Resources

I kept up last year’s trend of reading more books, though I didn’t read quite as many as I did in 2017. Here are some of the books that made me think, and kept me thinking, in 2018.

The Dispossessed, by Ursula Le Guin, was the most satisfying book I read in 2018. I didn’t know much of Le Guin before her passing in January, and I received some terrific recommendations from Nalini Joshi and Ben Orlin. I read The Left Hand of Darkness, The Lathe of Heaven, The Word for World is Forest, and a book of her short stories. I finished up with The Dispossessed, a complex and exciting story about a scientist on the verge of a momentous discovery, and his attempt to bring two worlds in opposition back together.

Merchants of Doubt, by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway, is an eye-opening account of the highly coordinated efforts of powerful interests to discredit the science of tobacco and, ultimately, science itself. The same machinery, and in many cases, the exact same people, have been used against the science of acid rain, ozone depletion, and now, climate change. The following quote from Adlai Stevenson appears in the book and has stuck with me: “The trouble with Americans is that they haven’t read the minutes of the previous meeting.“

On Writing Well, by William Zissner, had the most impact of any book this year. With humor, precision, and of course, great writing, Zissner offers concrete advice on how to be a better writer, while dispelling the romantic ideal of writing as a conduit of inspiration. He had me at “The essence of writing is rewriting.”

Algorithms to Live By, by Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths, is a wonderful non-technical tour of the most important algorithms and procedures affecting our lives. It’s filled with useful metaphors and real-world connections, but it’s technical enough to provide lots of inspiration for my computing class. Thanks to Jeremy Kun for this recommendation.

I continued to read a lot of science fiction in 2018. One book that really stuck with me is Slade House, by David Mitchell. Months after finishing, I’m still recalling scenes and moments from the story. And I was happy to start reading Octavia Butler in the latter half of the year, including Bloodchild and Other Stories, which I found unexpected and compelling.

Lastly, though I’d read parts of it before, I finished a complete (re-)reading of How People Learn this year. Published by the National Academies, How People Learn is a comprehensive summary of the state of the art in the science of learning circa 2000. Those selling the “disruption” of education could learn a lot from this book, as many of their “innovations” have been tried before. And those looking for real progress in education should read this book, too (which is freely available for download here). How People Learn II, a recently released update, is on my list for 2019.

I’m looking forward to another year of good books, so please offer some recommendations if you’ve got them!

Related Posts

• Books I Read in 2017
• 2017 — My Year in Math
• Years in Review

I had a limited understanding of what I could do with math when I was in school, which was as much my fault for being narrow-minded as anyone else’s fault for not showing me the incredible breadth of mathematical applications. This ultimately contributed to an unsatisfying experience in graduate school and a departure from math, which I talked about in this story.

So as a teacher I make sure students know that math will always create options for them. I tell them that whatever they decide to study — science, humanities, the arts — they should keep taking math classes as long as they enjoy them. There are quantitative aspects to every discipline, and knowing math will always set them apart and give them an edge in their field.

Recently a student asked me about how mathematics could be applied to the study of history. She is passionate about studying both, but sees them as disconnected and unrelated. I had a few answers for her, but I was looking to provide her with more. So I put out a request on Twitter.

I have a student who is interested in how mathematics can be applied to the study of history. I’d love to offer her a few entry points. Any suggestions? #math #mathchat

— Patrick Honner (@MrHonner) November 3, 2018

The response was remarkable. I learned a lot, and so did my student! Here is a brief summary of the great resources, links, and ideas that were offered.

• Mathematical Methods in Historical Chronology, an article in the Notices of the AMS
• Metric Geometry and Gerrymandering
• Quantitative History
• Network Models in History
• Looking at History Through Mathematics, book by Nicholas Rashevsky
• Social Sequence Analysis
• Optimal Matching
• Determining authorship of historical documents using statistical methods
• Dating procedures
• Applying Game Theory to the story of historical conflict (Cold War, etc)
• Building historical games (like Civilization and Age of Empires)

There were many more responses, and I recommend looking through the Twitter thread. Thanks to everyone for contributing, and for helping to keep one more student studying math.

My latest column for Quanta magazine introduces network science, an area of mathematics that has developed rapidly over the past 30 years and has impacted fields like computer science, biology, and economics.

In my column, I use friendships to develop the basic concepts of networks and explore different structures.

When you start at a new school or job, or move to a new city, how do you go about making new friends? You could take an active approach, forging strategic connections with the popular kids and the movers and shakers. Or you could leave things to chance, relying on random groupings and associations. Whatever your approach, understanding the structure of existing friendships in your new community can help you make the best connections, which will ultimately define your circle of friends.

One particular network structure, the so-called scale-free network, has emerged as a useful model in a wide variety of fields. But recent research suggests that these scale-free networks may not be as ubiquitous as we might have thought. You can learn more by reading my column here.

Next week I’ll be attending and presenting at the New York State Master Teacher Program’s annual Summer Conference at SUNY Cortland.

The NYSMTP summer conference brings together Master Teachers from around New York state for two days of professional learning and networking. The theme of this year’s conference is “Convergence”, and features presentations from Dr. C. Alex Young from NASA, mathematician Steven Strogatz from Cornell, and New York’s Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia.

I’ll be presenting Scratch Across the Math Curriculum with Dan Anderson, a Master Teacher from New York’s Central Region. Dan and I will be sharing our work bringing computer science into math class using the Scratch programming language. This is a continuation of the work I’ve been sharing at workshops and conferences across the country the past several years.

I’m proud to be a part of the NYS Master Teacher program through Math for America, the NYC-based organization that served as a model for the state program, and I’m grateful to MfA for their support in participating in events like the NYSMTP’s summer conference.

Related Posts

• Making Math with Scratch — Scratch Ed
• New York State Master Teacher Program