tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547067420689722925.post2824410196955056239..comments2023-08-13T11:58:31.588-04:00Comments on Ghulf Genes: Not a Lot of PopularizersADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06408980212433714362noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547067420689722925.post-37535630939275045432012-01-22T22:03:00.408-05:002012-01-22T22:03:00.408-05:00There is, of course, Goedel, Escher, Bach, which I...There is, of course, <i>Goedel, Escher, Bach</i>, which I suppose you have read. I didn't mention it here because I haven't reached that portion of Kline's book yet and so am saving it up for another post. That's something of a tour de force. Kline's theme in a sentence: We thought we were tracing God's thought and about to grasp Certainty, but, alas, it's just a human construct...ADhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06408980212433714362noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547067420689722925.post-57924548375026742572012-01-22T21:55:45.664-05:002012-01-22T21:55:45.664-05:00You will enjoy the book. I don't know how Brig...You will enjoy the book. I don't know how Brigitte obtained it, but used volumes (or for all I know brand new ones) may be available via the source of any book. The Amazon...ADhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06408980212433714362noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547067420689722925.post-40452985067215554692012-01-22T17:16:35.499-05:002012-01-22T17:16:35.499-05:00Some things do take an awfully long time. I've...Some things do take an awfully long time. I've done some things recently that took over 50 years - on and off, intense and desultory - and for the most part I did not even know that they had to be done way back when, but the need was there.<br /><br />I am going to try and remember Morris Kline, but I have already mixed his name up with that of Moritz Schlick... so good luck on that.Montaghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00017648070522030951noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547067420689722925.post-68727243684486319572012-01-22T15:41:12.886-05:002012-01-22T15:41:12.886-05:00I go through similar long-term getting-used-to-it ...I go through similar long-term getting-used-to-it learning bouts with mathematics -- which is a field that really needs more popularizations. I haven't read the Kline book, but I believe you entirely that you can have a suspenseful story of the history of math. But too many people don't ever get that side.<br /><br />I suppose it's to be expected, though -- good popularization, I think, is harder than the real thing. At least, in the sense that you don't just need to know what you're talking about, you need to know how to use metaphor, analogy, and anecdote to summarize it cleaning and convey the points without being too misleading. (I think relativity was helped a lot by the fact that this was partly the way Einstein actually <i>thought</i>, and the way physicists of his day still often communicated even with each other, so the form of the theory was already, as you say, halfway a literary endeavor despite being mathematical.)Brandonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06698839146562734910noreply@blogger.com