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Tangential, but Tao is such a great teacher of mathematics and person. A rare combination of skill and modesty. Highly recommend his analysis and measure theory

• weinzierl 8y ago
  > [..] Tao is such a great teacher of mathematics and person. And a good writer too. I could read his blog posts all day long. In this post I particularly like how he describes his feelings when reading through one of Jean's papers. >> It’s hard to describe (especially in lay terms) the experience of reading through (and finally absorbing) the sections of this paper one by one; the best analogy I can come up with would be watching an expert video game player nimbly navigate his or her way through increasingly difficult levels of some video game, with the end of each level (or section) culminating in a fight with a huge “boss” that was eventually dispatched using an array of special weapons that the player happened to have at hand. > A rare combination of skill and modesty. That's what I was thinking when reading the following paragraph. He is one of the greatest mathematicians of our times but what he writes is so relatable. >> While I was a graduate student at Princeton, Jean worked at the Institute for Advanced Study which was just a mile away. But I never actually had the courage to set up an appointment with him (which, back then, would be more likely done in person or by phone rather than by email). I remember once actually walking to the Institute and standing outside his office door, wondering if I dared knock on it to introduce myself.