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Burning Libraries
A Saucy Roman History Book
We have Commodus killing animals (classical serial killer behaviour), and then getting himself strangled by a wrestler in a bath. We have Caracalla who allegedly enjoyed incest with his mother and certainly had his brother killed at a meeting arranged by this quondam lover: worst of all he wore a hood and a blonde wig ( Read more... ) -
Nate Silver and Nassim Taleb
I have read books by both Silver and Taleb in the last couple years. Both authors have significantly changed my thinking about the world.
The Signal and the Silence looks at Silver and Taleb. It is a good review. My only real question is about the opening section, where the fate of the 2011 Boston Red Sox is described as "the worst collapse in ( Read more... ) -
Too many books
In Church this morning some announced that there was a group being formed to read and discuss the recent book Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth. I have heard good things about this and my first reaction was Sure, I should get the book, read it, and join the group. My second thought was Wait a minute, I am reading several books already ( Read more... ) -
Life Imitates Art
Tom Lehrer: "I've often thought I'd like to write a mathematics textbook someday because I have a title that I know will sell a million copies; I'm gonna call it Tropic of Calculus." (1965)
Steven Strogatz, The Joy of x (2012) -
To the publishing industry:
Amazon Will Destroy You
Amazon is going to destroy the Big 6, destroy bookstores, destroy 95% of all agents, destroy distributors (Ingram, Baker & Taylor), and revolutionize the publishing industry by becoming the dominant force ( Read more... )
