#Reuben Hersh

[noosphe-re]

One of the great philosophers of mathematics Gottlob Frege made quite an issue of the fact that mathematicians didn't know the meaning of One. What is One? Nobody could answer coherently. Of course Frege answered, but his answer was no better, or even worse, than the previous ones. And so it has continued to this very day, strange and incredible as it is. We know all about so much mathematics, but we don't know what it really is.

Reuben Hersh, What Kind of Thing Is a Number?, A Talk with Reuben Hersh [2.10.97], Edge

[yellowjavkets]

It took a very long time but I've finally completed my favorites shelf!

Pictured here :

ALL TIME TOP SIX

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath

The Last Unicorn by Peter S Beagle

Frankenstein by Mary Shelly

All five books in The Underland Chronicles by Suzanne Collins

OTHERS:

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

Nature's Numbers by Ian Stewart

Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher

Loving and Hating Mathematics by Reuben Hersh and Vera John-Steiner

Nightmare Fuel: The science of horror films by Nina Nesseth

Hyperbole and a Half and Solutions and Other Problems, both by Allie Brosh

The Encyclopedia of the Wonderful and Weird by Milo Rossi

Savvy by Ingrid Law

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Dracula by Bram Stoker

The Scottish Play by William Shakespeare

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

[math1089]

Exploring Mathematical Beauties of the Number 108

In mathematical philosophy, formalism is the position that regards mathematics as the study of formal deductive systems. Mathematical truth is simply provability in the system, and there is and can be no ultimate meaning to mathematics other than the operation of naked symbols according to fixed rules.Philip J. Davis & Reuben Hersh Welcome to the blog Math1089 – Mathematics for All. Numbers are…

[whatilistenedtoatwork]

From September 4th to September 8th, 2023

04-09-23

HEAVENLY “Dust To Dust”; WILLIE NELSON “Willie Nelson Sings Kristofferson”; KREATOR “Pleasure To Kill”; TELEVISION PERSONALITIES “��And Don’t The Kids Just Love It”; SKYCLAD “Vintage Whine”; G.I.S.M. “Military Affairs Neurotic”; FRANKIE COSMOS “Vessels”; KRISTIN HERSH “Strange Angels”; THE HANDSOME FAMILY “In The Air”; LAVERN BAKER “LaVern”; THE AQUABATS “The Return Of The Aquabats”; SUN CITY GIRLS “Torch Of The Mystics”; BUTTHOLE SURFERS “Rembrandt Pussyhorse”; TAYLOR SWIFT “Lover”; YOUSSOU N’DOUR & LE SUPER ETOILE DE DAKAR “Immigres”; JOHN LEE HOOKER “Burning Hell”

05-09-23

THE VASELINES “The Way Of The Vaselines”; THE FLAMING LIPS “At War With The Mystics”; BIG DADDY KANE “Looks Like A Job For Big Daddy Kane”; HELLOWEEN “Keeper Of The Seven Keys – Part II”; BOBBY FREEMAN “Do You Wanna Dance?”; MERCURY REV “Yerself Is Steam”; AL GREEN “Have A Good Time”; MOVING HEARTS “The Storm”; THE BLACK KEYS “El Camino”; PRIMAL SCREAM “Sonic Flower Groove”; JENS LEKMAN “I Know What Love Isn’t”; LINKIN PARK “Hybrid Theory”; MARTINA TOPLEY-BIRD “Some Place Simple”

06-09-23

TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS “Damn The Torpedoes”; THE OFFSPRING “Americana”; ZION TRAIN “Passage To Indica”; KRISTIN HERSH “Live At Maxwell’s”; KATHRYN TICKELL “Borderlands”; THE AQUABATS “The Fury Of The Aquabats!”; THE PLUGZ “Better Luck”; U-ROY “Dread In A Babylon”; MODEST MOUSE “We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank”; HORSLIPS “The Book Of Invasions: A Celtic Symphony”

07-09-23

VIOLENT FEMMES “Hallowed Ground”; THE FUTUREHEADS “The Chaos”; THE BEAUTIFUL SOUTH “Welcome To The Beautiful South”; CHARLIE RICH “Lonely Weekends With Charlie Rich”; THE JAMES TAYLOR QUARTET “Do Your Own Thing”; ERASURE “The Circus”; BAD RELIGION “Suffer”; fun. “Some Nights”; BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN “Darkness On The Edge Of Town”; THE DECEMBERISTS “Castaways And Cutouts”; LITTLE SIMZ “GREY Area”; BLINK 182 “Enema Of The State”; NIGHTMARES ON WAX “Smoker’s Delight”; REUBEN WILSON “Blue Mode”; THE ONLY ONES “The Only Ones”; THE LEMONHEADS “Come On Feel The Lemonheads”; BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN “The River”; WANDA JACKSON “Wanda Jackson”

08-09-23

JULIAN COPE “Saint Julian”; SCOTT BRADLEE’S POSTMODERN JUKEBOX “OK Crooner”; DAVY SPILLANE “Pipedreams”; GREGORY ISAACS “Willow Tree”; THE JAM “Sound Affects”; CULTURE “Harder Than The Rest”

[exhaled-spirals]

« For many, including myself, mathematics is comforting. In an era of fake news, worldwide illness, and economic uncertainty, mathematics provides proof of another reality which is harmonious, universal, and eternal. Or so it would seem.

In fact mathematics, like all literature, is none of these things. Mathematics is, of course, a human artefact. It is a language which consists of a vocabulary, a grammar, and a community which employs these enthusiastically. Arguably, mathematics is the most refined language ever produced.

[...] The practical [...] usefulness of the work of mathematicians does not concern them. Even a brief exposure to number theory, for example, is sufficient to convince most outside the mathematical community (or even outside the community of number theorists) that the things mathematicians are concerned about are essentially trivial. The strange and often captivating relationships among numbers are simply alien to practical experience. The non-mathematician can only ask ‘Why bother?’.

And the answer to this question must be the same as it is to the issue of literature in general. There is no reason for mathematics other than itself. Mathematics is a form of highly refined, esoteric poetry. Its form and subject matter is not to everyone’s taste. But neither is the Iliad, or The Wasteland, or Finnegans Wake. It takes considerable linguistic skill and aesthetic fortitude to comprehend the content of mathematical poetry. Success in such an endeavour is, as usual, its own reward. »

— From a review of Reuben Hersh’s What is Mathematics, Really?

[historical-nonfiction]

Norbert Wiener of MIT (1894–1964) was well known as an extreme example of someone who could get lost in thought. Once while walking on campus, Wiener met an acquaintance, and after a while he asked his companion: ‘Which way was I walking when we met?’ The man pointed, and Wiener said, ‘Good. Then I’ve had my lunch.’

Quoted from Loving and Hating Mathematics: Challenging the Myths of Mathematical Life, by Reuben Hersh and Vera John-Steiner  (2010)

[mymathematics]

Great book by Reuben Hersh

[plurdledgabbleblotchits]

Is there a way to enlarge our separate tribal loyalties, to include all our fellow humans?

Reuben Hersh

[quadrantexamples47]

four subjects Reuben Hersh Math Really

[quadrantexamples46]

Descartes four rules Reuben Hersh

[noosphe-re]

[camestrosfelapton]

Loved Books: The Mathematical Experience by Philip J. Davis & Reuben Hersh

Loved Books: The Mathematical Experience by Philip J. Davis & Reuben Hersh

I was given this book as a Christmas present as a teenager but I had picked it out in a bookshop. It was part of a bunch of books I was given that included Anarchism by George Woodcock (since lost) and the Norse Myths by Kevin Crossley-Holland (which I still have somewhere).

The difference with this book was that maths was a new and surprising interest. I had never liked mathematics and for much…

[matematicaposititva]

Matematicas Una Historia De Amor | Hersh Reuben Y John Steiner Vera RESEÑA: Las matemáticas tienen para muchos mala fama: frías, complicadas, ajenas a todo aquello que no sea «racional».

[hayingsang]

Reading year - week 11

Enjoy Cal Newport’s Deep Work. There’s nothing that surprising about it, except of course that common sense is often hard to apply. Dump social media and other mostly pointless internet distractions. Concentrate. And so on. But he spells it out better than anyone else, which makes it all worthwhile and worth following.

Move on to his How to Become a Straight A Student for more of the same.

Dip into Philip Davis and Reuben Hersh’s The Mathematical Experience, one of those books that’s been sitting on the shelf for years, waiting for the right time to be read.

Dip a little more into Chinag Yee’s Chinese Calligraphy.

Persist with Lispector and Osterhammel.

[atsbsmbs]

Square Circles

To open the google document, please click here.

[quadrantexamples46]

four myths Reuben Hersh