Book review: Significant figures by Ian Stewart

Significant Figures: The Lives and Works of Great Mathematicians does what it attempts to do about as well as it could. Whether that is "good enough" depends on what you want.

Stewart's goal here was to briefly cover what the subtitle says about a range of mathematicians from various eras. He does not include anyone who is still alive and does not claim to cover the greatest mathematicians - this precludes a lot of arguments about who is included and not. He ranges from Archimedes to William Thurston. 

In each short chapter, Stewart summarizes what is known about the life of the person and tries to give a sense of the contribution that he or she made to mathematics.  The problem, especially in some of the later chapters, is that understanding the contributions requires a lot of background math. Stewart is writing for a lay audience - people who may have taken some math in college, but not professional mathematicians  He has a lot of experience doing this and he is reasonably successful, but if you are expecting a lot of deep mathematical results, you may be disappointed.

What are you reading? May 26, 2018

• Started this week
• Earthman's Burden by Gordon Dickson and Poul Anderson. An old science fiction book about how humans discover the Hoka, perhaps the funniest aliens ever. I am on p. 75.
• The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi. More SF. I am on p. 9
• In progress this week
• Significant Figures by Ian Stewart. Brief biographies of famous mathematicians. I am on p. 186.
• The Machiavellian Moment by J. G. A. Pocock. I am on p. 14. Multidisciplinary social science/history.  This is going to be a slow read. 
• This Idea is Brilliant edited by John Brockman.  Short essays on a wide range of ideas by experts. I am on p. 129.
• A New History of Western Philosophy by Anthony Kenny. This is a very good history of the subject, well written and clear.  Kenny follows an unusual strategy in that he takes two approaches: He first covers each era in a more-or-less chronological order, then he looks at the big topics of that era in a systematic way.  I am on p. 615, in the Enlightenment.
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• On hold this week (books started but put aside, without prejudice)
•  Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker. Why the Enlightenment is still important, why life is still good.  I am on p. 55. 
• Death in Brittany by Jörg Bong.  A mystery. I am on p. 25. 
• The Drawing of Trump and its Postponement by Fred L. Karpin.  I am on p. 53. A classic on the play of the hand in bridge. 
• Finished this week
• The Last Queen of England by Steve Robinson. A mystery. My review.

Book review: The Last Queen of England by Steve Robinson

Queen Anne (b. 1665, d. 1714) was the "Last Queen of England" because the act of union occurred in her reign.  She was pregnant many times, but none of her children survived.  Or did they?

Genealogist Jefferson Tayte is at a conference in England when his friend and colleague dies in his arms. Tayte and Prof. Jean Summer take on the job that his colleague was working on, which involves the long-ago execution of five members of the Royal Society and a possible heir to the throne via Anne's line of descent.

Soon, though, it also involves murder in the present day, motivated by both politics and greed.

This is the third book in the Jefferson Tayte series,  but I don't think you need to read the others first.

Interesting words: Distaff

Distaff is an interesting word because it is both a noun and an adjective, but the two are, at first glance, rather unrelated.

The noun is part of the technology of spinning cloth - it is a staff for holding material.  The adjective means "pertaining to women".

According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, distaff is from Low German diesse meaning flax and staef meaning stick or staff. The adjectival form is through the word spindle.  In Old English, there were words spinelhealf and sperehealf meaning the female and male lines of descent, respectively.

Distaff is a fairly rare word, about 1 in every 5,500,000 words, per Google ngram viewer. It is also declining in popularity.

What are you reading: May 19, 2018

Here's what I am reading.  Feel free to comment with what you are reading.

• Started this week
• The Last Queen of England by Steve Robinson. A mystery. I am on p. 58.
• In progress this week
• Wild Mind: Living the Writer's Life by Natalie Goldberg. I am on p. 24.  
• Significant Figures by Ian Stewart. Brief biographies of famous mathematicians. I am on p. 158.
• The Machiavellian Moment by J. G. A. Pocock. I am on p. 12. Multidisciplinary social science/history.  This is going to be a slow read. 
• This Idea is Brilliant edited by John Brockman.  Short essays on a wide range of ideas by experts. I am on p. 129.
• A New History of Western Philosophy by Anthony Kenny. This is a very good history of the subject, well written and clear.  Kenny follows an unusual strategy in that he takes two approaches: He first covers each era in a more-or-less chronological order, then he looks at the big topics of that era in a systematic way.  I am on p. 613, in the Enlightenment.
• The Drawing of Trump and its Postponement by Fred L. Karpin.  I am on p. 53. A classic on the play of the hand in bridge. 
• On hold this week (books started but put aside, without prejudice)
•  Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker. Why the Enlightenment is still important, why life is still good.  I am on p. 55. 
• Death in Brittany by Jörg Bong.  A mystery. I am on p. 25.
• Finished this week
• Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries by Kory Stamper. My review.

Book Review: Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries by Kory Stamper

• How do dictionaries get written?
• What is it like to be a lexicographer at a major dictionary?
• What word took Kory Stamper the longest to define?
• What word brought her death threats?
• Should dictionaries be descriptive or prescriptive?
• Why don't dictionaries use the international phonetic alphabet?

If these sort of questions interest you, then Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries is your sort of book. Kory Stamper writes well, with humor mixed in with the description of working at a dictionary. I found it fascinating.

What are you reading: May 12, 2018

Here's what I am reading.  Feel free to comment with what you are reading.

• Started this week
• Death in Brittany by Jörg Bong.  A mystery. I am on p. 25.
• Word by Word: The Hidden Life of Dictionaries by Kory Stamper. I am on p. 77.
• In progress this week
• Wild Mind: Living the Writer's Life by Natalie Goldberg. I am on p. 24.  
• Significant Figures by Ian Stewart. Brief biographies of famous mathematicians. I am on p. 89.
• The Machiavellian Moment by J. G. A. Pocock. I am on p. 9. Multidisciplinary social science/history.  This is going to be a slow read. 
• This Idea is Brilliant edited by John Brockman.  Short essays on a wide range of ideas by experts. I am on p. 127.
• A New History of Western Philosophy by Anthony Kenny. This is a very good history of the subject, well written and clear.  Kenny follows an unusual strategy in that he takes two approaches: He first covers each era in a more-or-less chronological order, then he looks at the big topics of that era in a systematic way.  I am on p. 605, in the Enlightenment.
• The Drawing of Trump and its Postponement by Fred L. Karpin.  I am on p. 53. A classic on the play of the hand in bridge. 
• On hold this week (books started but put aside, without prejudice)
•  Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker. Why the Enlightenment is still important, why life is still good.  I am on p. 55.
• Finished this week

• Scrivener for Dummies.  Scrivener is a tool for writers. 

Interesting words: Gelid

Gelid is an adjective meaning, per Merriam Webster online:

Extremely cold, icy.

The origin of gelid is Latin gelidus which means very cold (see Online Etymology Dictionary).  It is a rare word, about 1 in 39,000,000 per Google Ngram viewer (in comparison "icy" is about 1 in 282,000, "frigid" about 1 in 1,000,000 and "cold" a whopping 1 in 15.000).

So, why use "gelid"?  One reason is to avoid using "very" or "extremely" - so, rather than "very cold" we can use "gelid".  "Frigid" also means "very cold" but I think some of the connotations are different. In particular, "frigid" can mean "extremely uninterested in sex" which "gelid" cannot. And "gelid" has the connotation of "almost frozen".

I read gelid in Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. 

What are you reading? May 5, 2018

Here's what I am reading.  Feel free to comment with what you are reading.

• Started this week
• Wild Mind: Living the Writer's Life by Natalie Goldberg. I am on p. 12. 
• In progress this week
• A re-re-read of Crypotomicon by Neal Stephenson. One of my favorite novels. My review shows why.  I am on p. 675.
• Significant Figures by Ian Stewart. Brief biographies of famous mathematicians. I am on p. 69.
• The Machiavellian Moment by J. G. A. Pocock. I am on p. 5. Multidisciplinary social science/history.  This is going to be a slow read. 
• This Idea is Brilliant edited by John Brockman.  Short essays on a wide range of ideas by experts. I am on p. 124.
• The Mathematical Theory of Bridge by Emile Borel and Cheron Andre. Probability and bridge. Lots of math. I am on page 121.
• Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker. Why the Enlightenment is still important, why life is still good.  I am on p. 55.
• A New History of Western Philosophy by Anthony Kenny. This is a very good history of the subject, well written and clear.  Kenny follows an unusual strategy in that he takes two approaches: He first covers each era in a more-or-less chronological order, then he looks at the big topics of that era in a systematic way.  I am on p. 601, in the Enlightenment.
• Scrivener for Dummies. I am on p. 202.  Scrivener is a tool for writers. 
• The Drawing of Trump and its Postponement by Fred L. Karpin.  I am on p. 53. A classic on the play of the hand in bridge. 
• Finished this week

• The Neon Lawyer by Victor Methos.  My review.
• Mercy by Victor Methos. My review.

Book review: Mercy by Victor Methos

Mercy is the second book in the Neon Lawyer series by Victor Methos.  Methos knows how to keep the pages turning and writes with a nice, unobtrusive style, but, in Mercy I think he throws in one plot twist too many, with a resolution that isn't completely worked out. 

In Mercy Brigham Theodore is hired to represent a man who is accused of murdering his wife; one twist is that it's a "mercy killing" - his wife was in horrible pain and about to die from pancreatic cancer. This raises some very interesting and tricky ethical questions but the mystery/trial format of this novel isn't that well suited to dealing with them.  And Theodore himself is conflicted about the case.  Then Methos adds the sort of plot twists that are typical of a trial novel; he does a good job of this, but that detracts from the other aspects.

In short, I think there's a conflict about what this novel is about:

• A trial novel about who did what and whether they will be found guilty
• A novel about the ethics of killing someone who is dying and the ramifications of such killing

Still, it kept me turning the pages and I will be reading more novels in this series. 

What I read in April

Here is a list of books I finished in April.  Links go to my reviews.

• Dark Lanterns by Aaron Solomon.  Historical fiction set in Richelieu's France.
• The Cutting Edge by Jeffery Deaver. The latest in the Lincoln Rhyme series.
• Command Decision by Elizabeth Moon. Fourth book in the Ky Vatta series of military SF.
• Expert Hand Evaluation by Augie Boehm. About the game bridge.

Book review: The Neon Lawyer by Victor Methos

The Neon Lawyer by Victor Methos is a fun, short read. The protagonist, Brigham Theodore, has just graduated from law school in Salt Lake City.  He worked his way through law school as a janitor. He has no success finding work in anything like a traditional law firm, but he gets hired by Tommy Two Balls, who runs a somewhat unscrupulous firm.  His second case is a murder trial that forms the basis of most of the book.

His client shot a man five times, killing him, in clear view of a bunch of people, including several police officers. The only issue is why she did it and her state of mind at the time: The person she killed had kidnapped and tortured her young daughter to death.

I'm not sure how realistic this all is, but the book is a lot of fun and keeps the pages turning.