Goodies

[stoutfellow]

The nice man from the USPS just came by bearing packages. I ran outside and met him halfway - which would not be remarkable, except that it's about 30F out there, and I'm wearing a short-sleeved shirt and am barefoot.

In the packages, the following:

• We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History by John Lewis Gaddis


• The Accusers, one of Lindsey Davis' "Falco" mysteries


• All the Shah's Men by Stephen Kinzer, an account of the 1953 coup against Mohammad Mossadegh


• Rhapsody: Child of Blood, a fantasy novel by Elizabeth Haydon


• One Hundred Philosophers by Peter J. King


• Analytic Theory of Polynomials by Q. I. Rahman and G. Schmeisser

That last one deserves a bit more of a comment. Last year, I proved a certain theorem, by brute force. I don't understand why it's true, but it definitely is. It's outside my usual haunts, and I'd really like to get a better grasp on it; the book by Rahman and Schmeisser seems likely to help me get that grasp.

It cost $246.

Advanced works in mathematics have such a small market that fixed costs make up an unusually high fraction of the price. There are other factors at work as well, all tending to push price up.

I'm almost sure that it'll be worth it. Almost.

Comments

[sraun]

Short-sleeve & barefoot sounds like the appropriate attire for 30C. Or did you mean 3 degrees C? ;-)

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

Aarg. 30F.

Thank you. Corrected.

[mareklamo.livejournal.com]

I wish it was 30C here. This girl from the tropics is freezing :-(

[oilhistorian.livejournal.com]

Don't get me wrong, We Now Know is a great book. But I'd have bought Gaddis' more recent book -- The Cold War: A New History -- instead. More complete. I almost attended Ohio U for my PhD back when Gaddis was there.

I'm curious to hear what you think about Kinzer's book.

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

Hm. I wish I had made a note of where I got the recommendation of We Now Know. I would have assumed it was the Economist - most of my historical purchases are prompted by their reviews - but a publication date of 1997 makes that unlikely. When was the more recent book published?

I'll move Kinzer to the front of the to-read pile. The nonfiction slot just opened up.

[oilhistorian.livejournal.com]

The new book is really new -- it was published in December. It's a more comprehensive and refined look at the same issues he visited in We Now Know. But you can't go wrong with any book by Gaddis. He really is the leading US historian of the Cold War.

[kd5mdk.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I greatly enjoyed his "Surprise, Security and the American Experience".

[ndrosen.livejournal.com]

Did you prove this theorem for the first time, and publish your proof in a mathematical journal, or did you come across an account of the theorem as something already known, and prove it to yourself (by inelegant brute force), so now you want to learn more about that area of mathematics?

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

As far as I know, the theorem is original with me. I've drafted an article for publication, but haven't yet submitted it, mainly because of the lack of elegance. I'm aware of some related theorems, and I'm hoping that studying their proofs - in Rahman and Schmeisser - will help me prettify the proof of mine.

[ndrosen.livejournal.com]

Congratulations, and good luck prettifying. I remember a math professor back in college telling me that reductio ad absurdum was not considered the preferred and most elegant way to prove a theorem . . .

[kd5mdk.livejournal.com]

I don't suppose e-publication is going to take the academic world by storm in that case...

[filkferengi]

That should be enough to keep you run off your [presumably furry?] feet for awhile. ;)