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Quantum Computing since Democritus in high school reading list is very heavy. I have had Theory of Computation class in college and I can't read 20 pages of tha

Quantum Computing since Democritus in high school reading list is very heavy. I have had Theory of Computation class in college and I can't read 20 pages of that book.

selimthegrim 12y ago
It's not any heavier than GEB, and they will probably get more out of it. My picks in there would be Lanczos, Heinlein, and Levy, and SICP and SICM.
- abc_lisper 12y ago
  Umm.. I could read GEB; it was tough but more understandable. QCD is way over my head :), but may be because I am dumb.
  - sir-pinecone 11y ago
    Hah, I'm sure a great number of people would say being able to read GEB makes you not dumb.
- abc_lisper 12y ago
  I agree with you on SICP. Reading it was the single biggest improvement in my career as a programmer.
madars 12y ago
To provide a second opinion: for me it was probably one of the best books I read last year -- extremely lucid writing and very lively. I think I would have loved it in high school.
pjungwir 12y ago
I'm reading QCsD right now and loving it. But in high school? That sounds crazy. It'd help a lot to already understand Godel's proof, big-O notation, and P-vs-NP. Also relativity and quantum mechanics. And maybe some group theory.
randomnumber53 12y ago
I'm a current HS senior who took a Theory of Computation class the year prior, and I got a few chapters into QCSD before realizing that I needed to learn some more about complexity theory before I read that book. I'm planning on trying again once the summer begins. Now I'm about half-way through Godel, Esher, Bach, and I have to say that GEB and QCSD feel similar, with an overlap not only in theme but also in genre and style.
- gone35 12y ago
  ...I got a few chapters into QCSD before realizing that I needed to learn some more about complexity theory before I read that book. I'm planning on trying again once the summer begins. It might be a bit overkill, but if you go over the main chapters of Arora and Barak you should have more than enough background in complexity theory for your purposes.
derefr 12y ago
On the other hand, if you treat each page, each statement as something you have to completely internalize before moving onto the next page—including looking up all the prerequisite topics recursively on Wikipedia or in other texts—you might just end up teaching yourself up to college-level math while still in high school. (I didn't do this myself with QCD, but I very nearly did it with SICP in middle school.)
- octatoan 12y ago
  Yes, I've been doing this for a while and I think it just might be working.
- 31reasons 12y ago
  SICP in Middle School! who are you ? Please start working on fusion if you are not already.
- kiba 12y ago
  I wish I can manage that level of self motivation while in high school.
  - thrownaway2424 12y ago
    Have you tried not having any friends?
peregrine 12y ago
I think he meant emphasis on "High" meaning high schooling. Not "high school"
- Retra 12y ago
  That would be a very unusual phrasing if that is true.
Strilanc 12y ago
QC since Democritus is a weird mix of textbook and popularization; I think you could absolutely read it without understanding the details and still enjoy it. You won't get as much, but you'll still get something. I didn't understand much of algorithms or quantum computing when I first read the lecture notes the book is sourced from [1]. Was still worth it. 1: http://www.scottaaronson.com/democritus/ http://www.scottaaronson.com/democritus/

Quantum Computing since Democritus in high school reading list is very heavy. I have had Theory of Computation class in college and I can't read 20 pages of that book.

selimthegrim 12y ago

It's not any heavier than GEB, and they will probably get more out of it. My picks in there would be Lanczos, Heinlein, and Levy, and SICP and SICM.

abc_lisper 12y ago
Umm.. I could read GEB; it was tough but more understandable. QCD is way over my head :), but may be because I am dumb.
- sir-pinecone 11y ago
  Hah, I'm sure a great number of people would say being able to read GEB makes you not dumb.
abc_lisper 12y ago
I agree with you on SICP. Reading it was the single biggest improvement in my career as a programmer.

madars 12y ago

To provide a second opinion: for me it was probably one of the best books I read last year -- extremely lucid writing and very lively. I think I would have loved it in high school.

pjungwir 12y ago

I'm reading QCsD right now and loving it. But in high school? That sounds crazy. It'd help a lot to already understand Godel's proof, big-O notation, and P-vs-NP. Also relativity and quantum mechanics. And maybe some group theory.

randomnumber53 12y ago

I'm a current HS senior who took a Theory of Computation class the year prior, and I got a few chapters into QCSD before realizing that I needed to learn some more about complexity theory before I read that book. I'm planning on trying again once the summer begins. Now I'm about half-way through Godel, Esher, Bach, and I have to say that GEB and QCSD feel similar, with an overlap not only in theme but also in genre and style.

gone35 12y ago
...I got a few chapters into QCSD before realizing that I needed to learn some more about complexity theory before I read that book. I'm planning on trying again once the summer begins. It might be a bit overkill, but if you go over the main chapters of Arora and Barak you should have more than enough background in complexity theory for your purposes.

derefr 12y ago

On the other hand, if you treat each page, each statement as something you have to completely internalize before moving onto the next page—including looking up all the prerequisite topics recursively on Wikipedia or in other texts—you might just end up teaching yourself up to college-level math while still in high school. (I didn't do this myself with QCD, but I very nearly did it with SICP in middle school.)

octatoan 12y ago
Yes, I've been doing this for a while and I think it just might be working.
31reasons 12y ago
SICP in Middle School! who are you ? Please start working on fusion if you are not already.
kiba 12y ago
I wish I can manage that level of self motivation while in high school.
- thrownaway2424 12y ago
  Have you tried not having any friends?

peregrine 12y ago

I think he meant emphasis on "High" meaning high schooling. Not "high school"

Retra 12y ago
That would be a very unusual phrasing if that is true.

Strilanc 12y ago

QC since Democritus is a weird mix of textbook and popularization; I think you could absolutely read it without understanding the details and still enjoy it. You won't get as much, but you'll still get something. I didn't understand much of algorithms or quantum computing when I first read the lecture notes the book is sourced from [1]. Was still worth it. 1: http://www.scottaaronson.com/democritus/ http://www.scottaaronson.com/democritus/