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The blog post was inspired by The Recursive Universe by William Poundstone. I read this book years ago and found it amazing. I recently read another book by him
by cgh 6y ago
The blog post was inspired by The Recursive Universe by William Poundstone. I read this book years ago and found it amazing. I recently read another book by him, Fortune’s Formula, which features the Kelly Criterion, Claude Shannon beating roulette, card counting in blackjack, and the surprising origins of Warner Bros. Recommended for sure. Thanks to the HN poster who suggested it.
- throw_away 6y agoHeh, I remember reading William Poundstone's books "Big Secrets" and "Bigger Secrets" as a kid (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Secrets https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Secrets ). They're mostly about debunking or explaining various urban legends and conspiracy theories. I'm not sure how well they've stood the test of time, but they definitely had a formative impact on my thinking in a way that I only suddenly realized upon reading his name thirty some years later.
- aj7 6y agoEverything written by Poundstone is worth reading.
- braythwayt 6y agoA highly inspiring book, for sure. In my own case, it has led to a handful of blog posts about HashLife, a literate programming implementation, implementing Life on a Turing Machine, and of course, Conway’s passing from COVID-19 led to a post about FRACTRAN and the Collatz Conjecture. We may not break new ground, but when we read about something and are inspired to write code and play with ideas, we engage with the idea at a deeper level than simply reading to comprehend. What a great post.
- loosetypes 6y agoGlad you liked it!