Will they please stop publishing great books!

Discussion in 'Chit Chat' started by nitro, Jun 15, 2005.

  1. nitro

    nitro

    #141     Oct 2, 2007
  2. please provide a summary or synopsis of the salient point(s).. ty
     
    #142     Oct 5, 2007

  3. I haven't seen those.. how are they?

    I'm currently on:
    http://www.amazon.com/Dynamic-Asset...7962036?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191605987&sr=1-1

    and

    http://www.amazon.com/Stochastic-Ca...7962036?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191606062&sr=1-1

    Very theoretical, but very good.

    ~annaland
     
    #143     Oct 5, 2007
  4. nitro

    nitro

    I bought the second one that I link to above because it is the one that I think leads to insight. I have a strong belief that the most important thing in finance is to transform to the right coordinate to "linearize" the problem, and then do your analysis. The simplest example of this sort of transform is the log. Transforming to log coordinates allows you to see lines instead of curves. The hard part is that as your transforms become more complicated, you have to bring in more and more machinary. You go from simple metrics to more abstract metrics, so you have to bring in metric spaces. Then you realize that some properties of the manifold are topological, so you bring in Topology. Then you realize that you need Fibre Bundles, and then you realize just how close finance, especially options theory, is to physics.

    Remember how hard it was for Einstein to go from Special Relativity to General Relativity? He needed tensors to basically give him a new metric, a new "pythagorean theorem" on curved spaces. General Relativity is hard because it is non-linear.

    Anyway, it's on its way from Amazon.

    Those books look good that you are reading.

    nitro


     
    #144     Oct 6, 2007
  5. Hi nitro,

    I'm wondering if you have read Walter Isaacon's recent book on Einstein "Einstein: His Life and Universe".

    I ask because I've seen him a couple of times already on C-SPAN BookTV and his account and his knowledge of Einstein makes it look quite worthy of a read.

    -kt
     
    #145     Nov 11, 2007
  6. you may read all these popular press books you want, doesn't make you into one of the few true genius. read them for entertainment if you wish but don't think for a minute that you have true insight or knowledge into any of these arcane fields. if you did you'd be asst professor to grad students @MIT or whatever :/
     
    #146     Nov 11, 2007
  7. gates was going to do original research in math, till he realized he could never be the best, or the smartest. oh he was good but not that good, there were others much better. much 'smarter', more gifted. so he reevaluated his strengths and shifted course to smthg in which he could excel. the rest is history. moral: don't waste your time spinning your wheels. take a realistic look at yourself then get out there and make your mark :/
     
    #147     Nov 11, 2007
  8. nitro

    nitro

    Hi ktmexc20,

    I haven't read that book. I rarely read biographies, I don't find them that interesting.

    That said, the one book that was one my favorite books of all time is this book:

    Men of Mathematics (Touchstone Book) (Paperback)
    by E.T. Bell (Author)

    http://www.amazon.com/Mathematics-T...bs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1194822912&sr=8-1

    It reads like a thriller, and it is mostly about the people woven into their math.

    You meet Archimedes, Gauss, Newton, Galois, Abel, the list goes on. I wish someone wrote a modern version of "Men of Mathematics." Maybe only ancient mathematicians are interesting and modern ones are boring....


    I was given this DVD for Christmas one year:

    http://www.amazon.com/NOVA-Einstein...ef=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1194823155&sr=1-1

    What a tremendous DVD. I highly recommend it. In it you will learn about Faraday, Lise Meitler, Lavoisier, and of course Einstein. Women really enjoy this DVD because it shows how women participicated in some of the discoveries, and the women behind the men.


    Of the many books on the biography of relativity and Einstein, I find this one is the best:

    The Curious History of Relativity: How Einstein's Theory of Gravity Was Lost and Found Again (Hardcover)

    http://www.amazon.com/Curious-Histo...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1194823526&sr=1-1

    Today, I am reading books like this:

    http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-...=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1194824273&sr=1-4

    Introduction to 2-Spinors in General Relativity (Hardcover)
    by Peter O'Donnell (Author)

    I am fascinated by sheaf cohomology and twistor theory, the best introduction for the layman given here:

    http://www.amazon.com/Superstrings-...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1194824600&sr=1-1


    nitro
     
    #148     Nov 11, 2007
  9. #149     Nov 14, 2007
  10. Maverick74

    Maverick74

    #150     Nov 14, 2007