Episode · Lex Fridman Podcast · 2023-04-10
Books mentioned on #370 – Edward Frenkel: Reality is a Paradox – Mathematics, Physics, Truth & Love
Edward Frenkel is a mathematician at UC Berkeley working on the interface of mathematics and quantum physics. He is the author of Love and Math: The Heart of Hidden Reality.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Love and Math
Love and Math by Edward Frenkel is a popular mathematics book that blends memoir with an accessible exploration of advanced concepts like the Langlands program, arguing that numbers possess an intrinsic beauty akin to art.
Discussed“You open your book "Love and Math" with a question. "How does one become a mathematician? There are many ways that this can happen. Let me tell you how it happened to me."”
Where to get it
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1984
George Orwell's classic dystopian novel 1984 presents a grim totalitarian future defined by perpetual surveillance, historical denial, and thought control.
Discussed“- To the political complexity of 'two plus two equals five' in George Orwell's '1984.' I was in the Soviet Union in 1984, and in many ways, I see that the novel was prescient.”
Where to get it
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Our Mathematical Universe
Our Mathematical Universe by Max Tegmark is a popular science book exploring the hypothesis that ultimate reality is fundamentally mathematical in nature.
Discussed“- What do you think of Max Tegmark who wrote the book "Mathematical Universe"?”
Where to get it
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A Void
A Void by Georges Perec is an extraordinary, innovative novel written entirely without using the letter 'e', serving as a brilliant masterclass in literary constraint.
Discussed“A good example of this is a novel which is called "The Void," or "Disappearance," by a writer named Georges Perec, which is a 300 page novel in French with no,”
Where to get it
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Ars magna or The rules of algebra
Discussed“So, so he wrote a book which is called "Ars Magna", which is like the great art of algebra.”
Where to get it
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Elements
Elements by Euclid is an ancient mathematical and geometric treatise that served as a foundational textbook for thousands of years.
Discussed“An example would be, so that one of the very first formal systems was the system, was Euclidean geometry developed by Euclid in his famous book "Elements", about 2200 years ago.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (11) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“He also is the author of "Love and Math, the Heart of Hidden Reality."”
“So his name was Evgeny Evgenievich Petrov. And if this doesn't remind you of the great works of Russian literature, then you haven't read them, like "War and Peace", you know, like with the patronymic names.”
“- To the political complexity of two plus two equals five in George Orwell's "1984."”
“- So the book is called "Love and Math." Okay?”
“When I wrote "Love and Math", when I wrote my book,”
“So where all this fruit grows, you know, and then we might make sure. It gives you this sort of romantic sense of an explorer. And someone may be stuck in a, you know, some provincial town in Russia, for instance, but have the sense of Magellan, you know, of traveling around the world. It's just not in the world”
“"Blade Runner" was based on a novel by Philip K. Dick, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"”
“I describe in my book how it happened.”
“I describe it in "Love and Math" in my book.”
“And one of the reasons why I wrote "Love and Math"”
“In my book, one of the first chapters is a chapter about this experience.”