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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 Serving as a TA for Professor Sussman will get you three things: great
11 advice, spectacular reading recommendations, and lots of high quality
12 tea. I can't share the advice or the tea, but I can compile a reading
13 list. Some of the materials on this represent research paths that lead
14 to unexplored territory. Some are textbooks that express concepts so
15 clearly they will change your life and make you weep for joy. I hope
16 that you will get something interesting out of this reading list,
17 wherever you are in life -- there's stuff I wish I knew about in
18 middle school, and there are things I can't wait to read this
19 summer. Enjoy! (and send corrections to reading-list@aurellem.org!)
21 If you want to cite any of these papers, [[./sussman-recs.bib][here]] is a bibtex format file
22 that contains all of these papers in the order they appear on the
23 page. ([[./sussman-recs.bib]]).
25 * Some /Real/ High school Reading
27 - [[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
28 - ISBN: 9780521277037
29 - Readable, not too heavy.
30 - Minimal dependencies
31 - You can just go through it slowly and understand at each step.
33 - [[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]]
34 - ISBN: 0881334200
35 - HIGHLY accessible.
36 - This will change your life.
37 - You will understand special relativity!
39 - [[http://www.feynmanlectures.info/][The Feynman Lectures on Physics]]
40 - Highly understandable
41 - Just go there and learn something already!
43 - [[http://aurellem.org/society-of-mind/][Society of Mind]], by [[http://web.media.mit.edu/~minsky/][Marvin Minsky]]
44 - A trove of wonderful ideas!
46 - [[http://www.cambridge.org/us/knowledge/discountpromotion/?site_locale=en_US&code=L3QCSD][Quantum Computing since Democritus]], by [[http://www.scottaaronson.com/][Scott Aaronson]]
47 - Everything you might want to know about computing with QM, with
48 a philosophical outlook.
50 - Bible, Talmud, Koran
51 - Read them whether or not you believe them!
52 - Be sure to read between the lines, and you can discover what
53 people were actually thinking back then.
54 - Very interesting documents!
55 - [[http://jhom.com/topics/voice/bat_kol_bab.htm][Bava Metzia 59b]] is an interesting story!
57 * Representative Student Theses
59 These are students where I played a large role in their
60 education. Many of them represent compelling research directions
61 that desperately need to be extended by the next generation of
62 researchers! As Minsky says, if you want to do something really new,
63 go back to points in the past where there was a neat idea that never
64 really caught on, and follow the path of that idea to see where it
65 leads. A comprehensive list of all my student's works can be found
66 at my [[http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/gjs/gjs.html][homepage]]. If you want to cite any of these papers, you can
67 find bibtex citations here: [[./sussman-recs.bib]].
69 In particular, here's two great ideas that seem extremely promising
70 and have NOT been properly explored! You could be the first person
71 to get them working!
73 - Using Chaotic Systems to get unlimited measurement precision!
74 - Two papers:
75 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/5953][A Global Approach to Parameter Estimation of Chaotic Dynamical
76 Systems]], by [[http://eas.caltech.edu/people/3209/profile][Athanassios G. Siapas]], 1992.
77 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/7060][Parameter Estimation in Chaotic Systems]], by Elmer Hung, 1995.
78 - No one put enough effort into seeing if it really worked.
79 - Seems to allow for almost unlimited precision in measurement.
80 - Initial results look very promising, with a =13 order of
81 magnitude= improvement in measurement precision in a simple
82 experiment.
83 - You will win the Nobel Prize if you can get it to work, because
84 you will revolutionize the way we do measurements.
86 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/12007][Towards Intelligent Structures: Active Control of Buckling]]
87 - By [[http://www.berlinplace.com/][Andrew A. Berlin]], 1994
88 - Achieves a 10 fold increase in strength by actively eliminating
89 vibrational modes.
90 - Such a good idea; It's cool, short -- great!
91 - No one's followed up on it!
93 In historical order:
95 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/6888][A System for Representing and Using Real-World Knowledge]]
96 - By [[http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~sef/][Scott Elliot Fahlman]], 1977
97 - Basically the reason that the Connection Machine was later
98 invented.
100 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/5679][The Connection Machine]]
101 - By [[http://longnow.org/people/board/danny0/][Danny Hillis]], 1981
102 - Beautiful thesis, though it doesn't tell you anything you can
103 really /do/ today.
105 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/6948][A Circuit Grammar For Operational Amplifier Design]]
106 - By Andrew Ressler, 1984
107 - If you're an Electrical Engineering person.
109 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/6959][ONTIC: A Knowledge Representation System for Mathematics]]
110 - By [[http://ttic.uchicago.edu/~dmcallester/][David A. McAllester]], 1987
111 - Very hard, very deep.
112 - You will need to know a lot of Math.
114 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/7025][KAM: Automatic Planning and Interpretation of Numerical
115 Experiments Using Geometrical Methods]]
116 - By Kenneth Man-Kam Yip, 1989
117 - Coolest PhD thesis ever!
118 - Solve problems using graphs.
119 - So cool!
121 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/80483][Botanical Computing: A Developmental Approach to Generating
122 Interconnect Topologies on an Amorphous Computer]]
123 - By [[http://sta.uwi.edu/pelican/60under60/dcoore.asp][Daniel Coore]], 1999
124 - Interesting to programmers especially.
126 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/86667][Programmable Self-Assembly: Constructing Global Shape using
127 Biologically-inspired Local Interactions and Origami Mathematics]]
128 By [[http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~rad/][Radhika Nagpal]], 2001
129 - Also Interesting to programmers.
131 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/8228][Cellular Computation and Communications using Engineered Genetic
132 Regulatory Networks]]
133 - By [[http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/rweiss/][Ron Weiss]], 2001
134 - Third in a line of bio / amorphous computing papers which should
135 be highly interesting to programmers.
137 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/6082][An Algorithm for Bootstrapping Communications]]
138 - By Jake Beal, 2001
139 - Seems like it could be "the right thing" for how modules in the
140 brain learn to talk to each other.
141 - Someone should expand on this work!
142 - Also a PhD thesis from Beal on this: [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/38483][Learning by Learning to
143 Communicate]], 2007
145 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/37913][Games, Puzzles, and Computation]]
146 - By [[http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/bob/][Robert Aubrey Hearn]], 2006.
148 - [[http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/49525][Propagation Networks: A Flexible and Expressive Substrate for
149 Computation]]
150 - By [[http://web.mit.edu/~axch/www/][Alexey Andreyevich Radul]], 2009
151 - Is a completely new way to program computers.
152 - Under active development. You can get the latest code [[http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/gjs/propagators/propagator.tar][here]].
154 * From Sussman's Bookshelf:
156 - [[http://www.amazon.com/Introductory-Network-Theory-Amar-Bose/dp/B0000CMXS1][Introductory Network Theory]], by A.G. Bose and K.N. Stevens
157 - ASIN: B0000CMXS1
158 - Get the real story about RLC circuits!
159 - Obsolete -- it only covers linear circuits.
161 - [[http://www.amazon.com/Linear-Nonlinear-Circuits-Leon-Chua/dp/0070108986][Linear and Nonlinear Circuits]], by Chua, Desoler, and Kuh
162 - ISBN: 0070108986
163 - More up-to-date than /Network Theory/
164 - 10/10 would teach
165 - Mathematically very clear
167 - [[http://frank.harvard.edu/aoe/][The Art of Electronics]], by Horowitz & Hill
168 - ASIN: B001ERDQVI
169 - Practical
170 - Beautiful
172 - [[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
173 Meyer
174 - ISBN: 0471574953
175 - Get the 2nd or 3rd edition, not later ones.
177 - [[http://www.maa.org/publications/maa-reviews/a-survey-of-modern-algebra][A Survey of Modern Algebra]], by Garrett Birkhoff and Saunders
178 MacLane
179 - ISBN: 9781568814544
180 - Goes all the way to Galois Theory!
181 - Clear!
183 - [[http://usf.usfca.edu/vca//][Visual Complex Analysis]], Needham
184 - ISBN: 0198534469
185 - Easy reading, well written
186 - Wonderful use of graphics!
188 - [[http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/solid-shape][Solid Shape]], Jan Koenderink
189 - ISBN: 026211139X
190 - Just good!
192 - [[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
193 - ISBN: 9780521592710
194 - OMG just read this already!
195 - Here's [[http://www-biba.inrialpes.fr/Jaynes/prob.html][some]] [[http://omega.albany.edu:8008/JaynesBook.html][links]] to the book.
196 - This book will change your life, and make probability make
197 sense. Truly excellent book.
198 - Why aren't you reading this!?
200 - [[http://www.perseusacademic.com/book.php?isbn=0805390219][Calculus on Manifolds]], Spivak
201 - ISBN: 9780805390216
202 - Great Mathematical notation!
203 - Was an inspiration for [[http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/gjs/6946/sicm-html/book.html][SICM]].
204 - Book contains a great flame!
206 - [[http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1258635.The_Variational_Principles_of_Mechanics][The Variational Principles of Mechanics]], by Cornelius Lanczos
207 - ISBN: 0486650677
208 - Very philosophic; deep.
209 - You could read it 100 times and learn something new each time!
211 - [[http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/computers-and-thought][Computers and Thought]], by Edward A. Feigenbaum (Editor), Julian
212 Feldman (Editor).
213 - ISBN: 0262560925
214 This book includes some of the very interesting early papers in
215 AI, and is overall a great book. Of course, some of the included
216 papers are not very interesting.
218 - [[http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/configuration-space-method-kinematic-design-mechanisms][The Configuration Space Method for Kinematic Design of Mechanisms]],
219 by Elisha Sacks and Leo Joskowicz
220 - ISBN: 9780262013895
221 - I learned a lot reading this. (RLM should read this!)
223 - [[http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199549078.do][Principles of Development]], by Wolpert
224 - ISBN: 0199554285
226 - [[http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1547380.A_Genetic_Switch][A Genetic Switch]], by Mark Ptashne
227 - ISBN: 0865423156
228 - Such clarity!
229 - [[http://www.mskcc.org/research/lab/mark-ptashne/genetic-switch-lecture-series][Lecture Series Based on the book!]]
231 - [[http://making-of-a-fly.me/][The Making of a Fly]], by Peter A. Lawrence
232 - ISBN: 0632030488
233 - Probably out of date already, but very well written!
235 - [[http://www.amazon.com/Pattern-Formation-Ciliate-Studies-Models/dp/0195048903][Pattern Formation: Ciliate Studies and Models]], by Joseph Frankel
236 - ISBN: 0195048903
237 - My type of book!
239 - [[http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/harmonic-mind][The Harmonic Mind]], Volumes 1 and 2, by Smolenck and Legendre
240 - ISBN: 9780262516198
241 - I'm very interested in the amazing latency of the human
242 brain. This book presents a way by which multiple stages of
243 computation can be folded together into a single computation,
244 and is an interesting hypothesis about how the mind might work!
246 - [[http://www.arrl.org/shop/ARRL-Handbook-2013-Hardcover-Edition][The Radio Amateur's Handbook]], [[http://www.arrl.org/][ARRL]]
247 - /practical/ electronics book
248 - They've been making this book for about 100 years!
250 - [[http://www.amazon.com/Radiotron-Langford-Smith-Reproduced-Distributed-Corporation/dp/B000JILVH4][Radiotron Designer's Handbook, 4th edition, RCA]]
251 - ASIN: B000JILVH4
252 - I'm very interested in hi-fi.
254 * Marvin Minsky
255 Minsky really made me as a person. He was my adviser when I was a
256 student at MIT, and he got me my first job. He had the "magnetism"
257 to attract the most talented people to MIT to work on AI, and the
258 right amount of negligence and delegation to create an environment
259 where people could thrive. He is certainly the reason that I was
260 seduced into working on AI. Minsky has vast and deep Scientific
261 knowledge -- he could walk into almost any class: Chemistry,
262 Physics, Math, Computer Science, and teach the class without
263 preparation!
265 - http://web.media.mit.edu/~minsky/ Much of Minsky's work is here,
266 including his book, /The Emotion Machine/, and several essays and
267 papers. Check it out!
269 - [[http://aurellem.org/society-of-mind/][Society of Mind]] Read it online! Each chapter of this book is a
270 short, self-contained essay about the various
272 - [[https://web.media.mit.edu/~minsky/papers/MusicMindMeaning.html][Music, Mind, and Meaning]] Minsky is one of a few living people who
273 can /improvise/ complicated Baroque era fugues. You can hear one
274 of these improvisations [[http://aurellem.org/mmm/][here]].
276 - [[http://web.media.mit.edu/~minsky/papers/steps.html][Steps towards Artificial Intelligence]] Here, Minsky outlines how we
277 might begin to build an AI. This is considered to be one of the
278 founding papers of the field, along with Turing's "Computing
279 Machinery and Intelligence" [[http://www.loebner.net/Prizef/TuringArticle.html][paper]].
281 - Perceptrons, by Marvin Minsky
282 - [[http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/perceptrons][MIT Press]], ISBN: 9780262631112
283 - Really good for "Math types."
284 - Uses geometry for proving things.
285 - People unwisely considered it to kill off Neural Nets; In fact,
286 it only shows the limitations of certain simple kinds of Neural
287 Nets.
289 * For Fun
290 - [[http://prce.hu/w/TAAP.html][Time's Arrow and Archimedes' Point]], by Huw Price
291 - ISBN: 0195117980
292 - A reasonable philosopher!
294 - [[http://www.phys.ufl.edu/~cmw/wer.html][Was Einstein Right? : Putting General Relativity To The Test]], by
295 Clifford M. Will
296 - ISBN: 0465090869
298 - [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stranger_in_a_Strange_Land][Stranger in a Strange Land]], by Robert A. Heinlein
299 - ISBN: 0441790348
301 - [[http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/729][Hackers, Heroes of the Computer Revolution]], by Steven Levy
302 - ISBN: 1449388396
303 - Accuracy is not too good - people's names are spelled wrong, for
304 example.
305 - But the /feelings/ are exactly right! This book really captures
306 what it was like to be in the AI lab back in the good old days.
307 * Selected works by Sussman
309 - [[http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/gjs/6946/sicm-html/book.html][SICM (Structure and Interpretation of Classical Mechanics)]] This is
310 the textbook of [[http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/gjs/6946/][6.946]], a class in Classical Mechanics that Sussman
311 generally teaches in the Fall.
312 - ISBN: 9780262194556
313 - [[http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/structure-and-interpretation-classical-mechanics][MIT Press]]
315 - [[http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/][SICP (Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs)]] This is
316 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
317 Computer Science class at MIT. It's a classic!
318 - ISBN: 0-262-01077-1
320 - [[http://www.schemers.org/Documents/Standards/R5RS/HTML/][R5RS (Revised^5 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme)]]
321 Spec. for the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheme_%28programming_language%29][scheme]] computer language. Sussman is very proud of
322 the short length of this document compared to the specifications
323 for most other computer languages. It's based on the [[http://www.masswerk.at/algol60/report.htm][Revised
324 Report on the Revised Report on the Algorithmic Language Algol 60]]
326 - [[http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/gjs/6946/calculus-indexed.pdf][Functional Differential Geometry]] Treatment of functional
327 differential geometry in the classic SIC[M/P] style.