I guess this is as good a thread as any to place a footnote on SLOW THINKING.
As a kind of prelude before committing myself to an encyclopedic Physics textbook, I have been going through Arnold Pickar's Preparing for General Physics: Math Skills Drills and Other Useful Help, Calculus Version ... and while I am moving relatively quickly through the exercises, I am finding more than a few errors in the solutions provided in the text.
I have noticed a pattern. The solutions are squeezed into a small space with a minimal amount of explanatory details, and it seems like more errors are made in the last couple solutions on a page.
I know this is some petty comment to make here, but it is related to slow thinking.
As has been my way for some time now, I am taking notes and working out the solutions myself in a notebook - then checking the solutions. I leave myself plenty of space with detailed explanations, unlike the author or whoever filled in the solutions ...
I guess it is good for the confidence to be able to prove to oneself that a solution in a "textbook" contains errors. I wonder why they were in such a rush to publish (in 1993) that they did not wait to check their work. Also, the edition I have was printed in 2012 (restricted for sale in India ... I don't know how I got a copy off of Amazon (the last copy of that particular edition)) ... which means someone reprinted the errors. They could have went through the text and made the necessary corrections. I am not overly concerned about it, but it makes me wonder ... and it encourages me to continue at my careful turtle's pace.
Lately I have not been turning on the computer until later in the evening so as not to be too distracted.
While reading Cioran's The Trouble With Being Born (late last night when I put the math books away), I came across two aphorisms I would like to type on this board and discuss. I just have to figure out where to place them:
Trouble With Being CioranI will then catch up on reading the anti-superbowl rant, which is now up to
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