Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Dictionary of Islam by Thomas Patrick Hughes. ISBN 978-812060672-2. This book was originally published in 1885. It has been re-published in recent times by several companies. There is also a PDF version available for free.
I find it interesting to read, even though it is out of date in many areas.

Interlinear Chumash Bereishis. ISBN 978-1-4226-0202-7. This book is a part of an Artscroll series. Interlinear means that the original Hebrew text is shadowed by a word for word English translation. This can be a bit difficult to follow at times, but it gives you a sense of how the original text reads. These books are probably only for those who are seriously interested in the Hebrew religion. There is also a commentary drawn from various medieval Rabbis, such as Rashi, Ramban, etc. The commentary frequently refers to the Midrash. This is a beautiful book, very well typeset, etc. I wish that they would have provided more information about the source of the commentary.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Infinity and the Mind, by Rudy Rucker. ISBN 0-691-00172-3. This is an excellent introduction to some complex ideas. Probably the reader who has little or no exposure to these ideas will find this book very difficult. Chapter titles are Infinity, All the Numbers, The Unnameable, Robots and Souls, The One and the Many, The Transfinite Cardinals, Godel's Incompleteness Theorems. I enjoyed this book (I have read it three times), but I find the Unnameable and the sections on Large Cardinals and Incompleteness difficult to understand.