teaching machines

Mathematician Grapples

Laurent Schwartz was a French mathematician and human rights activist. He’s not the Schwarz of the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality. In fact, I don’t know if I’m familiar with any of his math work, which was way over my head. Nevertheless, I just finished his biography, A Mathematician Grapples with His Century. His life was fascinating. He was […]

The Walt I never knew

I’ve just finished reading The Illusion of Life, by Disney animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston. As a child, I never bought in to Disney’s magic kingdom—it was too popular for my countercultural leanings. I’m learning that I missed out on a lot. As I got to know the man Walt Disney through this book, I’ve found […]