Euclid’s Window by Leonard Mlodinow

“From causes which appear similar we expect similar effects. This is the sum of all our experimental conclusions”. Thus spoke Scottish philosopher David Hume. Profound stuff or a prosaic observation depending on your view, but in the domain of Math is it tenable? Where is the cause and where is effect to be observed in Math? It is abstracted as equations and concepts all over - Math is one domain (or discipline) rest of sciences use all the time as a base and in some cases engulfed by it.

This book is very narrowly but well positioned – not a coffee table book but also not meant for an expert in Math either. Surprisingly, it cannot fit into the popular science category since the topics covered are way too deep and one can only simplify so much without losing the main theme.  For example, 5^th dimension or ten dimensions is very difficult to articulate in words and even with figures: explaining such concepts is more like climbing a very greasy pole. For sure, author has worked with some of the finest minds and has done a comprehensive job of going through old records to cite stories or episodes to make them more authentic.

Author takes us on a nice tour all the way from Plato to Euclid to Gauss, Newton, Descartes, Einstein, to the latest string theory experts like Witten.

Let me cite some nuggets.

1: The theorem of logic states that, if any false theorem is allowed into logical system, irrespective of what it pertains to, you will be able to prove 1 equals 2. He quotes a legend, where one skeptic asked Bertrand Russell, “If I allow one is equal to two, then prove that you are the pope”. Russell gave a quick response thus: “The Pope and I are two; therefore Pope and I are one”.

2:  Science in the past was a deadly mix of ancient knowledge, religion, and superstition and hence belief in miracles and astrology are common. Funding of science was based on the ruler’s whim. Frederick II founded University of Naples way back 1224 and for his love science he indulged in some weird experiments – for example, he fed two prisoners the same huge lavish meal. He sent one happy man to bed and another to a grueling hunt. Afterwards, he cut them both open to see who has digested the meal better (couch potatoes will be pleased to learn that it was the man who slept).

3: Story of Rene Descartes was really fascinating. Circa 1618, in the small town of Breda in Holland he a saw a crowd trying to figure out a public notice that had a math challenge - in those days it was common. Descartes considered the problem and remarked offhand that is was easy. His translator, one of the greatest Dutch Mathematician of his time, Isaac Beckman, was irked and called stranger’s bluff challenging him to solve it. Descartes did solve it and they became very good friends. Later, Beckman became his mentor and helped him a lot.

Towards the end the book it deals with string theory that obviously flirts with extra dimensions.  As if it is not complicated enough, it introduces an idea that, at a fundamental level, space and time may not even exist.

What really grabs your attention is the extent to which chance events result in major breakthroughs eventually.

In the end, this book is all about mankind’s quest for truth and concomitant attempts to understand the world – it is through the eyes of some selected set geniuses (surely, far from exhaustive) who experienced the joy of discovery and for the rest of us it is the joy of partial (or for a rare few, full) understanding!

Thanks for reading this far.

Regards,

madhu

The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle

The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle

One of my English school teacher is fond of repeating, “Talent is what you posses. Genius is what posses you” and would continue “you know and the world will know soon if you are a genius. Hence forget that part. Focus on acquiring talent”. Perhaps, he did sow seeds accidentally for talent focus that, when I saw this book “Talent code” without any homework (like checking in Amazon.com reviews or with my friends etc) I picked up the book. Thanks to my luck, I was not disappointed. This book is not “how to” or “work book” kind of a book. It is a why book with an excellent examples plus a new theory with a fine explanation for talent.


Any Psychology books or cognitive science books would neatly put the topology of ignorance in six terrains.
1. Explicit Ignorance: We know that we don’t know (Known un-knows)
2. Hidden Ignorance : We don’t even know that we don’t know (unknown unknowns)
3. Mis-knowns : We think, we know but we don’t know (ignorance masquerading as Knowledge)
4. Unknown knowns : We think we don’t but actually we do (Knowledge masquerading as ignorance)
5. Taboos / Off limit ignorance: It persists due to social conventions against asking certain type of questions itself in the first place
6. Blinkers or persistent ignorance: It persists due to refusal to look in to some type of answers to a perfectly legitimate question
Now, I asked myself about which ignorance terrain I can place my understanding of “talent”. Boy, I was in for many surprises. You could do your own exercise after reading this book.


Key points of this book are:
1. The way you practice determines how effectively you learn and master a given skill.
2. Myelin (it is dealt in detail, also check Wiki and other sources) is the insulation that wraps the nerve fibers, increases signal strength, speed and accuracy. The more we use, better we get at a given skill. It is well described to the point, you can say skill=Myelin.
3. Deep Practice, Ignition and Master coaching are the critical inputs for Talent / Mastery.
4. He also gives the famous equation but in a different format : Deep Practice X 10,000 Hours = WorldClass Skills


My childhood days, I was brought up with stories of Buddha, Arunagirinaathar (religion), Kalidasa (poetry), Newton (Science) and so on. In every case, the turning point is a split-of-a- second. Hence, I yet to fully reconcile with an idea, it can be done by deep practice without providence provided gift.


The value of the book resides in subscribing to the paradigm of “deep practice”. Don’t consider this book as an exhaustive one, but a pointer to focus in the Myelin direction. If you are less than 50 years, there is more hope – apparently it ceases to grow after that age band.


Dan has toured all over the world to be with various talent “hot spots” and sums up his observations. It includes Tennis Academies, Music training centers, Soccer trainings at Brazil, specific basket ball coaching centers, Vocal fine tuning centers etc. From a sampling perspective, perhaps, it could have been a little more “science” focused also to be robust – for example, some of the institutes admit precocious students in Math and other disciplines at very young age. I have no way to know if that would have altered the overall message. I am sure Dan would consider in his next edition.


Let me end this commentary with a story. A preacher was walking past a very well maintained and a lovely garden brimming with variety of flowers and other imposing trees. He commented to the owner of the garden, “ You and the Lord have created a beautiful garden”, “ yes” replied the owner with a smile and said “you should have seen this when he was maintaining this all by himself”. Point taken – Lord’s gift can take us only so far, work (minimum 10,000 hours please) is a must before one can see the garden. This book is all about how do you productively spent that 10K hours on what you want to acquire.


Thanks for reading this far…..
Regards,
madhu


Ref:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arunagirinathar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalidasa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myelin