List of books I’ve read in 2024

  • 2024-12-16: Lucian of Samosata: Alexander the False Prophet (2nd century AD)
    Read it because it was referenced by Hume. Shows that religious scepticism has a long history, in this case related to the snake god Glycon invented by a chap Alexander (not the Great), and points to Epicureans that shared the scepticism.
  • 2024-10-27: David Hume: An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748/1777)
    Really enjoyed reading it. The thesis is that human reasoning is at it’s best inductive. We say that A causes B because we’ve seen in the past that B follows A and we’re making a probabilistic prediction that next time A will also be followed by B. I wrote some detailed notes. 10 out of 10 (not perfect, but hey, it’s 18th century we’re talking).
  • 2024-08-09: John Stewart Mill: On Liberty (1859)
    Great definition of liberty: think, say, do whatever as long as not harming others. It warns against tyranny of majority that mistakes divergence from mainstream as harm. Interesting exploration of not clear cut cases: ideas of alcohol prohibition, claimed rather than actual harm, speech inciting a mob, players in a game, etc. Diversity is required for truths to emerge, to improve, to consolidate. This links to Pinker saying that he sees students that confronted for the first time with extremist ideas they embrace them because they lack knowledge to debunk them. Great insight about socialism (mid 19th century): the idea of paying the able/hard working the same as the less able/less hard working. Wrong in that means of communication would create uniformity (was maybe right at the time). 9.5 out of 10 (the phrases are a bit long, as if lecturing)
  • 2024-07-31: Victor J. Katz: A History of Mathematics - An Introduction 3rd Edition (2009)
    Very interesting book. It good to know maths theory, but knowing the history of how we got there is at least about as valuable. From the historic perspective theory makes sense, history provides the many answers for how the results were obtained, what avenues were attempted without success, what motivated the solutions given and for what problems. I acknowledge that I skimmed over areas where I lacked the maths knowledge to absorb all the details (it gets a bit complicated in the 20th century in particular). Personally I find the history lessons about how flaws were discovered, and how they were addressed, very useful for critical thinking. Highly recommended. It should be part of the learning maths curriculum. 9 out of 10.
  • 2024-06-01 Daniel Lieberman: Exercised
    The book is written in the style of “enthusiastic Harvard professor” that reminds me of Pinker. One recurring theme in the book is that some body processes that are important for our wellbeing are only triggered through physical activities. In the historical past we would have had plenty of physical activities, largely unwillingly because we would have rather preserve calories. In the modern work we live in a calorie rich with plenty of machines to do work for us. So it’s important to exercise for physical and mental health. It’s not easy (we need to make it fun, a habit), but it’s easier than loosing weight.
  • 2024-01-25 Alan Turing: “Computing Machinery and Intelligence” (Mind, October 1950)
    Interesting. It describes the imitation game: can a machine impersonate a human for a dialogue? The article is better at debunking common incorrect arguments for the negative answer, but quite visionary for the time is was written.
  • 2024-01-24 Rob Eastway and Jeremy Wyndham: Why do buses come in threes?
    Easy maths puzzles book. Children like it.