yellowpigs.net

Authors

For as long as I can remember, I've loved reading.

I like books a lot, and I like a lot of books. I have eclectic tastes. I read math books (not math textbooks, but books about or containing math, math education, or math history), science books, philosophy books, history books, linguistics books, fiction, ... pretty much anything that I can learn from and/or that is well-written.

Douglas Adams:

I was introduced to the Hitchhiker's trilogy (the BBC miniseries and the books) the summer before I started high school. It's full of wacky humor, wonderfully quotable lines, and towels. Besides, who could resist a trilogy with more than three books?

Douglas Hofstadter:

I first read Gödel, Escher, Bach in ninth grade while researching for a paper about math and music. I read it again twice in college, and I'm not sure how many times since. It heavily influenced my undergraduate thesis and my decision to study graduate school in philosophy. I have also enjoyed Hofstadter's other works, and I've twice had the privilege of hearing him speak.

Plato:

The first Plato I read was "The Allegory of the Cave" from The Republic at the beginning of tenth grade. I immediately found it thought-provoking. Later that year I stumbled across a college application. One of the application essays was to write a response to the Allegory. I applied, went to college early and read more Plato. I went on to study philosophy in graduate school, but I don't think I actually read any Plato there.

Neil Gaiman:

My freshman year in college I was introduced to Neil Gaiman's Sandman graphic novels. I'd never read comic books, so this was a completely new way of reading for me, and his anthropomorphic characters and epic story arc captivated me and many of my friends. I read his subsequent works as soon as they came out and found he was an incredibly versatile storyteller. He was also noteworthy for being an early and active blogger.

Lewis Carroll:

Lewis Carroll was a mathematician, a logician, and a successful author. I own multiple copies of his complete works, and editions of Alice in Wonderland in several languages. Lewis Carroll was another major influence on my undergraduate thesis, which is loosely based on Alice in Wonderland.

Isaac Newton:

I took a sequence of excellent history of science classes in grad school. I've read Newton's Principia (I. Bernard Cohen's translation) cover to cover, including all of the commentary. So even though Isaac Newton isn't most well-known as an author, I think he's earned a place on my list of influential authors.

You may also be interested in my recent reading list.