tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8890204.post8083473542962082443..comments2024-03-10T05:26:42.148-04:00Comments on My Biased Coin: Bursts -- a new Barabasi bookMichael Mitzenmacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06738274256402616703noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8890204.post-88759181329306061952010-04-19T17:05:04.762-04:002010-04-19T17:05:04.762-04:00My latest favorite math communicator is Steven Str...My latest favorite math communicator is Steven Strogatz. I love his NYTimes column.Geoff Knauthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12025560607512616605noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8890204.post-42689443755879149682010-04-19T17:01:39.273-04:002010-04-19T17:01:39.273-04:00Write the book, and I'll buy it. That said, I...Write the book, and I'll buy it. That said, I buy books full of math authored by smart people I don't fully understand, and I can take the dry style that is common to many CS texts. If you want a book to be popular, maybe you can co-write the book with someone who majored in English or History of Science or Journalism.<br /><br />I just picked up a $1 copy of Flatland at a yard sale for my kids, because I remember how much fun that book was ages ago. Isaac Asimov wrote the foreward. Timeless.<br /><br />Gerry Sussman said a good book takes five years. I'll buy his books as long as I live.Geoff Knauthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12025560607512616605noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8890204.post-2207638630616601282010-04-17T15:12:30.732-04:002010-04-17T15:12:30.732-04:00Michael
I encourage you to write this book. It wi...Michael<br /><br />I encourage you to write this book. It will be difficult, but having tenure at Harvard surely gives you the right to step outside the (perverse?) system of incentives driving the endless round of submission to (often fairly low quality, despite the reputation) conferences.<br /><br />CS should be an interesting topic for the general public. There are hugely many popular math books too. But the only good CS ones I can think of now are by David Harel (there may be more, but very few). If we can get Bernard Chazelle to expand his essays ...Mark Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16382201587698895101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8890204.post-28244883300334849952010-04-17T12:37:26.844-04:002010-04-17T12:37:26.844-04:00I've wondered the same (why physicists/economi...I've wondered the same (why physicists/economists/biologists/mathematicians/anyone really) does a better job of communicating their ideas in a simple edible ways for the public at large than EE and CS folks.<br />One theory is that they mostly work on natural phenomena that everyone knows something about and is consequently easier to get people hooked onto. While most layman don't have a clue whats inside a silicon chip. But social networks provide a good test for my theory. Its something that a layperson really gets already. So, a well written book can be a best seller. Question is, will someone write it?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com