On Dec 30, 2007, at 3:05 PM, Günther Greindl wrote:
> Dear Owen,
>
> I am actually reading it at the moment, I am at around page 300. It is
> my second go, the first one was before I had CompSci Math under my
> belt
> and I got lost.
>
> This time is much better, although he of course employs a rather broad
> sweep of mathematics, most of which you will only hear as a physics
> student (like Riemannian geometry etc) But the going is quite nice,
> though you have to believe him some stuff.
The intro is certainly comfy! And browsing through a few places of
interest were satisfying.
> I have also bought Needham's Visual Complex Analysis (excellent
> book!!),
Wow, what a coincidence! So did I, due to some FRIAM conversations a
while back but without knowing anything about the Penrose book, and
its focus on complex numbers.
> and concepts somewhat thin in Penrose's book make sense after going
> through a chapter in the Needham book. (Penrose loves complex
> analysis,
> and I am beginning to share his fascination :-))
> Also for the later math chapters some additional mathematical
> literature
> is recommended.
Good to know. I actually like that sort of read .. an "index" into
the mathematics world and a good motivator.
> I can really recommend this book - I have of course already made
> "sneak
> reads" into the physical sections, and if you work through this book
> (instead of reading it casually and ignoring the parts you don't
> understand) I guess there is no quicker way to be informed about
> modern/foundational physics at a considerably more than superficial
> level (the next step is to study physics, really).
>
> But it will take work - that is the question you have to ask yourself:
> if you are willing to "tackle" the book instead of just "reading"
> it, I
> give it a serious thumbs up :)
>
> Cheers,
> Günther
Thanks,
-- Owen
============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
