Most influential book n/g | Page 2 | Vital Football

Most influential book n/g

I will try to remember the name Simon Singh and check those books out then, AK. As I say, maths fascinates me, especially where it appears in nature, all those fractals, hexagons and spirals, lol.

The observation you make about maths and it's relation to problem solving as a life skill is a very good one.

I wont be teaching my son to be a 'bread head', certainly not. But he already has a good work ethic and is always trying to make himself a few quid. He's too big to offer his caravan roof cleaning service anymore but you should see him at a festival. He'll start the weekend with a single can of coke and a couple of packs of rizla and by the time the punters are leaving on the Monday he'll have made himself couple of hundred quid. Honestly, he's a right entrepreneurial little capitalist!
 
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alphabet_king said:
See my comments below on my previous post. The learning of what a surd is is not relvant to most. But the practice of solving complex problems by thinking logically is an extremely important skill to anyone in any walk of life. Advanced maths only improves your ability to problem solve, an excellent transferable skill even if 90% of people will never use trigonometry or integration again.
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I agree 110%
 
SE1_Gills said:
as long as he understands practical maths (maths that makes you money) eg margins etc he will be fine. A bit off topic but I think schools should teach children how to budget/ manage money/ save etc.
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For someone who went to Math school, I’m pretty lousy at it. Actually, scrub that, I think most of us there weren’t very good at it ?.

And yet one of my sons is a right mathematician. Got his double degree in Management and Economics, then went on to get a masters in statistics and works as an analyst for the Aust. Bureau of Statistics. Brainbox...

As for the op. I was also taken by the reference “apart from the bible”.

Most influential book I have read (apart from “The Definitive Gillingham FC) would be Isaac Asimov’s Opus 200. It’s his personal look into all the areas and topics that he wrote about in his 200+ books. I’ve always been quite a prolific reader, but originally as a youngster mainly loved to read science fiction, in which he was very prolific. I didn’t read much else.

But through this book he introduced me to reading topics like History, Maths, language, physics, robotics, and, yes, The Bible. Plus many others. I now always have some book or other “on the go” and they range across many subjects.
 
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When I was younger my mindset was most influenced by Voltaire (Zadig, Candide) and Camus (l’etranger). I also used to read quite a few Spot the Dog books - to this day it’s funny how many dogs I still see whenever I’m out and about.
 
alphabet_king said:
See my comments below on my previous post. The learning of what a surd is is not relvant to most. But the practice of solving complex problems by thinking logically is an extremely important skill to anyone in any walk of life. Advanced maths only improves your ability to problem solve, an excellent transferable skill even if 90% of people will never use trigonometry or integration again.
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Fair enough point on problem solving and logic. However, that can be done through multiple disciplines. Students had to do masses of it when I taught Law, especially Criminal law. The abstract nature of maths as delivered to teenagers in school is a massive turn off for most.

By the way, I taught some numeracy by getting the students to calculate the potential winnings on my Accy once. They saw the use of that and enjoyed doing it. Also had a laugh at me when I lost as usual. My recollection of most algebra/geometry was "what use is this?"
 
Gills 58 said:
Fair enough point on problem solving and logic. However, that can be done through multiple disciplines. Students had to do masses of it when I taught Law, especially Criminal law. The abstract nature of maths as delivered to teenagers in school is a massive turn off for most.

By the way, I taught some numeracy by getting the students to calculate the potential winnings on my Accy once. They saw the use of that and enjoyed doing it. Also had a laugh at me when I lost as usual. My recollection of most algebra/geometry was "what use is this?"
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How many have had to seek counsel from Gamblers Anonymous?
 
The bible? influential? Not in a good way, I'm afraid, although I always got a life out of the Hittites and Shittites knocking the crap out of each other.
 
Gills 58 said:
The abstract nature of maths as delivered to teenagers in school is a massive turn off for most.
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I did Pure Maths, Applied Maths, Economics and Art at 'A' level. In real terms, I think the Maths bits were indeed abstract but I think elements of logic rubbed off on me.
 
The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson.

Basically anything by Thompson, Kerouac, Bukowski, Kesey or Burroughs.
 
The Village Labourer 1760-1832 by J.L. Hammond & Barbara Hammond

That blew my teenage mind and set me thinking about land, property and freedom. It gives an insight into how we moved from collective rights and ownership to a narrow and oppressive view of private property. And you thought Maths could be boring!
 
HerrLjunga said:
The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson.

Basically anything by Thompson, Kerouac, Bukowski, Kesey or Burroughs.
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I couldn't truly nominate any single book or several books that have influenced me because continual reading is always an influence. Yesterday, I bought Max Hastings' comprehensive history of the Vietnam war from French involvement through final US withdrawal. The other book is Rick Stein's Hidden France; both will be influential, I'm sure.
 
Wayne.Kerr said:
I couldn't truly nominate any single book or several books that have influenced me because continual reading is always an influence.
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Well, yes, Wayne, that is undeniably true but you have not only already made a nomination, you also gave a second novel an honourable mention.

Is the dementia starting to take hold?! ;-)
 
Buddha said:
Well, yes, Wayne, that is undeniably true but you have not only already made a nomination, you also gave a second novel an honourable mention.

Is the dementia starting to take hold?! ;-)
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That was my initial reaction but the more you think about it the more you begin to wonder. In truth, possibly the most influential books in my life are Ridout - English Grammar and Spicer & Pegler - Accounting Handbook; yes, dementia is knocking on the door
 
Politics -Marx, the Communist Manifesto easily, although I now think it dead wrong
Life -Costas Constantinou, On the Way to Diplomacy , suggested seeing most human relations in terms of diplomacy rather than diplomacy just as a narrow slice or type of human relations
Comfort Lit (and life)- Richmal Crompton's Just William and John Masefield's Box of Delights and Midnight Folk -I go back to these over and over again when life's rough
 
Its why the question only asked for one. Its easier to list of the ones that made some impact but when it only one then it stresses your mind lol.

Something from the bible will have influenced every single one of us but we may not know it.
 
Jerryattrick said:
Its why the question only asked for one. Its easier to list of the ones that made some impact but when it only one then it stresses your mind lol.

Something from the bible will have influenced every single one of us but we may not know it.
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Re the influence of the bible then yes, the many wars it has engendered. Put me right of this "god" mumbo jumbo.
 
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