Weekend Literature: Easy Reading for Techies
In the summer, we published a selection of books that did not have reference books or guides on algorithms. It consisted of literature for reading in your free time - to broaden your horizons. As a continuation, we picked up science fiction, books about the technological future of mankind and other publications written by specialists for specialists.
Photo: Chris Benson / Unsplash.com
The book tells how deep ideas of mathematics, computer science and physics developed. It was written by Scott Aaronson, a specialist in the theory of computers and systems. He works as a teacher at the Department of Computer Science at the University of Texas (by the way, some of the author’s lectures are published on his blog ). Scott begins the excursion from the time of Ancient Greece - with the work of Democritus, who spoke of the "atom" as an indivisible particle of matter that has true being. Then he smoothly translates the narrative to the development of set theory and computational complexity, as well as quantum computers and cryptography.
The book also touches on topics such as time travel and the Newcom paradox . Therefore, it can be useful and interesting not only to lovers of physics, but also to those who are fond of thought experiments and entertaining tasks.
This is the best science book of 2017 according to the Wall Street Journal and Popular Science. Kelly Weinersmith, lead podcast on science and related things, Science ... sort of , talks about technologies that will become part of our lives for the foreseeable future.
These are 3D printers for printing food, autonomous robots and microchips embedded in the human body. Kelly’s narrative is based on meetings with scientists and engineers. With a bit of humor, she talks about why these projects are needed, and what hinders their development.
July 14, 2015 a significant event took place. The New Horizons interplanetary station successfully reached Pluto and took some high-resolution photographs . However, not everyone knows that the mission hung in the balance many times, and its success is almost a miracle. This book is a New Horizons flight story told and written by event participants. NASA's program manager Alan Stern and astrobiologist David Greenspoon describe the difficulties engineers face in designing, assembling, and launching spacecraft — they talk about working without error.
About 90% of people on the planet are sure that the situation in the world is only getting worse. They are wrong. Hans Rosling, a statistician for statistics, argues in his book that people have begun to live better in the last 20 years. The reason why the perception of the layman differs from the real state of affairs, Rosling sees in the inability to handle information and facts. In 2018, Bill Gates included Factfulness on a personal reading list, and even prepared a short summary of the book in a video format .
Professor Richard Wiseman, a member of the Skeptical Investigation Committee , discusses the components of successful teamwork based on interviews with the mission control center that launched Apollo 11. In the book you can find not only thoughts about how to, but also find out some details of the space mission.
This is an autobiography of the American theoretical physicist Paul Steinhardt. He describes the results of his 35-year hunt for quasicrystals . These are solids that consist of atoms that do not form a crystal lattice. Paul and colleagues traveled the world, trying to prove that such materials can be found in nature, and not just synthesized. The climax of history occurs on the Kamchatka Peninsula, where scientists still manage to detect pieces of a meteorite with quasicrystals. This year the book was nominated for the prize of the British Royal Society for its contribution to the development of popular science literature.
Photo: Marc-Olivier Jodoin / Unsplash.com
Any problem can be solved correctly or incorrectly. Randall Munroe is an NASA engineer, as well as an artist in the xckd comic book series and What If? "- says that there is a third way. It implies an incredibly complex and irrational approach that no one will ever use. Munroe gives examples of just such approaches - for a wide variety of cases: from digging a hole to landing an airplane. But the author seeks not only to entertain the reader, with the help of hyperbolas he shows how popular technologies work.
Speculative fiction from exurb1a - the founder of the educational YouTube channel with 1.5 million subscribers. The book is a collection of 12 stories about the foundation, heyday and fall of the galactic empire of people. The author talks about the sciences, technologies and human actions that inevitably lead to the death of civilization. The Fifth Science is recommended by many Reddit residents. The book should appeal to those who rated Isaac Asimov's Founding cycle.
What if your time machine breaks down and you are stuck in the distant past? How to survive? And is it possible to accelerate the development of mankind? The answers to these questions are given by the book. It was written by Ryan North (software developer and artist Dinosaur Comics) .
Under the cover is a kind of manual for assembling the devices that we use today - for example, computers, airplanes, agricultural machines. All this is equipped with pictures, diagrams, scientific calculations and facts. National Public Radio called How to Invent Everything the best book of 2018. Randall Munroe also spoke positively of her. He christened the work of North must-have'om "for those who want to quickly build an industrial civilization."
Our - on Habré:
Photo: Chris Benson / Unsplash.com
Science and technology
“Quantum computing since the time of Democritus”
The book tells how deep ideas of mathematics, computer science and physics developed. It was written by Scott Aaronson, a specialist in the theory of computers and systems. He works as a teacher at the Department of Computer Science at the University of Texas (by the way, some of the author’s lectures are published on his blog ). Scott begins the excursion from the time of Ancient Greece - with the work of Democritus, who spoke of the "atom" as an indivisible particle of matter that has true being. Then he smoothly translates the narrative to the development of set theory and computational complexity, as well as quantum computers and cryptography.
The book also touches on topics such as time travel and the Newcom paradox . Therefore, it can be useful and interesting not only to lovers of physics, but also to those who are fond of thought experiments and entertaining tasks.
Soonish: Ten Emerging Technologies That'll Improve and / or Ruin Everything
This is the best science book of 2017 according to the Wall Street Journal and Popular Science. Kelly Weinersmith, lead podcast on science and related things, Science ... sort of , talks about technologies that will become part of our lives for the foreseeable future.
These are 3D printers for printing food, autonomous robots and microchips embedded in the human body. Kelly’s narrative is based on meetings with scientists and engineers. With a bit of humor, she talks about why these projects are needed, and what hinders their development.
Chasing New Horizons: Inside the Epic First Mission to Pluto
July 14, 2015 a significant event took place. The New Horizons interplanetary station successfully reached Pluto and took some high-resolution photographs . However, not everyone knows that the mission hung in the balance many times, and its success is almost a miracle. This book is a New Horizons flight story told and written by event participants. NASA's program manager Alan Stern and astrobiologist David Greenspoon describe the difficulties engineers face in designing, assembling, and launching spacecraft — they talk about working without error.
Soft skills and brain work
Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World
About 90% of people on the planet are sure that the situation in the world is only getting worse. They are wrong. Hans Rosling, a statistician for statistics, argues in his book that people have begun to live better in the last 20 years. The reason why the perception of the layman differs from the real state of affairs, Rosling sees in the inability to handle information and facts. In 2018, Bill Gates included Factfulness on a personal reading list, and even prepared a short summary of the book in a video format .
Moonshot: What Landing a Man on the Moon Teaches Us About Collaboration
Professor Richard Wiseman, a member of the Skeptical Investigation Committee , discusses the components of successful teamwork based on interviews with the mission control center that launched Apollo 11. In the book you can find not only thoughts about how to, but also find out some details of the space mission.
The Second Kind of Impossible: The Extraordinary Quest for a New Form of Matter
This is an autobiography of the American theoretical physicist Paul Steinhardt. He describes the results of his 35-year hunt for quasicrystals . These are solids that consist of atoms that do not form a crystal lattice. Paul and colleagues traveled the world, trying to prove that such materials can be found in nature, and not just synthesized. The climax of history occurs on the Kamchatka Peninsula, where scientists still manage to detect pieces of a meteorite with quasicrystals. This year the book was nominated for the prize of the British Royal Society for its contribution to the development of popular science literature.
Photo: Marc-Olivier Jodoin / Unsplash.com
How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems
Any problem can be solved correctly or incorrectly. Randall Munroe is an NASA engineer, as well as an artist in the xckd comic book series and What If? "- says that there is a third way. It implies an incredibly complex and irrational approach that no one will ever use. Munroe gives examples of just such approaches - for a wide variety of cases: from digging a hole to landing an airplane. But the author seeks not only to entertain the reader, with the help of hyperbolas he shows how popular technologies work.
Fiction
The fifth science
Speculative fiction from exurb1a - the founder of the educational YouTube channel with 1.5 million subscribers. The book is a collection of 12 stories about the foundation, heyday and fall of the galactic empire of people. The author talks about the sciences, technologies and human actions that inevitably lead to the death of civilization. The Fifth Science is recommended by many Reddit residents. The book should appeal to those who rated Isaac Asimov's Founding cycle.
How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler
What if your time machine breaks down and you are stuck in the distant past? How to survive? And is it possible to accelerate the development of mankind? The answers to these questions are given by the book. It was written by Ryan North (software developer and artist Dinosaur Comics) .
Under the cover is a kind of manual for assembling the devices that we use today - for example, computers, airplanes, agricultural machines. All this is equipped with pictures, diagrams, scientific calculations and facts. National Public Radio called How to Invent Everything the best book of 2018. Randall Munroe also spoke positively of her. He christened the work of North must-have'om "for those who want to quickly build an industrial civilization."
Our - on Habré:
- Who are eidetics, how false memories work, and three popular myths about memory
- After cyberpunk: what you need to know about current genres of modern science fiction
- Likbez from memory: what it happens, and what it gives us
- A selection of books on how to learn, think and make effective decisions
All Articles