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Jennifer Hart, Reference
Librarian/Science Library, talks with Ruth Charney, Professor of
Mathematics.
Photo courtesy Ruth Charney |
What are you currently reading?
The book I'm currently reading needs no
introduction...I'm reading
1984 by George Orwell. There are a number
of classics that I somehow missed reading as I was growing up. As
my own children encounter them in school, I can't resist
picking them up and reading them myself! As for more modern books,
one of my favorites that I read recently is
The God of Small Things , by Arundhati Roy.
It's the story of a young girl growing up in India and a
traumatic event that changes her life. The story is very absorbing,
but what I liked best about the book was the way Roy plays with
language.
What is your favorite book about math or science?
I read science magazines (Science
News and
Scientific American ), but I read very few
(popular) math/science books. One book that I read and enjoyed is
The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene. Greene
describes general relativity and string theory in a way that is
both comprehensible and exciting. He also includes a little
more technical information in the footnotes for those who are so
inclined.
Is there a book you read as a child that got you excited
about math (or science) in general?
Not that I recall. I got excited about math and science through
conversations with my father (a physical chemist) and some of my
teachers, not through books. But I found some great math books for
my own children when they were small. One is a book of problems
that originally appeared on math competitions in the UK. It's
called Mathematical Challenge, by Tony Gardiner.
Another is Puzzles, Mazes, and Numbers by Charles
Snape and Heather Scott, which contains a wide variety of
mathematical ideas and challenges that children can play around
with.
Earliest library memory?
As a child, I recall walking with my older sister to the
Bethesda public library on weekends when the weather was nice. It
was quite a long walk (or at least it seemed so at the time), so it
always felt like an adventure.
Favorite Brandeis Library Resource?
My favorite library resource is MathSciNet , the
electronic database of mathematics journal reviews. I don't
know how we ever survived without it!
Where do you usually get your news or information?
I get news about national and world events from newspapers and
from listening to NPR (I especially like the
BBC
News ). I get news about events in the
mathematical world from conferences and from ArXiv , where most
mathematicians post their papers before they are published.
Do you have a website you return to again and again?
Aside from Travelocity ? Yes, there
is someone in my field (geometric group theory) who maintains a
website that links to the homepages of nearly everyone
in the field, as well as to conference announcements and other
relevant events. I use it frequently.
What is your ideal place for reading?
In bed!
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