A Collector of Math and Physics Surprises

&quot;I needed a biography of somebody, so I went to the library. Unfortunately, the biography was not where it was supposed to be, but next to the spot was a biography of Lev Davidovich Landau.&quot;<p>This is why we have and should continue to keep (physical) libraries and why I love visiting them (along with second-hand bookshops and large scales used book sales). I discovered and bought probably 80+% of my books in this serendipitous way, king to the usual example of chaos in kneading of dough (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;books.google.com&#x2F;books?id=GvnxBwAAQBAJ&amp;pg=PA148&amp;lpg=PA148&amp;dq=chaos+dough+kneading&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=sCmINvo4rN&amp;sig=0JKs_1cJVt2fxbbfsMMsGlgq6Ic&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwicsprCk4TfAhVKF6wKHVQwDsIQ6AEwB3oECAcQAQ#v=onepage&amp;q=chaos%20dough%20kneading&amp;f=false" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;books.google.com&#x2F;books?id=GvnxBwAAQBAJ&amp;pg=PA148&amp;lpg=...</a>)

&gt;Landau said, in the biography, “Don’t waste your time on mathematicians and lectures and so on — instead, find a book with the largest number of solved exercises and go through them all. That’s how you learn mathematics.”<p>Posting this because of a recent HN discussion touching on this. It really resonates with me because I feel that was key when I was learning calculus. I would like to see a lot more books with solutions.<p>The struggle you go through trying to understand your mistakes and correcting yourself is really the crux of learning.

This is a lovely sketch of someone whose path had been artist -&gt; linguist -&gt; mathematician &lt;-&gt; physicist, and is apparently good at all of them. Learning maths because he went to the wrong section of the library, etc.<p>Also, his demonstrations on youtube are great.

Inspiring.<p>Anyone know any problem-books that could match the (implied) breadth of the one indicated?<p>&quot;I went back to the library and found the mathematics book with the largest number of problems. The book was in Russian, and I didn’t know Russian, but a young linguist is not afraid to pick up another language.&quot;

if you like that sort of thing, i highly recommend jearl walker&#x27;s &quot;the flying circus of physics&quot; <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;gp&#x2F;product&#x2F;0471762733" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;gp&#x2F;product&#x2F;0471762733</a>

Best collection of his work I could find.<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.msri.org&#x2F;web&#x2F;msri&#x2F;public&#x2F;tadashis-toys" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.msri.org&#x2F;web&#x2F;msri&#x2F;public&#x2F;tadashis-toys</a><p>I&#x27;m a bit dumbfounded by his level of intelligence.

recently enjoyed <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=pkfDYOZ1p4Y" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=pkfDYOZ1p4Y</a>

How bad a title for such a gem.<p>The unpretentious attitude towards science reminds me of Feynman. I wish there were more people in education like them.