How is it that computers can drive cars, interpret MRI scans, and recognize our children in photographs? For decades, we hand-crafted image analysis algorithms for computers to follow. Now, we set computers loose with more general algorithms and mountains of data, and the machines learn on their own. Both of these approaches are fascinating, incorporating … Continue reading Upcoming book announcement! “How We Taught Computers To See”
Once again, highlights of the books I read in the past year, including a tale told by a beech marten, memoirs by people much older than me, and a recurring theme of work. (Previous years: 2024, 2023, 2022, …, 2015.) Memoirs I live in Eugene, Oregon, nicknamed “Track Town USA” and the birthplace of Nike, … Continue reading The Year in Books, 2025, in which I learned about work
About two years ago, I read a string of books that were all published in 1965. It was a fun exercise and I found some wonderful books I might not have otherwise read (described in this post). Why not repeat this for a different year? I picked 1937. In part, I wanted something more distant … Continue reading Reading Like It’s 1937
Once again, highlights of the books I read in the past year, featuring the end (for now) of my education in twentieth-century semi-organized crime, a book on semi-organized twentieth-century chimpanzees, and more. (Previous years: 2023, 2022, …, 2015.) Books by people who passed away in 2024 The best non-fiction book I read this year was James C. … Continue reading The Year in Books, 2024
Here’s this year’s recap of notable books I read, featuring Russians new and old, Scythians (all old), and criminals of various sorts. (Previous years: 2022, 2021, …, 2015.) 1965 vs. 2023 I wrote a few months ago about my excursion into 1965, reading seven books published in that year. I won’t revisit any of these … Continue reading The Year in Books, 2023
The last seven books I read were all published in 1965. I decided on this literary time travel after noticing that I unintentionally read two books in a row from 1965. I thought: Why not continue? Would I get a deep sense of the mid-1960s zeitgeist? I don’t think so, but I did find two … Continue reading Reading Like It’s 1965
How many books are published each year? I’ll provide some numbers that were a surprise to me when I learned them a few years ago. First, some context. At the American Physical Society “March Meeting” two months ago, I was part of a workshop on Communicating Biological Physics. Four of us gave presentations and led … Continue reading Book inflation
It’s time for my recap of notable books I read in the past year. (Previous posts: 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, and 2015.) The biggest difference between 2022 and years past is audiobooks, which made up 17 of the 50 books I “read” (consumed?). I had listened to audiobooks before, but very few, and … Continue reading The Year in Books, 2022, in which I discovered audiobooks
Four years ago, I read Bryan Caplan’s The Case against Education: Why the Education System Is a Waste of Time and Money, a polemic about the form of education in the U.S. I disagreed strongly with a decent fraction of it, agreed strongly with a larger fraction of it, and overall found it stimulating — … Continue reading The Case For, and the Case Against, “The Case Against Education”
I regularly teach classes on energy, environment, climate, etc., for non-science major undergraduates at the University of Oregon. Inspired by some blog comments elsewhere, I thought I’d list list some books on this subject that I like. It’s especially worth noting books aimed at the general, non-specialist reader that are nonetheless quantitative. I firmly believe … Continue reading Books I Like about Energy, Climate, and Civilization
