Monday, April 25, 2011

e, The Story of a Number by Eli Maor. 1994, ISBN 0-691-03390-0. This is a good book. I have read it twice now. The number "e" has the approximate value of 2.7182818284..., but cannot be written down precisely because it is an irrational number. This book covers a wide variety of topics related to "e", from the invention of logarithms, to "e" and complex numbers. The book doesn't assume the reader knows calculus, however calculus level math is discussed and explained.

Saturday, April 23, 2011


Saint Mark by D. E. Nineham. 1963, ISBN 0 14 02.0489 X. This is a part of the Pelican New Testament Commentaries series. This is a commentary on the Book of Mark (or Mark, Gospel of Mark.) This book contains the Revised Standard Version (RSV) of Mark. The commentary discusses the Greek text some, but not extensively, mostly just to explain the choices made by the RSV. Otherwise, the commentary is mostly about the writer of Mark (What they knew or didn't know about Palestine of that period, etc.) The commentary is mostly historical and literary and less about theology. Purchased new on 30 Aug 1978, for $4.95. Purchased at: unknown, possibly Powell's Books.