Review of 'The art of doing science and engineering' on 'GoodReads'
4 stars
I read this because Bret Victor really likes it. There's a lot in here and I will probably get a lot out of it if I read it again later.
What did I expect going in? Some sort of philosophy or method that Hamming synthesized through his own experience - how Hamming thinks about doing meaningful technical work.
What did I get? A sense of the man himself, and how he went about thinking about various fields. I think each set of lectures has an interesting insight. The subject matter, although interesting and applicable in its own right, is strictly illustrative (as he indicates in the intro).
It's also provided an interesting framework for thinking about general direction of work, and a reminder of how much I enjoy math (and how it can provide important perspectives!).
I read it kind of skipping around - first the intro and the more …
I read this because Bret Victor really likes it. There's a lot in here and I will probably get a lot out of it if I read it again later.
What did I expect going in? Some sort of philosophy or method that Hamming synthesized through his own experience - how Hamming thinks about doing meaningful technical work.
What did I get? A sense of the man himself, and how he went about thinking about various fields. I think each set of lectures has an interesting insight. The subject matter, although interesting and applicable in its own right, is strictly illustrative (as he indicates in the intro).
It's also provided an interesting framework for thinking about general direction of work, and a reminder of how much I enjoy math (and how it can provide important perspectives!).
I read it kind of skipping around - first the intro and the more obviously general closing chapters, then the middle, then skimmed the closing chapters again. I felt like that gave me a bit more of a framework for understanding what was important and not important in the middle - so if you feel like the technical stuff is getting to be a slog try taking a break and reading some of the more philosophical stuff in the back.