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By The Editor:

This is just part of an extremely wide-ranging discussion, covering maths at Cambridge University, mathematical reading, AI, PhDs, the ethics of war, jokes, teaching and Ramanujan.
The original thread can be found here in its entirety, should you wish to read all 34 pages!

By Hal 2001 (P3046) on Thursday, October 19, 2000 - 03:13 pm:

Any recommendations on any math books that you people like? I reckon you Cambridge math circle people have read some nice gems.

Signing Out...
HAL2001

By Dan Goodman (Dfmg2) on Thursday, October 19, 2000 - 04:30 pm:

Well, the books I read were quite good, "Godel, Escher, Bach" by Doug Hofstadter (of particular interest to you as he is an AI researcher), "Mathematics, the New Golden Age" by Keith Devlin. I never read anything by Ian Stewart, but I think he's supposed to be quite good too, maybe someone else can verify that.

By Tom Hardcastle (P2477) on Thursday, October 19, 2000 - 05:19 pm:

Ian Stewart is very good.

Tom

By Marion Palles-Clark (Mhp21) on Thursday, October 19, 2000 - 05:29 pm:

There is a reading list on the maths department webpage, try reading list

Marion

By Brad Rodgers (P1930) on Thursday, October 19, 2000 - 08:43 pm:

One good book is "A Mathematician's Apology" by G. H. Hardy. Also, "Ideas and Opinions" by Albert Einstein is good, although I'm afraid it isn't based primarily around maths.

Brad

By Hal 2001 (P3046) on Friday, October 20, 2000 - 04:32 pm:

Thanks Dan, Tom, Marion and Brad for your suggestions!

I shall look up the books through Amazon.co.uk.
They seem to have some good brief reviews of many books. So, I'll check it out.

Has anyone seen the movie called Pi?

Thanks once again.
HAL2001

By Hal 2001 (P3046) on Friday, October 20, 2000 - 04:43 pm:

Hi again,

If anyone know of any other AI related books I would appreciate it if any suggestions could be made. (Dan - thanks for the book suggestion- i'll look it up)

If you know of any teachers/lecturers/students who are interested in AI, maybe you could badger them for some recomendations! Both technical and non-technical books.

Regards
HAL2k+1

By Sean Hartnoll (Sah40) on Friday, October 20, 2000 - 06:04 pm:

Two non-technical books on the mathematical and physical aspects of AI are The Emperor's New Mind and the sequel Shadows of the Mind by Roger Penrose.

Sean

By Dan Goodman (Dfmg2) on Friday, October 20, 2000 - 07:23 pm:

Although I have to mention that although Penrose's books are very interesting and worth reading, they are quite hard. I just read a book vaguely to do with AI which I don't recommend called "Fuzzy Logic" (I can't remember the authors). Marcus Hill recommended "The Uncertain Reasoner's Companion" for reading about this topic, not strictly AI, but it has some relation I think.

By Marcus Hill (T3280) on Saturday, October 21, 2000 - 12:07 am:

I wouldn't recommend "The Uncertain Reasoner's Companion" to anyone who hasn't done some logic and some probability theory, it's intended as a reference and introduction for higher level study and research (late in a degree course or in postgraduate work).

"Godel, Escher, Bach" was, quite possibly, a book that shaped my life - it inspired me to look into logic, and I ended up with a doctorate in it. I would also recommend another book by Hofstadter on the same kind of topic, "The Mind's I". You could also pick up some of Martin Gardner's books - the collections of his Scientific American columns make great mathematical bedtime reading, and give accessible insights into a wide variety of different topics. Two of the collections whose titles I can remember off the top of my head are "Knotted Doughtnuts and Other Mathematical Entertainments" and "Time Travel and Other Mathematical Bewilderments".

By Hal 2001 (P3046) on Saturday, October 21, 2000 - 08:17 am:

Thanks for the book suggestions Sean, Dan and Marcus.

I've ordered a copy of Godel, Escher, Bach. The review for the book seems to be impressive. Until I get my copy, anyone care elaborate more? Wasn't Escher the artist?? How is this related to maths, logic and AI? I have also ordered a few by Martin Gardner. I looked at www.Sciam.com (Scientific Americian) but could not find any of his articles there. Anyone know of any online depositaries of his work I could read?

Regards
HAL2001

By Mrs. Toni Beardon (Lab11) on Saturday, October 21, 2000 - 10:07 am:

It is good to see such an interest in maths not only evidenced by threads of conversation like this but by the tremendous response from young people to all sections of NRICH.

If you want to read online the best new popular articles on mathematics then go to
The Mathematical Association of America Current Columns.

You will find the latest by Ivars Peterson, Keith Devlin, Alex Bogomolny, Frank Morgan et al. and a rich archive of past columns, great stuff!

Also don't forget Plus, a new edition was published a few days ago.

Enjoy!

Toni

By Hal 2001 (P3046) on Saturday, October 21, 2000 - 09:56 pm:

Thanks Mrs Beardon for your input and the links. I'll check them out!

Regards
HAL2001

By Hal 2001 (P3046) on Sunday, October 22, 2000 - 08:00 pm:

Yesterday I recived some of the Martin Gardner book I ordered. I look forward to reading them. Thank you everyone who told me about Mr Gardners books! I also should be getting the GEB book later this week.

Regards
HAL2001

By Olof Sisask (P3033) on Thursday, November 2, 2000 - 06:45 pm:

Hal-
I found a book about Ramanujan which I started reading a while ago. It's called "The Man Who Knew Infinity" by Robert Kanigel. I haven't gotten that far in it, but it seems quite a good book so far (it includes the story of his life as well as some Mathematical notes).

Olof.

By Hal 2001 (P3046) on Friday, November 3, 2000 - 03:33 pm:

Thanks Olof, I'll check out the book.

HAL2001