There is no better way to spend ones life than to be with the greatest minds on earth. If it’s impossible to meet them in person then maybe through their books (or other media). Who are these minds? Here are some that I’m familiar with.
Mathematics: Gauss, Euler, Polya, Lakatos
Computers: Alan Kay, Hal Abelson, Jerry Sussman
Physics: Feynman, Einstein
Mind: Buddha, Jesus, Campbell, Tolle, Gandhi
Learning: Suzuki, Gallwey
Other areas I’m not so familiar with so that I can give right guidance are: Writing, Music, Painting, Medicine, Biology, Chemistry, etc. What great minds do you know?
Niels Henrik Abel was a Norwegian mathematician who among many other beautiful things proved the impossibility of solving the quintic equation in radicals. He was one of the greatest mathematicians of all time, although he lived only 27 years (born 1802, died 1829). People couldn’t understand how he was able to mature in mathematics while being so young. In one of his notebooks a clue was found. He writes
Another great mathematician Laplace said
Another great mathematician Dirichlet had always Gauss’ book Disquisitiones Arithmeticae with him. He read it whenever he had some free time. He also read it before going to sleep and at night he would place the book under his pillow in the hope that the next morning’s reading would suddenly make sense.
The advice to study the masters is of course true not just for mathematics.
Knowing I run the risk of ending up under the table with Vic-K , I admit to identifying with a different sort of mind:
“A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.” Oscar Wilde
"Champagne does have one regular drawback: swilled as a regular thing a certain sourness settles in the tummy, and the result is permanent bad breath. Really incurable. " Truman Capote
“You can’t say that civilization don’t advance, however, for in every war they kill you in a new way.” Will Rogers
What with, all the pfffrrrttting, permanent bad breath, spillages and overcrowding, its starting to smell...[i]'wholesome'[/i], under the table. I bet if we tried, we could squeeze Uncle bobueland in. Just imagine what a coup it would be if we could include in our stable of topics for discourse: Alfred Kinseys Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948)(bobs well into sex y know); Gauss’ book Disquisitiones Arithmeticae and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953). Wed become another Bloomsbury Group, bequeathing to the World a whole new panoply of Quality Erotica: [i]'Mathematical Deviency' [/i]; [i]'The Sexual Equation'[/i]: [i]'The Search For The Most Erogenous Number' [/i]. The possibilities are mind boggling :open_mouth: De Sade! Eat yr heart out!!
, I admit to identifying with a different sort of mind:
