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view org/sussman-reading-list.org @ 125:1aaf600dc39b
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author | Robert McIntyre <rlm@mit.edu> |
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date | Thu, 05 Jun 2014 16:04:41 -0400 |
parents | 7415863b39f2 |
children | 72c6ede12806 |
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1 #+title: Prof. Sussman's Reading List2 #+author: Gerald Sussman (compiled by Robert McIntyre)3 #+email: rlm@mit.edu4 #+description: Professor Sussman's reading recommendations5 #+keywords: Sussman physics computer science reading list MIT6 #+SETUPFILE: ../../aurellem/org/setup.org7 #+INCLUDE: ../../aurellem/org/level-0.org8 #+babel: :mkdirp yes :noweb yes :exports both10 #+BEGIN_QUOTE11 Serving as a TA for Professor Sussman will get you three things: great12 advice, spectacular reading recommendations, and lots of high quality13 tea. I can't share the advice or the tea, but I can compile a reading14 list. Some of the materials on this list represent research paths that15 lead to unexplored territory. Some are textbooks that express concepts16 so clearly they will change your life and make you weep for joy. I17 hope that you will get something interesting out of this reading list,18 wherever you are in life -- there's stuff I wish I knew about in19 middle school, and there are things I can't wait to read this20 summer. Enjoy! (and send corrections to reading-list@aurellem.org!)22 --Robert McIntyre23 #+END_QUOTE25 If you want to cite any of these papers, [[./sussman-recs.bib][here]] is a bibtex format file26 that contains all of these papers in the order they appear on the27 page. ([[./sussman-recs.bib]]).29 * Some /Real/ High school Reading31 - [[http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/physics/cosmology-relativity-and-gravitation/first-course-general-relativity][A First Course in General Relativity]], by Bernard F Schultz32 - ISBN: 978052127703733 - Readable, not too heavy.34 - Minimal dependencies35 - You can just go through it slowly and understand at each step.37 - [[http://www.amazon.com/Space-Special-Relativity-David-Mermin/dp/0881334200][Space and Time in Special Relativity]], by [[http://www.lassp.cornell.edu/mermin/][David Mermin]]38 - ISBN: 088133420039 - HIGHLY accessible.40 - This will change your life.41 - You will understand special relativity!43 - [[http://www.feynmanlectures.info/][The Feynman Lectures on Physics]]44 - Highly understandable45 - Just go there and learn something already!47 - [[http://aurellem.org/society-of-mind/][Society of Mind]], by [[http://web.media.mit.edu/~minsky/][Marvin Minsky]]48 - A trove of wonderful ideas!50 - [[http://www.cambridge.org/us/knowledge/discountpromotion/?site_locale=en_US&code=L3QCSD][Quantum Computing since Democritus]], by [[http://www.scottaaronson.com/][Scott Aaronson]]51 - Everything you might want to know about computing with QM, with52 a philosophical outlook.54 - Bible, Talmud, Koran55 - Read them whether or not you believe them!56 - Be sure to read between the lines, and you can discover what57 people were actually thinking back then.58 - Very interesting documents!59 - [[http://jhom.com/topics/voice/bat_kol_bab.htm][Bava Metzia 59b]] is an interesting story!61 * Representative Student Theses63 These are students where I played a large role in their64 education. Many of them represent compelling research directions65 that desperately need to be extended by the next generation of66 researchers! As Minsky says, if you want to do something really new,67 go back to points in the past where there was a neat idea that never68 really caught on, and follow the path of that idea to see where it69 leads. A comprehensive list of all my student's works can be found70 at my [[http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/gjs/gjs.html][homepage]]. If you want to cite any of these papers, you can71 find bibtex citations here: [[./sussman-recs.bib]].73 In particular, here's two great ideas that seem extremely promising74 and have NOT been properly explored! You could be the first person75 to get them working!77 - Using Chaotic Systems to get unlimited measurement precision!78 - Two papers:79 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/5953][A Global Approach to Parameter Estimation of Chaotic Dynamical80 Systems]], by [[http://eas.caltech.edu/people/3209/profile][Athanassios G. Siapas]], 1992.81 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/7060][Parameter Estimation in Chaotic Systems]], by Elmer Hung, 1995.82 - No one put enough effort into seeing if it really worked.83 - Seems to allow for almost unlimited precision in measurement.84 - Initial results look very promising, with a =13 order of85 magnitude= improvement in measurement precision in a simple86 experiment.87 - You will win the Nobel Prize if you can get it to work, because88 you will revolutionize the way we do measurements.90 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/12007][Towards Intelligent Structures: Active Control of Buckling]]91 - By [[http://www.berlinplace.com/][Andrew A. Berlin]], 199492 - Achieves a 10 fold increase in strength by actively eliminating93 vibrational modes.94 - Such a good idea; It's cool, short -- great!95 - No one's followed up on it!97 In historical order:99 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/6888][A System for Representing and Using Real-World Knowledge]]100 - By [[http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~sef/][Scott Elliot Fahlman]], 1977101 - Basically the reason that the Connection Machine was later102 invented.104 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/5679][The Connection Machine]]105 - By [[http://longnow.org/people/board/danny0/][Danny Hillis]], 1981106 - Beautiful thesis, though it doesn't tell you anything you can107 really /do/ today.109 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/6948][A Circuit Grammar For Operational Amplifier Design]]110 - By Andrew Ressler, 1984111 - If you're an Electrical Engineering person.113 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/6959][ONTIC: A Knowledge Representation System for Mathematics]]114 - By [[http://ttic.uchicago.edu/~dmcallester/][David A. McAllester]], 1987115 - Very hard, very deep.116 - You will need to know a lot of Math.118 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/7025][KAM: Automatic Planning and Interpretation of Numerical119 Experiments Using Geometrical Methods]]120 - By Kenneth Man-Kam Yip, 1989121 - Coolest PhD thesis ever!122 - Solve problems using graphs.123 - So cool!125 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/80483][Botanical Computing: A Developmental Approach to Generating126 Interconnect Topologies on an Amorphous Computer]]127 - By [[http://sta.uwi.edu/pelican/60under60/dcoore.asp][Daniel Coore]], 1999128 - Interesting to programmers especially.130 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/86667][Programmable Self-Assembly: Constructing Global Shape using131 Biologically-inspired Local Interactions and Origami Mathematics]]132 By [[http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~rad/][Radhika Nagpal]], 2001133 - Also Interesting to programmers.135 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/8228][Cellular Computation and Communications using Engineered Genetic136 Regulatory Networks]]137 - By [[http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/rweiss/][Ron Weiss]], 2001138 - Third in a line of bio / amorphous computing papers which should139 be highly interesting to programmers.141 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/6082][An Algorithm for Bootstrapping Communications]]142 - By Jake Beal, 2001143 - Seems like it could be "the right thing" for how modules in the144 brain learn to talk to each other.145 - Someone should expand on this work!146 - Also a PhD thesis from Beal on this: [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/38483][Learning by Learning to147 Communicate]], 2007149 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/37913][Games, Puzzles, and Computation]]150 - By [[http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/bob/][Robert Aubrey Hearn]], 2006.152 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/49525][Propagation Networks: A Flexible and Expressive Substrate for153 Computation]]154 - By [[http://web.mit.edu/~axch/www/][Alexey Andreyevich Radul]], 2009155 - Is a completely new way to program computers.156 - Under active development. You can get the latest code [[http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/gjs/propagators/propagator.tar][here]].158 * From Sussman's Bookshelf:160 - [[http://www.amazon.com/Introductory-Network-Theory-Amar-Bose/dp/B0000CMXS1][Introductory Network Theory]], by A.G. Bose and K.N. Stevens161 - ASIN: B0000CMXS1162 - Get the real story about RLC circuits!163 - Obsolete -- it only covers linear circuits.165 - [[http://www.amazon.com/Linear-Nonlinear-Circuits-Leon-Chua/dp/0070108986][Linear and Nonlinear Circuits]], by Chua, Desoler, and Kuh166 - ISBN: 0070108986167 - More up-to-date than /Network Theory/168 - 10/10 would teach169 - Mathematically very clear171 - [[http://frank.harvard.edu/aoe/][The Art of Electronics]], by Horowitz & Hill172 - ASIN: B001ERDQVI173 - Practical174 - Beautiful176 - [[http://www.amazon.com/Analysis-Design-Analog-Integrated-Circuits/dp/0471574953/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1401819423&sr=1-1&keywords=Analysis+and+Design+of+Analog+Integrated+Circuits+3rd+edition][Analysis and Design of Analog Integrated Circuits]], by Grey and177 Meyer178 - ISBN: 0471574953179 - Get the 2nd or 3rd edition, not later ones.181 - [[http://www.maa.org/publications/maa-reviews/a-survey-of-modern-algebra][A Survey of Modern Algebra]], by Garrett Birkhoff and Saunders182 MacLane183 - ISBN: 9781568814544184 - Goes all the way to Galois Theory!185 - Clear!187 - [[http://usf.usfca.edu/vca//][Visual Complex Analysis]], Needham188 - ISBN: 0198534469189 - Easy reading, well written190 - Wonderful use of graphics!192 - [[http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/solid-shape][Solid Shape]], Jan Koenderink193 - ISBN: 026211139X194 - Just good!196 - [[http://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/physics/theoretical-physics-and-mathematical-physics/probability-theory-logic-science][Probability: the Logic of Science]], by E.T. Jaynes197 - ISBN: 9780521592710198 - OMG just read this already!199 - Here's [[http://www-biba.inrialpes.fr/Jaynes/prob.html][some]] [[http://omega.albany.edu:8008/JaynesBook.html][links]] to the book.200 - This book will change your life, and make probability make201 sense. Truly excellent book.202 - Why aren't you reading this!?204 - [[http://www.perseusacademic.com/book.php?isbn=0805390219][Calculus on Manifolds]], Spivak205 - ISBN: 9780805390216206 - Great Mathematical notation!207 - Was an inspiration for [[http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/gjs/6946/sicm-html/book.html][SICM]].208 - Book contains a great flame!210 - [[http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1258635.The_Variational_Principles_of_Mechanics][The Variational Principles of Mechanics]], by Cornelius Lanczos211 - ISBN: 0486650677212 - Very philosophic; deep.213 - You could read it 100 times and learn something new each time!215 - [[http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/computers-and-thought][Computers and Thought]], by Edward A. Feigenbaum (Editor), Julian216 Feldman (Editor).217 - ISBN: 0262560925218 - This book includes some of the very interesting early papers in219 AI, and is overall a great book. Of course, some of the included220 papers are not very interesting.222 - [[http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/configuration-space-method-kinematic-design-mechanisms][The Configuration Space Method for Kinematic Design of Mechanisms]],223 by Elisha Sacks and Leo Joskowicz224 - ISBN: 9780262013895225 - I learned a lot reading this. (RLM should read this!)227 - [[http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199549078.do][Principles of Development]], by Wolpert228 - ISBN: 0199554285230 - [[http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1547380.A_Genetic_Switch][A Genetic Switch]], by Mark Ptashne231 - ISBN: 0865423156232 - Such clarity!233 - [[http://www.mskcc.org/research/lab/mark-ptashne/genetic-switch-lecture-series][Lecture Series Based on the book!]]235 - [[http://making-of-a-fly.me/][The Making of a Fly]], by Peter A. Lawrence236 - ISBN: 0632030488237 - Probably out of date already, but very well written!239 - [[http://www.amazon.com/Pattern-Formation-Ciliate-Studies-Models/dp/0195048903][Pattern Formation: Ciliate Studies and Models]], by Joseph Frankel240 - ISBN: 0195048903241 - My type of book!243 - [[http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/harmonic-mind][The Harmonic Mind]], Volumes 1 and 2, by Smolenck and Legendre244 - ISBN: 9780262516198245 - I'm very interested in the amazing latency of the human246 brain. This book presents a way by which multiple stages of247 computation can be folded together into a single computation,248 and is an interesting hypothesis about how the mind might work!250 - [[http://www.arrl.org/shop/ARRL-Handbook-2013-Hardcover-Edition][The Radio Amateur's Handbook]], [[http://www.arrl.org/][ARRL]]251 - /practical/ electronics book252 - They've been making this book for about 100 years!254 - [[http://www.amazon.com/Radiotron-Langford-Smith-Reproduced-Distributed-Corporation/dp/B000JILVH4][Radiotron Designer's Handbook, 4th edition, RCA]]255 - ASIN: B000JILVH4256 - I'm very interested in hi-fi.258 * Marvin Minsky259 Minsky really made me as a person. He was my adviser when I was a260 student at MIT, and he got me my first job. He had the "magnetism"261 to attract the most talented people to MIT to work on AI, and the262 right amount of negligence and delegation to create an environment263 where people could thrive. He is certainly the reason that I was264 seduced into working on AI. Minsky has vast and deep Scientific265 knowledge -- he could walk into almost any class: Chemistry,266 Physics, Math, Computer Science, and teach the class without267 preparation!269 - http://web.media.mit.edu/~minsky/ Much of Minsky's work is here,270 including his book, /The Emotion Machine/, and several essays and271 papers. Check it out!273 - [[http://aurellem.org/society-of-mind/][Society of Mind]] Read it online! Each chapter of this book is a274 short, self-contained essay about the various276 - [[https://web.media.mit.edu/~minsky/papers/MusicMindMeaning.html][Music, Mind, and Meaning]] Minsky is one of a few living people who277 can /improvise/ complicated Baroque era fugues. You can hear one278 of these improvisations [[http://aurellem.org/mmm/][here]].280 - [[http://web.media.mit.edu/~minsky/papers/steps.html][Steps towards Artificial Intelligence]] Here, Minsky outlines how we281 might begin to build an AI. This is considered to be one of the282 founding papers of the field, along with Turing's "Computing283 Machinery and Intelligence" [[http://www.loebner.net/Prizef/TuringArticle.html][paper]].285 - Perceptrons, by Marvin Minsky286 - [[http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/perceptrons][MIT Press]], ISBN: 9780262631112287 - Really good for "Math types."288 - Uses geometry for proving things.289 - People unwisely considered it to kill off Neural Nets; In fact,290 it only shows the limitations of certain simple kinds of Neural291 Nets.293 * For Fun294 - [[http://prce.hu/w/TAAP.html][Time's Arrow and Archimedes' Point]], by Huw Price295 - ISBN: 0195117980296 - A reasonable philosopher!298 - [[http://www.phys.ufl.edu/~cmw/wer.html][Was Einstein Right? : Putting General Relativity To The Test]], by299 Clifford M. Will300 - ISBN: 0465090869302 - [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stranger_in_a_Strange_Land][Stranger in a Strange Land]], by Robert A. Heinlein303 - ISBN: 0441790348305 - [[http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/729][Hackers, Heroes of the Computer Revolution]], by Steven Levy306 - ISBN: 1449388396307 - Accuracy is not too good - people's names are spelled wrong, for308 example.309 - But the /feelings/ are exactly right! This book really captures310 what it was like to be in the AI lab back in the good old days.311 * Selected works by Sussman313 - [[http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/gjs/6946/sicm-html/book.html][SICM (Structure and Interpretation of Classical Mechanics)]] This is314 the textbook of [[http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/gjs/6946/][6.946]], a class in Classical Mechanics that Sussman315 generally teaches in the Fall.316 - ISBN: 9780262194556317 - [[http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/structure-and-interpretation-classical-mechanics][MIT Press]]319 - [[http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/][SICP (Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs)]] This is320 the textbook of the (no longer offered) [[http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-001-structure-and-interpretation-of-computer-programs-spring-2005/][6.001]] introductory321 Computer Science class at MIT. It's a classic!322 - ISBN: 0-262-01077-1324 - [[http://www.schemers.org/Documents/Standards/R5RS/HTML/][R5RS (Revised^5 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme)]]325 Spec. for the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheme_%28programming_language%29][scheme]] computer language. Sussman is very proud of326 the short length of this document compared to the specifications327 for most other computer languages. It's based on the [[http://www.masswerk.at/algol60/report.htm][Revised328 Report on the Revised Report on the Algorithmic Language Algol 60]]330 - [[http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/gjs/6946/calculus-indexed.pdf][Functional Differential Geometry]] Treatment of functional331 differential geometry in the classic SIC[M/P] style.