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."”
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1984
1984 by George Orwell is a dystopian masterpiece depicting a totalitarian regime characterized by extreme surveillance, historical denial, and absolute psychological 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.”
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Our Mathematical Universe
Our Mathematical Universe by Max Tegmark is a speculative and ambitious scientific book proposing that ultimate reality is fundamentally mathematical in nature.
Discussed“- What do you think of Max Tegmark who wrote the book "Mathematical Universe"?”
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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.”
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Elements
Elements by Euclid is a foundational mathematical treatise written over two thousand years ago that systematically established geometry and formal axiomatic systems.
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.”
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.”