- Thomas Paine's The Age of Reason;
- Larson and Hostetler's Calculus; and
- Voltaire's Candide.
Monday, December 10, 2007
I'm not sure what this says about me.
Someone dear to me just asked me for the titles of five books that had a profound impact on me. The top three are
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I had to read Candide for 5 different classes at UNO during the 70s. I could never figure out why.
Well, lah-di-dah.
You are to smart for your own good. I have long proposed that smart people like you me and the folks who read this log should get a Surgeon General's warning stamped on their foreheads. "Warning to much thinking can be dangerous to your health and wellbeing.”
Hmm... I didn't consider this a list reflecting smartness. These really did have possibly the biggest influence on me. Paine taught me that the bible was a poorly-written book that I shouldn't take too seriously, L&H's text was so wonderfully written and fun that it started me on my present career track (and I still like to work problems out of it), and Voltaire (the first work of classic literature that I read without it having been assigned) showed me what a delight blasphemy and parody can be.
I had to look up L&H, but when I saw the odd shape on the cover, I immediately shuddered. Yes, I remember that text, and I remember I didn't like it. Oh well, opinions differ. I still vote for an early edition Stewart - I see the violin and want to hug my calculus book.
'Course the latest editions have been re-shuffled, re-enhanced, and re-text-boxed into complete blather. (Should I blame Stewart or the publishers?)
Haven't read the others.
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