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I've only just skimmed through this. And it's a subject I already know so I can't tell if it's actually a good resource. However, my initial impression is that

I've only just skimmed through this. And it's a subject I already know so I can't tell if it's actually a good resource. However, my initial impression is that I love it. I think that textbooks, math textbooks in particular, are an example where print publishing does a disservice. (I'm counting PDFs here too.) By having to lay everything out in print form, you have to clutter up your explanations with examples and footnotes that take up physical room. Here, the examples are toggle-able. If I _want_ to explore an example, I can. But I don't need to. This kind of thing is especially helpful when reviewing content for, say, a test rather than learning it for the first time. Also finding things in textbooks is a real pain. It's difficult to index things in a helpful way, so you just have these counting schemes in LaTeX that increment for every definition, theorem, etc. I'd love to be able to tag things then search the tags. And that says nothing for when you want to explain something that's difficult with static images. Being able to interact with animations by zooming, panning, pausing, slowing down, speeding up, etc. is a boon. (I don't think I actually saw an example of a non-static image here, but I think my point still stands.) All in all, I'd love to see more interactive textbooks. We've got this really expressive kind of document via the web. I think we should be taking advantage of it more.

JadeNB 5y ago
> I think that textbooks, math textbooks in particular, are an example where print publishing does a disservice. (I'm counting PDFs here too.) By having to lay everything out in print form, you have to clutter up your explanations with examples and footnotes that take up physical room. Here, the examples are toggle-able. If I _want_ to explore an example, I can. But I don't need to. This kind of thing is especially helpful when reviewing content for, say, a test rather than learning it for the first time. This sounds so much like a meeting of Lamport's idea of how to structure a proof (https://lamport.azurewebsites.net/pubs/proof.pdf https://lamport.azurewebsites.net/pubs/proof.pdf) and the Stacks project (https://stacks.math.columbia.edu https://stacks.math.columbia.edu).
- scythmic_waves 5y ago
  I had never seen Lamport's idea of structured proofs. I just read the linked paper and I love it.
chobytes 5y ago
I think I prefer physical textbooks for many reasons I wont get in to... but I do really like the interactive and visualization elements computers offer. I feel like teaching kids some amount of coding to be able to play with math could be very helpful.
- Jtsummers 5y ago
  That's one of the intents behind Logo, see the book Mindstorms by Papert. Programming wasn't an end unto itself, but a means of exploring complex topics. Notebook-style programming is a great modern iteration of this, especially with the ability to produce interesting and complex visualizations of the underlying data and structures.
  - chobytes 5y ago
    Yup, notebooks are what I had in mind. I make heavy use of mathematica when I want to explore a new topic.
- wirthjason 5y ago
  Saying you love physical books then not giving the reasons… come on, people want to know. One reason I love them is that I can easily browse a shelf. Scrolling through a digital library doesn’t have the same sense of amusement.
Koshkin 5y ago
> an example where print publishing does a disservice What would be an example (in the area of learning) where it does not? In the age of pervasive computing printed text is just that - a printout. A screenshot, if you will. Not extremely useful. Even a basic 3D model of something (like a car engine) that you could simply rotate and zoom is immensely more informative than a static picture of the same object. Text, such as a mathematical proof, too, could be made dynamic for the benefit of the student: you could hide or show references, insert notes, etc. Static/printed content is merely an artifact of the past technology we continue clinging to for no good reason. To say nothing about the environmental impact.
- AlotOfReading 5y ago
  Professional color books (e.g. the Munsell soil books [1]) are a good example here. Screens use different, more restricted color spaces and are additive rather than subtractive. I also have some books where the opposing page is used to hold the corresponding translation, so you can see both the original and its translation simultaneously. That breaks the page-at-a-time model of most document readers. [1] https://www.amazon.com/Munsell-Soil-Book-Color-M50215B/dp/B007E9JERA https://www.amazon.com/Munsell-Soil-Book-Color-M50215B/dp/B0...
ai_ia 5y ago
> I think that textbooks, math textbooks in particular, are an example where print publishing does a disservice. (I'm counting PDFs here too.) By having to lay everything out in print form, you have to clutter up your explanations with examples and footnotes that take up physical room. . I agree with your sentiment. Although, I believe there is bit of problem of generalizing it to a wider field. Surely, you can make explorables with Linear Algebra, Trigonometry, Geometry, Number Theory etc, but there still exists a lot of mathematical fields, where such explanation using visualization is pretty difficult. It takes a lot of time to come up good explanations, while even longer for interactive explorables. > All in all, I'd love to see more interactive textbooks. We've got this really expressive kind of document via the web. I think we should be taking advantage of it more. This is something I have spent the last 4 years of my life building. I designed an alternative way of writing interactive books that takes a different approach than using just explorables. It's a conversational way of learning subjects designed for auto-didacts. You interact (converse?) with the book and learn gradually. You can of course embed explorables into it (which I am planning to for upcoming linear algebra / discrete mathematics course), but the general process can still be generalized to any field. And if you are a LaTeX fan, you are in luck as all your notes are compiled as a Tufte-Latex Notebook. The medium is called Primer, homage to the diamond age. You can checkout Primer here https://primerlabs.io https://primerlabs.io. A comic-based guide to understand how Primer helps you learn effectively: https://primerlabs.io/comics/introducing-primer-comics/ https://primerlabs.io/comics/introducing-primer-comics/
- dragonvspanda 5y ago
  I loved the comic. Have signed up. Will be looking forward your future courses.
- trees101 5y ago
  Great work, thank you. Have you considered Obsidian, and Obsidian publish, as a medium? Take a look at Andy Matuschak's site as one example, there are many variants out there too https://notes.andymatuschak.org/About_these_notes https://notes.andymatuschak.org/About_these_notes
  - 5y ago

JadeNB 5y ago

scythmic_waves 5y ago
I had never seen Lamport's idea of structured proofs. I just read the linked paper and I love it.

chobytes 5y ago

I think I prefer physical textbooks for many reasons I wont get in to... but I do really like the interactive and visualization elements computers offer. I feel like teaching kids some amount of coding to be able to play with math could be very helpful.

Jtsummers 5y ago
That's one of the intents behind Logo, see the book Mindstorms by Papert. Programming wasn't an end unto itself, but a means of exploring complex topics. Notebook-style programming is a great modern iteration of this, especially with the ability to produce interesting and complex visualizations of the underlying data and structures.
- chobytes 5y ago
  Yup, notebooks are what I had in mind. I make heavy use of mathematica when I want to explore a new topic.
wirthjason 5y ago
Saying you love physical books then not giving the reasons… come on, people want to know. One reason I love them is that I can easily browse a shelf. Scrolling through a digital library doesn’t have the same sense of amusement.

Koshkin 5y ago

> an example where print publishing does a disservice What would be an example (in the area of learning) where it does not? In the age of pervasive computing printed text is just that - a printout. A screenshot, if you will. Not extremely useful. Even a basic 3D model of something (like a car engine) that you could simply rotate and zoom is immensely more informative than a static picture of the same object. Text, such as a mathematical proof, too, could be made dynamic for the benefit of the student: you could hide or show references, insert notes, etc. Static/printed content is merely an artifact of the past technology we continue clinging to for no good reason. To say nothing about the environmental impact.

AlotOfReading 5y ago
Professional color books (e.g. the Munsell soil books [1]) are a good example here. Screens use different, more restricted color spaces and are additive rather than subtractive. I also have some books where the opposing page is used to hold the corresponding translation, so you can see both the original and its translation simultaneously. That breaks the page-at-a-time model of most document readers. [1] https://www.amazon.com/Munsell-Soil-Book-Color-M50215B/dp/B007E9JERA https://www.amazon.com/Munsell-Soil-Book-Color-M50215B/dp/B0...

ai_ia 5y ago

> I think that textbooks, math textbooks in particular, are an example where print publishing does a disservice. (I'm counting PDFs here too.) By having to lay everything out in print form, you have to clutter up your explanations with examples and footnotes that take up physical room. . I agree with your sentiment. Although, I believe there is bit of problem of generalizing it to a wider field. Surely, you can make explorables with Linear Algebra, Trigonometry, Geometry, Number Theory etc, but there still exists a lot of mathematical fields, where such explanation using visualization is pretty difficult. It takes a lot of time to come up good explanations, while even longer for interactive explorables. > All in all, I'd love to see more interactive textbooks. We've got this really expressive kind of document via the web. I think we should be taking advantage of it more. This is something I have spent the last 4 years of my life building. I designed an alternative way of writing interactive books that takes a different approach than using just explorables. It's a conversational way of learning subjects designed for auto-didacts. You interact (converse?) with the book and learn gradually. You can of course embed explorables into it (which I am planning to for upcoming linear algebra / discrete mathematics course), but the general process can still be generalized to any field. And if you are a LaTeX fan, you are in luck as all your notes are compiled as a Tufte-Latex Notebook. The medium is called Primer, homage to the diamond age. You can checkout Primer here https://primerlabs.io https://primerlabs.io. A comic-based guide to understand how Primer helps you learn effectively: https://primerlabs.io/comics/introducing-primer-comics/ https://primerlabs.io/comics/introducing-primer-comics/

dragonvspanda 5y ago
I loved the comic. Have signed up. Will be looking forward your future courses.
trees101 5y ago
Great work, thank you. Have you considered Obsidian, and Obsidian publish, as a medium? Take a look at Andy Matuschak's site as one example, there are many variants out there too https://notes.andymatuschak.org/About_these_notes https://notes.andymatuschak.org/About_these_notes
- 5y ago