this happened recently here*: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48739003 Someone (@rramadass) made me a good set of recommendations from the titles. * Edit: I see now that linked comment too is from @clmul, the OP here. Thanks clmul!
Yep, i have been recommending these books and this site for a while now.
The reason? See my comment from 7 years ago! - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21351115
The younger generation in particular need to know of these excellent resources for Science/Mathematics.
Another good publisher of old/classic Science/Mathematics books is "Dover Publications" - https://store.doverpublications.com/
Checkout for example, the books by Richard Hamming, in particular; "Methods of Mathematics Applied to Calculus, Probability, and Statistics" - https://store.doverpublications.com/products/9780486439457 (highly relevant to today's needs).
Also checkout the book series (mathematics via correspondence for high-school students) by I.M.Gelfand - https://store.doverpublications.com/search?type=product&q=I....
Re: Mir Books – Books from the Soviet Era
#93Quick question. What do soviets make great researchers? I noticed this pattern in ml, math & physics research. Is it that they have better quality books?
One word, "Culture";
See the comment by "elzbardico" here - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48738277
Sadly, current-day global culture/society does not value knowledge if it is not in the furtherance of capitalistic goals.
Re: Mir Books – Books from the Soviet Era
#94We had these in Sri Lanka, some of it translated to the local language and published by local publishers. I can't remember whether it was specifically a Mir publication, but I have fond memories of Y. Perelman's Mathematics can be Fun -- beautifully printed and hardbound, with meticulously drawn line art illustrations covering various applications of mathematics.
https://mirtitles.org/?s=Yakov+Perelman
All of Perelman's books are a must read, particularly by students. Few books can better motivate you in Science/Mathematics.
Re: Mir Books – Books from the Soviet Era
#95Soviet books were a boon to the world. I thank Soviet scientists. https://valeman.medium.com/the-men-who-translated-the-machin...
That is a pretty good and meaningful article.
It was the same with many other countries, whether English or Native languages.
Re: Mir Books – Books from the Soviet Era
#96I had a lot of these books as a kid. I'm not even 100% why, but my dad glommed on to the idea that they were of high quality, and also quite inexpensive. Probably my favorite was "Higher Mathematics for Beginners" by Yakov Zeldovich[1]. I was a voracious reader, and largely taught myself calculus from it. Another one on probability and statistics I also found quite accessible (can't find it immediately). There were s…
FYI - There is a later version of the above book titled "Higher Math for Beginners" (with Yaglom) and "Elements of Applied Mathematics" (with Myskis) - https://mirtitles.org/?s=zeldovich
Hard copy versions are available from Aargon Press on Amazon India.
Re: Mir Books – Books from the Soviet Era
#97Maintainer/curator of the blog here. Please feel free to ask anything. Glad to see this on the front page on HN, we had a similar bump some years back!
Have you thought about a printing service so people can order hard copies from you/your-company? It will allow you to maintain/fund this work which i think is very much needed. Also maybe redesign the site so it is more easily searchable (fast, functional but no jazz). I have bought a few print copies from low-cost publishers on Amazon India but the quality has been iffy. Would be willing to pay extra for better qual…
Yes, there was something in the pipeline to print, nicely (re)typeset books around the time covid stuck and the plan got sidelines. Will see if there is a possibility again.
We are using worpdress.com for the hosting, so that more focus is on curating the content with minimum maintenance required (it is mostly me, with little help from colleagues every now and then).
Re: Mir Books – Books from the Soviet Era
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
I inherited a large (to me) collection of books from the USSR from my grandfather who immigrated here. Do you know how someone could find a collector or something who would appreciate them? I'm not looking to make money here, I just don't want the books to stay on the shelf of someone who will never read or appreciate them.
Any idea of the topics?
Medicine and jokes