On friday, I did spot in my regular Antwerp-bookshop
Finding Moonshine by Marcus du Sautoy and must have uttered a tiny curse because, at once, everyone near me was staring at me…
To make matters worse, I took the book from the shelf, quickly glanced through it and began shaking my head more and more, the more I convinced myself that it was a mere resampling of Symmetry and the Monster, The equation that couldn’t be solved, From Error-Correcting Codes through Sphere Packings to Simple Groups and the diary-columns du Sautoy wrote for a couple of UK-newspapers about his ‘life-as-a-mathematician’…
Still, I took the book home, made a pot of coffee and started reading the first chapter. And, sure enough, soon I had to read phrases like “The first team consisted of a ramshackle collection of mathematical mavericks. One of the most colourful was John Horton Conway, currently professor at the University of Princeton. His mathematical and personal charisma have given him almost cult status…” and “Conway, the Long John Silver of mathematics, decided that an account should be published of the lands that they had discovered on their voyage…” and so on, and so on, and so on.
The main problem I have with du Sautoy’s books is that their main topic is NOT mathematics, but rather the lives of mathematicians (colourlful described with childlike devotion) and the prestige of mathematical institutes (giving the impression that it is impossible to do mathematics of quality if one isn’t living in Princeton, Paris, Cambridge, Bonn or … Oxford). Less than a month ago, I reread his ‘Music of the Primes’ so all these phrases were still fresh in my memory, only on that occasion Alain Connes is playing Conway’s present role…
I was about to throw the book away, but first I wanted to read what other people thought about it. So, I found Timothy Gowers’ review, dated febraury 21st, in the Times Higher Education. The first paragraph below hints politely at the problems I had with Music of the Primes, but then, his conclusion was a surprise
The attitude of many professional mathematicians to the earlier book was ambivalent. Although they were pleased that du Sautoy was promoting mathematics, they were not always convinced by the way that he did it.
I myself expected to have a similar attitude to Finding Moonshine, but du Sautoy surprised me: he has pulled off that rare feat of writing in a way that can entertain and inform two different audiences - expert and non-expert - at the same time.
Okay, so maybe I should give ‘Finding Moonshine’ a further chance. After all, it is week-end and, I have nothing else to do than attending two family-parties… so I read the entire book in a couple of hours (not that difficult to do if you skip all paragraphs that have the look and feel of being copied from the books mentioned above) and, I admit, towards the end I mellowed a bit. Reading his diary notes I even felt empathy at times (if this is possible as du Sautoy makes a point of telling the world that most of us mathematicians are Aspergers). One example :
One of my graduate students has just left my office. He’s done some great work over the past three years and is starting to write up his doctorate, but he’s just confessed that he’s not sure that he wants to be a mathematician. I’m feeling quite sobered by this news. My graduate students are like my children. They are the future of the subject. Who’s going to read all the details of my papers if not my mathematical offspring? The subject feels so tribal that anyone who says they want out is almost a threat to everything the tribe stands for.
Anton has been working on a project very close to my current problem. There’s no denying that one can feel quite disillusioned by not finding a way into a problem. Last year one of my post-docs left for the City after attempting to scale this mountain with me. I’d already rescued him from being dragged off to the City once before. But after battling with our problem and seeing it become more and more complex, he felt that he wasn’t really cut out for it.
What is unsettling for me is that they both questioned the importance of what we are doing. They’ve asked that ‘What’s it all for?’ question, and think they’ve seen the Emperor without any clothes.
Anton has questioned whether the problems we are working on are really important. I’ve explained why I think these are fundamental questions about basic objects in nature, but I can see that he isn’t convinced. I feel I am having to defend my whole existence. I’ve arranged for him to join me at a conference in Israel later this month, and I hope that seeing the rest of the tribe enthused and excited about these problems will re-inspire him. It will also show him that people are interested in what he is dedicating his time to.
Du Sautoy is a softy! I’d throw such students out of the window…
Artin, Connes, Conway, du Sautoy, groups, monster, moonshine, symmetry
10 comments
Posted in groups, rants
Written on Sun, 02 March 2008 at 1:16 pm
Tags: Artin, Connes, Conway, du Sautoy, groups, monster, moonshine, symmetry
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March 2nd, 2008 at 1:31 pm
[...] neverendingbooks added an interesting post today on Finding MoonshineHere’s a small reading [...]
March 2nd, 2008 at 2:14 pm
[...] Please don’t take life for granted. wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt On friday, I did spot in my regular Antwerp-bookshop Finding Moonshine by Marcus du Sautoy and must have uttered a tiny curse because, at once, everyone near me was staring at me… To make matters worse, I took the book from the shelf, quickly glanced through it and began shaking my head more and more, the more I convinced myself that it was a mere resampling of Symmetry and the Monster, The equation that couldn’t be solved, From Error-Correcting Codes through Sphere Packings to Simple Groups [...]
March 2nd, 2008 at 3:09 pm
[quote post="396"]giving the impression that it is impossible to do mathematics of quality if one isn’t living in Princeton, Paris, Cambridge, Bonn or … Oxford)[/quote]
Well, with the possible exception of Paris (and they carefully solved that by pushing the -math monastery- IHES in Bures sur Yvette and not any closer to… well, anywhere), all these places are so frickin’ boring that it is hard to find anything to do! No surprise that people end up doing some good math… how can you possibly get distrcted from math if pubs close at 11.00 pm!? luckily for my mental health, Köln is just half an hour away.
It is funny that you mention the thing about paragraphs that have the look and feel of being copied from the books mentioned above, recently I’ve been feeling the same thing while reading some (several, meaning like a dozen) papers, even from different authors. From a pragmatical point of view, the faster I can get throu’ them, the better, but I wonder if some “sentences” are becoming sort of mantras that people jut go repeating over and over again, till the point they lost their original meaning (if any).
[quote post="396"]Du Sautoy is a softy! I’d throw such students out of the window…[/quote]
Maybe you should consider moving your office to the ground floor then?
As cynical as it might sound, I think the real question the student was asking was something like
“why should I put so much effort on such a low-paid job, which almost surely will oblige me to move from one city to another for several years before getting any stability, instead of moving to “the city” and trade stocks for ten times the salary?”
Hell, I hang out with pre/postdocs all the time, and I’d dare to say that over 90% have no clear plans even for the next year, and almost all agree that main point for being in research is because it is an easy-going job (no timetables, no boss looking behind your shoulder, relative freedom to choose what you wanna do), but don’t wanna keep this “write some dumb research project, get recommendation letters, apply for the next math institute in the list” thing going on for too long. Is this nightmare that drives us crazy and make us ask ourselves “what’s the point?”, so please go easy on us
March 2nd, 2008 at 7:10 pm
I myself enjoyed a lot reading “Music of the primes”, so I would love to read this new book. Do you think I could borrow it from you for a while?
March 2nd, 2008 at 8:30 pm
Hmmm… I gather your regular Antwerp bookshop is not Fnac.
I disagree with Javier that the main point for being in research is that it is an easy-going job: the main point you should be in research is because you find it interesting and like to be challenged.
On the other hand, I agree that the current system of doing 1-year postdoc after 1-year postdoc does not make it easy for graduate students and postdocs to secure “the future of the subject”, as Du Sautoy puts it. Postdocs and graduate students also have to eat and feel the need to settle down at some point, preferably before the age of 40. And as far as “rescuing a postdoc from the City” is concerned… I now know for a fact that there are equally challenging and interesting jobs outside academia; and if more and more postdocs and graduate students are leaving the university for such positions, maybe this does not mean they are not good enough or not motivated enough to stay in academia, but rather that the academic world should rethink the way they currently run the whole tenure track system…
March 3rd, 2008 at 11:12 am
[quote comment="5053"] I disagree with Javier that the main point for being in research is that it is an easy-going job: the main point you should be in research is because you find it interesting and like to be challenged.[/quote]
Ohh, but it is not a matter on which the main point you should be in research is, but on which the main point you are in research is. Same thing happen with secondary school teachers: they should be doing that job because of a passion for education, but most of them do it because it is an stable, reasonably well paid job, with sound holidays.
And, we both know that we chose research because of the travelling, the free food, the beer (and the women, of course!). I see that you’ve turned to the dark side now… Is that goatee a part of your devious plan to take over the world? I always thought you’d go for a moustache and a monocle, as a good traditionalist
March 10th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Why is that?
March 14th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
I have just finished reading “Finding moonshine” and I have mixed feelings about it. The last two chapters (the only ones actually discussing about sporadic groups and the moonshine) are quite remarkable, it the whole book would have been at their level it would have been a masterpiece. Unfortunately, it is not the case, the first 8 chapters are quite weak. A pitty…What also dissapointed me is that I was expecting, in a book with this title, to see that the author discusses, well, maybe not only about moonshine, but at least MAINLY about it; it is not the case, and actually I think there are more pages about symmetry in music than about moonshine… On the other hand, a remarkable thing in the book is the portrait of Norton. Gee…Certainly du Sautoy has proved his literary talent with it.
March 14th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
I truly enjoyed Du Satoy’s “Music of the Primes” and so I will be purchasing his new book. I read Ronan’s book, “Symmetry and the Monster”, and while I enjoyed it too, I found some of it a little difficult to follow. I am not a professional mathematician, barely an amateur and these book really are not meant for professional math people anyway. I like the fact that these authors spend a fair amount of time delving into the personalities behind the mathematical creations - for me, that is half of the fun.
March 29th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
“I’d throw such students out of the window…”
Is this a joke?
Personal motivation is a complex thing. Is it worthy to spend most of our life proving x=y or anything else? It’s a valid question, and the answer is not an automatic yes.