Month: April 2006

#12

My latest read is another young adult fantasy: The Black Unicorn by Tanith Lee. This one doesn’t draw on Tolkein, though. Tanaquil is the daughter of a sorceress, but she has no magical abilities herself. However, she can fix things, so in order to occupy her mind and her days, she fixes broken things brought to her by the residents of the desert fortress where she lives. The monotony of her existence shifts when she befriends a peeve who helps her put together the skeleton of a unicorn. The adventure that follows eventually leads Tanaquil to her destiny.

I haven’t read any of Tanith Lee’s other novels, but if this is an example of her work, I look forward to the rest. The book is short, but even so, Lee is able to flesh out characters and locations enough to connect them with the reader. She has left the ending open for sequels, which have been written (Gold Unicorn, Red Unicorn), so I will seek those out first.

springer meme

Mark and Christina, this is the geekiest meme I’ve seen so far. If I were a Springer-Verlag Graduate Text in Mathematics, I would be Saunders Mac Lane’s Categories for the Working Mathematician. I provide an array of general ideas useful in a wide variety of fields. Starting from foundations, I illuminate the concepts of category, … Continue reading “springer meme”

Mark and Christina, this is the geekiest meme I’ve seen so far.

cover of Categories for the Working MathematicianIf I were a Springer-Verlag Graduate Text in Mathematics, I would be Saunders Mac Lane’s Categories for the Working Mathematician.

I provide an array of general ideas useful in a wide variety of fields. Starting from foundations, I illuminate the concepts of category, functor, natural transformation, and duality. I then turn to adjoint functors, which provide a description of universal constructions, an analysis of the representation of functors by sets of morphisms, and a means of manipulating direct and inverse limits.

Which Springer GTM would you be?
The Springer GTM Test

As a side note, I weeded our collection of the Springer yellow math books last year. We had run out of space and they weren’t being used. The library purchased the series on standing order until 1992. After which point, only titles selected by the faculty were purchased. There were eight of them. That should give you an idea of how many of the others had been checked out even once over their tenure in this library. So far, no one has missed them.

who needs television?

Here are a few more podcasts I’ve been listening to lately (previous list): Slice of SciFi – News and reviews of everything science fiction, although it’s mainly film and television oriented. The Kick-Ass Mystic Ninjas – Each episode is a discussion of classic science fiction books, movies, and television shows. Radio Free Burrito – Wil … Continue reading “who needs television?”

Here are a few more podcasts I’ve been listening to lately (previous list):

  • Slice of SciFi – News and reviews of everything science fiction, although it’s mainly film and television oriented.
  • The Kick-Ass Mystic Ninjas – Each episode is a discussion of classic science fiction books, movies, and television shows.
  • Radio Free Burrito – Wil Wheaton’s experiments with podcasting.

an apology

I apologize to those who are reading this via an RSS feed. Due to some changes I’ve made recently, my feed has been updated several times, causing all of the old posts to be re-listed as new in feed readers. I think it’s all settled for now.

I apologize to those who are reading this via an RSS feed. Due to some changes I’ve made recently, my feed has been updated several times, causing all of the old posts to be re-listed as new in feed readers. I think it’s all settled for now.

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