Bag of Beans

The Poincaré Conjecture: In Search of the Shape of the Universe
by Donal O’Shea.
Walker & Company, 2007.

In The Poincaré Conjecture, Donal O’Shea explains a conjecture in topology from 1904 that had remained unsolved for nearly a century. Aside from its importance in topology, the conjecture also has implications on determining the shape of our own universe. It is also one of the seven Millennium Prize problems listed by the Clay Institute in 2000, with a one million dollar reward for a correct solution. It was finally solved in 2002 by Grigory Perelman and since then his solution has been accepted. He may be eligible for the Millennium Prize but does not appear to be interested. In 2006, he was awarded the Fields medal—the highest honor for mathematicians and which also carries a monetary reward—for his work but he declined the award.

In this book, O’Shea takes us through the history of the conjecture and the attempts at solving it, and also takes some time to give us the historical context along the way by describing the social and political climate surrounding each mathematician that has sought to prove the conjecture. He does a good job of providing relatively clear and simple explanations of the complex ideas in topology and non-Euclidean geometry involved, but the book does move at a fairly brisk pace (minus the notes at the end the main text is only 200 pages long) so some work is still required to follow along, but I never felt completely lost. This book contains a nice mix of mathematical ideas and history for a general audience, and it managed to keep my interest throughout.

Rating: 8/10

Links:

• Amazon.ca
• LibraryThing

Related:

• Book: The Möbius Strip

Heat: An Amateur’s Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany
by Bill Buford.
Anchor Canada, 2007

In Heat, Bill Buford, a writer for The New Yorker, leaves his job to become a cook at Babbo, a top Italian restaurant in Manhanttan. Buford has written a clear and interesting account of his struggles to learn his way in a fast-paced and demanding kitchen as a professional cook, and really brings to life the environment and the personalities of the people that he works with. Eventually, as he becomes more confident in his abilities and his passion for cooking grows, he is drawn to Italy by the desire to learn authentic Italian cooking techniques, including the butchering of meat. As he studies under some of Italy’s masters, we are also treated to a sentimental overview of the history and traditions of Italian cuisine. Bill Buford’s memoir is a well-written, fascinating book and I really enjoyed it.

Rating: 8/10

Links:

• Amazon.ca
• LibraryThing

A video for Portal’s end credits song filmed in Lego stop-motion!

More than 1300 individual pictures went into the making of this film. It is based off of the video game, Portal, and features the soundtrack from the game’s credits with an all lego cast.

• Link (via Joystiq)

The New York Times has an article commemorating the life of science-fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke, who just passed away.

The author of almost 100 books, Mr. Clarke was an ardent promoter of the idea that humanity’s destiny lay beyond the confines of Earth. It was a vision served most vividly by “2001: A Space Odyssey,” the classic 1968 science-fiction film he created with the director Stanley Kubrick and the novel of the same title that he wrote as part of the project.

His work was also prophetic: his detailed forecast of telecommunications satellites in 1945 came more than a decade before the first orbital rocket flight.

Other early advocates of a space program argued that it would pay for itself by jump-starting new technology. Mr. Clarke set his sights higher. Borrowing a phrase from William James, he suggested that exploring the solar system could serve as the “moral equivalent of war,” giving an outlet to energies that might otherwise lead to nuclear holocaust.

• Link

This is a pretty funny piece of fiction on what could happen when nearly anybody can time-travel and change history.

At 14:57:44, SilverFox316 wrote:
Back from 1936 Berlin; incapacitated FreedomFighter69 before he could pull his little stunt. Freedomfighter69, as you are a new member, please read IATT Bulletin 1147 regarding the killing of Hitler before your next excursion. Failure to do so may result in your expulsion per Bylaw 223.

At 18:06:59, BigChill wrote:
Take it easy on the kid, SilverFox316; everybody kills Hitler on their first trip. I did. It always gets fixed within a few minutes, what’s the harm?

• Link (via Bureau 42)

Here are a few useful shortcuts when using the command prompt in Windows.

We look at some useful keyboard shortcuts and commands that will help you personalize the MS-DOS Command Prompt Window without using the mouse.

You will also learn about hotkeys for executing DOS commands more quickly. The keyboard shortcuts are known to work in Windows Vista and XP command prompt.

• Link (via Lifehacker)
• More function key shortcuts