Euclid in the Rainforest -- Book Review

Euclid in the Rainforest: Discovering Universal Truth in Logic and Math by Joseph Mazur
My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I really, really wanted to like this book. The table of contents sounded so interesting: infinity! logic! how math pertains to reality! But, the further I got into the book, the more frustrated I became. Each section -- infinity, logic, and reality -- contains several chapters, but it's never clear to the reader how each chapter relates to the overarching theme. Moreover, each chapter itself seemed just like a collection of math-related stories, one after the other, with no obvious link. (I'm sure there *were* links, but I would have had to work to find them.) Also -- and this may seem like a nit-picking critique -- the weak topic sentences really got in the way of my understanding each paragraph. Topic sentences have to set up the rest of the sentences in a paragraph, giving the reader a kind of road map, but these didn't. Arrrrgh! In my opinion, the book should be rewritten under the watchful eye of a careful editor.

View all my reviews

The Exploratorium recently won yet another design award. Its Tinkering Studio was recognized by Core77, an online design magazine. The Exploratorium is one of my favorite places in the entire world, fusing science, art, design, and the humanities into a breathtaking amalgam of interesting, cool stuff. You can read more about the design award here. To watch some cool Tinkering Studio goodness, click on the embedded video below:

Amazing Antique Typewriters

Salon's Elizabeth Weingarten has written a story about a fantastic collection of old writing machines. I love the look of these old typewriters: they remind me of steampunk objects. It's also interesting to learn about the ancestors of objects that have become common.

Copper Tea Kettle

This morning I came across this fantastic copper tea kettle. I wonder how much it weighs when it's full....

Conklin Fountain Pens

Wow: I really love the old-timey design of the Conklin pen website. Apparently, Mark Twain -- one of my favorite writers -- used a Conklin crescent filler, a pen with (I think) an internal inflatable bladder. When a writer depresses the button on the barrel, the air in the bladder shoots out, creating a vacuum. Then, ink can be siphoned into the pen. Nice.

[Image is from the Conklin website.]

Waterman Fountain Pen and Amazing Handwriting

The blogger Leigh Reyes recently featured an older Waterman fountain pen equipped with a music nib. Seeing beautiful calligraphy like this makes me want to learn more how to get more out of my fountain pens. I might have to invest in a pen with a more flexible nib, though. Namiki Falcon, anyone?

Anger and Patience

From the Daily Dharma website:

"As a destructive force there is nothing as strong as anger. An instant of anger can destroy all the positive action accumulated over thousands of kalpas through generosity, making offerings to the buddhas, keeping discipline, and so on. So we can say that there is no fault as serious as anger.

Patience, on the other hand, as a discipline which neutralizes anger, which prevents us from succumbing to it, and which appeases the suffering we endure from the heat of the negative emotions, is quite unrivaled. It is therefore of the utmost importance that we resolve to practice patience, and a lot of inspiration can be gained by reflecting on what is wrong with anger and on the advantages of patience."

Wise words.