Book Update

Books I've read since the last book post:

A History of Pi by Petr Beckmann. Nonfiction.
About: the history of my favorite constant, pi.
My thoughts: Written in the 1970's, updated in the 1980's, a history from the beginning of time about who figured out how to calculate pi, and how accurate they were. This books combines 2 of my favorite subjects - history and math. As my friend Tim aptly observed, "Sticky pages - lots of sticky pages for Phil."
Lasting Image: The Romans were thugs. Sir Isaac Newton had a larger impact on the scientific world than Einstein. In fact, after centuries of inadequate definition by dozens of mathematicians, Newton mathematically described pi as an afterthought, needing it to prove one of his laws of physics. Think of that - after dozens of brilliant folks labored untold hours, Newton said "Oh, by the way, here's pi". And it sat in his desk for nearly a decade until a colleague convinced him it was worth publishing!

Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris. Nonfiction.
About: a collection of short stories themed around Christmas.
Lasting Image: 1. David working as an elf in Macy's Santaland. A group of severely retarded visitors came one day, and David realized afterward that he could no longer differentiate them from the "normal" visitors.
2. Perhaps the most wickedly funny holiday newsletter I've ever read.

Coming up for air

The project that has been consuming all my resources (mindshare, time, energy, happy disposition, etc) went into production today. Thank bleepin' god that's over with. I hope to have time and energy to catch up on my posts.

Expect a flurry.