view org/sussman-reading-list.org @ 136:46bc0f596b91

ideas from reading /life in the frozen state/.
author Robert McIntyre <rlm@mit.edu>
date Sun, 07 Sep 2014 21:35:52 -0700
parents 5d4c3782997f
children a5d107180b16
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1 #+title: Prof. Sussman's Reading List
2 #+author: Gerald Sussman (compiled by Robert McIntyre)
3 #+email: rlm@mit.edu
4 #+description: Professor Sussman's reading recommendations
5 #+keywords: Sussman physics computer science reading list MIT
6 #+SETUPFILE: ../../aurellem/org/setup.org
7 #+INCLUDE: ../../aurellem/org/level-0.org
8 #+babel: :mkdirp yes :noweb yes :exports both
10 #+BEGIN_QUOTE
11 Serving as a TA for Professor Sussman will get you three things: great
12 advice, spectacular reading recommendations, and lots of high quality
13 tea. I can't share the advice or the tea, but I can compile a reading
14 list. Some of the materials on this list represent research paths that
15 lead to unexplored territory. Some are textbooks that express concepts
16 so clearly they will change your life and make you weep for joy. I
17 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 in
19 middle school, and there are things I can't wait to read this
20 summer. Enjoy! (and send corrections to reading-list@aurellem.org!)
22 --Robert McIntyre
23 #+END_QUOTE
25 If you want to cite any of these papers, [[./sussman-recs.bib][here]] is a bibtex format file
26 that contains all of these papers in the order they appear on the
27 page. ([[./sussman-recs.bib]]).
29 * Some /Real/ High school Reading
31 - [[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 Schultz
32 - ISBN: 9780521277037
33 - Readable, not too heavy.
34 - Minimal dependencies
35 - 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: 0881334200
39 - 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 understandable
45 - 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, with
52 a philosophical outlook.
54 - Bible, Talmud, Koran
55 - Read them whether or not you believe them!
56 - Be sure to read between the lines, and you can discover what
57 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 Theses
63 These are students where I played a large role in their
64 education. Many of them represent compelling research directions
65 that desperately need to be extended by the next generation of
66 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 never
68 really caught on, and follow the path of that idea to see where it
69 leads. A comprehensive list of all my student's works can be found
70 at my [[http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/gjs/gjs.html][homepage]]. If you want to cite any of these papers, you can
71 find bibtex citations here: [[./sussman-recs.bib]].
73 In particular, here's two great ideas that seem extremely promising
74 and have NOT been properly explored! You could be the first person
75 to get them working!
77 - Using chaos to get unlimited measurement precision!
78 - In chaotic systems, states that are near to each other at one
79 point in time become exponentially farther apart from each other
80 as the system evolves in time. Therefore, you might be able to
81 attain arbitrary precision by waiting for the system to evolve,
82 and then determining what initial state must have led to the
83 later state.
84 - Two notable papers:
85 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/5953][A Global Approach to Parameter Estimation of Chaotic Dynamical
86 Systems]], by [[http://eas.caltech.edu/people/3209/profile][Athanassios G. Siapas]], 1992.
87 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/7060][Parameter Estimation in Chaotic Systems]], by Elmer Hung, 1995.
88 - No one put enough effort into seeing if it really worked.
89 - Seems to allow for almost unlimited precision in measurement.
90 - Initial results look very promising, with a =13 order of
91 magnitude= improvement in measurement precision in a simple
92 experiment.
93 - You will win the Nobel Prize if you can get it to work, because
94 you will revolutionize the way we do measurements. In
95 particular, you could measure the Gravitational Constant with
96 unprecedented accuracy.
98 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/12007][Towards Intelligent Structures: Active Control of Buckling]]
99 - By [[http://www.berlinplace.com/][Andrew A. Berlin]], 1994
100 - Achieves a 10 fold increase in strength by actively eliminating
101 vibrational modes.
102 - Such a good idea; It's cool, short -- great!
103 - Better quality, color version of the thesis [[http://www.berlinplace.com/aitr-1590.pdf][here]].
104 - No one's followed up on it!
106 In historical order:
108 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/6888][A System for Representing and Using Real-World Knowledge]]
109 - By [[http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~sef/][Scott Elliot Fahlman]], 1977
110 - Basically the reason that the Connection Machine was later
111 invented.
113 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/5679][The Connection Machine]]
114 - By [[http://longnow.org/people/board/danny0/][Danny Hillis]], 1981
115 - Beautiful thesis, though it doesn't tell you anything you can
116 really /do/ today.
118 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/6948][A Circuit Grammar For Operational Amplifier Design]]
119 - By Andrew Ressler, 1984
120 - If you're an Electrical Engineering person.
122 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/6959][ONTIC: A Knowledge Representation System for Mathematics]]
123 - By [[http://ttic.uchicago.edu/~dmcallester/][David A. McAllester]], 1987
124 - Very hard, very deep.
125 - You will need to know a lot of Math.
127 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/7025][KAM: Automatic Planning and Interpretation of Numerical
128 Experiments Using Geometrical Methods]]
129 - By Kenneth Man-Kam Yip, 1989
130 - Coolest PhD thesis ever!
131 - Solve problems using graphs.
132 - So cool!
134 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/80483][Botanical Computing: A Developmental Approach to Generating
135 Interconnect Topologies on an Amorphous Computer]]
136 - By [[http://sta.uwi.edu/pelican/60under60/dcoore.asp][Daniel Coore]], 1999
137 - Interesting to programmers especially.
139 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/86667][Programmable Self-Assembly: Constructing Global Shape using
140 Biologically-inspired Local Interactions and Origami Mathematics]]
141 By [[http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~rad/][Radhika Nagpal]], 2001
142 - Also Interesting to programmers.
144 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/8228][Cellular Computation and Communications using Engineered Genetic
145 Regulatory Networks]]
146 - By [[http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/rweiss/][Ron Weiss]], 2001
147 - Third in a line of bio / amorphous computing papers which should
148 be highly interesting to programmers.
150 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/6082][An Algorithm for Bootstrapping Communications]]
151 - By Jake Beal, 2001
152 - Seems like it could be "the right thing" for how modules in the
153 brain learn to talk to each other.
154 - Someone should expand on this work!
155 - Also a PhD thesis from Beal on this: [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/38483][Learning by Learning to
156 Communicate]], 2007
158 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/37913][Games, Puzzles, and Computation]]
159 - By [[http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/bob/][Robert Aubrey Hearn]], 2006.
161 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/49525][Propagation Networks: A Flexible and Expressive Substrate for
162 Computation]]
163 - By [[http://web.mit.edu/~axch/www/][Alexey Andreyevich Radul]], 2009
164 - Is a completely new way to program computers.
165 - Under active development. You can get the latest code [[http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/gjs/propagators/propagator.tar][here]].
167 * From Sussman's Bookshelf:
169 - [[http://www.amazon.com/Introductory-Network-Theory-Amar-Bose/dp/B0000CMXS1][Introductory Network Theory]], by A.G. Bose and K.N. Stevens
170 - ASIN: B0000CMXS1
171 - Get the real story about RLC circuits!
172 - Obsolete -- it only covers linear circuits.
174 - [[http://www.amazon.com/Linear-Nonlinear-Circuits-Leon-Chua/dp/0070108986][Linear and Nonlinear Circuits]], by Chua, Desoler, and Kuh
175 - ISBN: 0070108986
176 - More up-to-date than /Network Theory/
177 - 10/10 would teach
178 - Mathematically very clear
180 - [[http://frank.harvard.edu/aoe/][The Art of Electronics]], by Horowitz & Hill
181 - ASIN: B001ERDQVI
182 - Practical
183 - Beautiful
185 - [[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 and
186 Meyer
187 - ISBN: 0471574953
188 - Get the 2nd or 3rd edition, not later ones.
190 - [[http://www.maa.org/publications/maa-reviews/a-survey-of-modern-algebra][A Survey of Modern Algebra]], by Garrett Birkhoff and Saunders
191 MacLane
192 - ISBN: 9781568814544
193 - Goes all the way to Galois Theory!
194 - Clear!
196 - [[http://usf.usfca.edu/vca//][Visual Complex Analysis]], Needham
197 - ISBN: 0198534469
198 - Easy reading, well written
199 - Wonderful use of graphics!
201 - [[http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/solid-shape][Solid Shape]], Jan Koenderink
202 - ISBN: 026211139X
203 - Just good!
205 - [[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. Jaynes
206 - ISBN: 9780521592710
207 - OMG just read this already!
208 - Here's [[http://www-biba.inrialpes.fr/Jaynes/prob.html][some]] [[http://omega.albany.edu:8008/JaynesBook.html][links]] to the book.
209 - This book will change your life, and make probability make
210 sense. Truly excellent book.
211 - Why aren't you reading this!?
213 - [[http://www.perseusacademic.com/book.php?isbn=0805390219][Calculus on Manifolds]], Spivak
214 - ISBN: 9780805390216
215 - Great Mathematical notation!
216 - Was an inspiration for [[http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/gjs/6946/sicm-html/book.html][SICM]].
217 - Book contains a great flame!
219 - [[http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1258635.The_Variational_Principles_of_Mechanics][The Variational Principles of Mechanics]], by Cornelius Lanczos
220 - ISBN: 0486650677
221 - Very philosophic; deep.
222 - You could read it 100 times and learn something new each time!
224 - [[http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/computers-and-thought][Computers and Thought]], by Edward A. Feigenbaum (Editor), Julian
225 Feldman (Editor).
226 - ISBN: 0262560925
227 - This book includes some of the very interesting early papers in
228 AI, and is overall a great book. Of course, some of the included
229 papers are not very interesting.
231 - [[http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/configuration-space-method-kinematic-design-mechanisms][The Configuration Space Method for Kinematic Design of Mechanisms]],
232 by Elisha Sacks and Leo Joskowicz
233 - ISBN: 9780262013895
234 - I learned a lot reading this. (RLM should read this!)
236 - [[http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199549078.do][Principles of Development]], by Wolpert
237 - ISBN: 0199554285
239 - [[http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1547380.A_Genetic_Switch][A Genetic Switch]], by Mark Ptashne
240 - ISBN: 0865423156
241 - Such clarity!
242 - [[http://www.mskcc.org/research/lab/mark-ptashne/genetic-switch-lecture-series][Lecture Series Based on the book!]]
244 - [[http://making-of-a-fly.me/][The Making of a Fly]], by Peter A. Lawrence
245 - ISBN: 0632030488
246 - Probably out of date already, but very well written!
248 - [[http://www.amazon.com/Pattern-Formation-Ciliate-Studies-Models/dp/0195048903][Pattern Formation: Ciliate Studies and Models]], by Joseph Frankel
249 - ISBN: 0195048903
250 - My type of book!
252 - [[http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/harmonic-mind][The Harmonic Mind]], Volumes 1 and 2, by Smolenck and Legendre
253 - ISBN: 9780262516198
254 - I'm very interested in the amazing latency of the human
255 brain. This book presents a way by which multiple stages of
256 computation can be folded together into a single computation,
257 and is an interesting hypothesis about how the mind might work!
259 - [[http://www.arrl.org/shop/ARRL-Handbook-2013-Hardcover-Edition][The Radio Amateur's Handbook]], [[http://www.arrl.org/][ARRL]]
260 - /practical/ electronics book
261 - They've been making this book for about 100 years!
263 - [[http://www.amazon.com/Radiotron-Langford-Smith-Reproduced-Distributed-Corporation/dp/B000JILVH4][Radiotron Designer's Handbook, 4th edition, RCA]]
264 - ASIN: B000JILVH4
265 - I'm very interested in hi-fi.
267 * Marvin Minsky
268 Minsky really made me as a person. He was my adviser when I was a
269 student at MIT, and he got me my first job. He had the "magnetism"
270 to attract the most talented people to MIT to work on AI, and the
271 right amount of negligence and delegation to create an environment
272 where people could thrive. He is certainly the reason that I was
273 seduced into working on AI. Minsky has vast and deep Scientific
274 knowledge -- he could walk into almost any class: Chemistry,
275 Physics, Math, Computer Science, and teach the class well without
276 preparation!
278 - http://web.media.mit.edu/~minsky/ Much of Minsky's work is here,
279 including his book, /The Emotion Machine/, and several essays and
280 papers. Check it out!
282 - [[http://aurellem.org/society-of-mind/][Society of Mind]] Read it online! Each chapter of this book is a
283 short, self-contained essay about some aspect of intelligence or
284 development.
286 - [[https://web.media.mit.edu/~minsky/papers/MusicMindMeaning.html][Music, Mind, and Meaning]] Minsky is one of a few living people who
287 can /improvise/ complicated Baroque era fugues. You can hear one
288 of these improvisations [[http://aurellem.org/mmm/][here]].
290 - [[http://web.media.mit.edu/~minsky/papers/steps.html][Steps towards Artificial Intelligence]] Here, Minsky outlines how we
291 might begin to build an AI. This is considered to be one of the
292 founding papers of the field, along with Turing's "Computing
293 Machinery and Intelligence" [[http://www.loebner.net/Prizef/TuringArticle.html][paper]].
295 - Perceptrons, by Marvin Minsky
296 - [[http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/perceptrons][MIT Press]], ISBN: 9780262631112
297 - Really good for "Math types."
298 - Uses geometry for proving things.
299 - People unwisely considered it to kill off Neural Nets; In fact,
300 it only shows the limitations of certain simple kinds of Neural
301 Nets.
303 * For Fun
304 - [[http://prce.hu/w/TAAP.html][Time's Arrow and Archimedes' Point]], by Huw Price
305 - ISBN: 0195117980
306 - A reasonable philosopher!
308 - [[http://www.phys.ufl.edu/~cmw/wer.html][Was Einstein Right? : Putting General Relativity To The Test]], by
309 Clifford M. Will
310 - ISBN: 0465090869
312 - [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stranger_in_a_Strange_Land][Stranger in a Strange Land]], by Robert A. Heinlein
313 - ISBN: 0441790348
315 - [[http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/729][Hackers, Heroes of the Computer Revolution]], by Steven Levy
316 - ISBN: 1449388396
317 - Accuracy is not too good - people's names are spelled wrong, for
318 example.
319 - But the /feelings/ are exactly right! This book really captures
320 what it was like to be in the AI lab back in the good old days.
322 * Selected works by Sussman
324 - [[http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/gjs/6946/sicm-html/book.html][SICM (Structure and Interpretation of Classical Mechanics)]] This is
325 the textbook of [[http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/gjs/6946/][6.946]], a class in Classical Mechanics that Sussman
326 generally teaches in the Fall.
327 - ISBN: 9780262194556
328 - [[http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/structure-and-interpretation-classical-mechanics][MIT Press]]
330 - [[http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/][SICP (Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs)]] This is
331 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]] introductory
332 Computer Science class at MIT. It's a classic!
333 - ISBN: 0-262-01077-1
335 - [[http://www.schemers.org/Documents/Standards/R5RS/HTML/][R5RS (Revised^5 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme)]]
336 Spec. for the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheme_%28programming_language%29][scheme]] computer language. Sussman is very proud of
337 the short length of this document compared to the specifications
338 for most other computer languages. It's based on the [[http://www.masswerk.at/algol60/report.htm][Revised
339 Report on the Revised Report on the Algorithmic Language Algol 60]]
341 - [[http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/gjs/6946/calculus-indexed.pdf][Functional Differential Geometry]] Treatment of functional
342 differential geometry in the classic SIC[M/P] style.