Olive authors

From: Alex Melnick <aemelnick_at_yahoo.com_at_hypermail.org>
Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2009 08:01:23 -0700 (PDT)

So, I started reading Paul's book over the weekend, and I'm mostly enjoying it so far (and yes, the non-math people around here should definitely check it out). But the thing is that there are times when I have to remind myself to take it seriously.

What I mean to say is, if this book had been written by John Smith instead of that ex-Olive Paul Lockhart, I'd be paying more attention to the content and less to the author. But instead of thinking about the argument, I find myself thinking about the time that Paul did [insert your favorite Paul anecdote here].

And it's not just this book--I've had similar reaction to David's, Mike's, and Janine's books, Joy's blog, and Sandra Loh's radio commentaries. I suspect that it says something about my refusal to accept that I'm a grown-up. After all, if the rest of you are serious, respected adults, surely I ought to be one, too?

So, is it just me? And is it just the Olives, or do you think that [insert your favorite "serious" author]'s old school friends have the same type of reaction?

aemelnick_at_yahoo.com -- http://www.geocities.com/alexm_94109


      
Received on 2009-05-07 14:48:58

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