Genius At Play: The Curious Mind of John Horton Conway (Bloomsbury)
Sunday, 13 March 2016

John Horton Conway, who is in today's news for having set a maths challenge to celebrate Pi Day, is decribed by his biographer, Siobhan Roberts, as Archimedes, Mick Jagger, Salvador Dali, and Richard Feynman all rolled into one--a singular mathematician, with a rock star's charisma, a sly sense of humor, a polymath's promiscuous curiosity, and a burning desire to explain everything about the world to everyone in it. 

Born in Liverpool in 1937, Conway found fame as a barefoot Cambridge professor. He discovered the Conway groups in mathematical symmetry, and invented the aptly named surreal numbers, as well as the cult classic Game of Life--more than a cool fad, Life demonstrates how simplicity generates complexity and the game provides an analogy for all mathematics and the entire universe. Moving to Princeton in 1987, as a mathemagician he deployed cards, ropes, dice, coat hangers, and even the odd Slinky as props to extend his winning imagination and share his mathy obsessions with signature contagion. He is a jet-setting ambassador-at-large for the beauties of all things mathematical.

 

 

Author: Siobhan Roberts
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Date: July 14, 2015
Pages: 480
Print: 1620405938 (Hardcover)
Kindle:B00UX2UR44
Category: General interest

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Python All-in-One, 3rd Ed (For Dummies)

Authors: John Shovic and Alan Simpson
Publisher: For Dummies
Date: April 2024
Pages: 720
ISBN: 978-1394236152
Print: 1394236158
Kindle: B0CW1C834N
Audience: People wanting to learn Python
Rating: 2
Reviewer: Mike James
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T-SQL Fundamentals (Microsoft Press)

Author: Itzik Ben-Gan
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Pages: 608
ISBN: 978-0138102104
Print: 0138102104
Kindle: B0BTLBXF8V
Audience: T-SQL developers
Rating: 5
Reviewer: Kay Ewbank

Itzik Ben-Gan is a highly respected Microsoft Data Platform MVP, and the earlier editions of this book were already ver [ ... ]


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