The Fractalist: Memoir of a Scientific Maverick
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.98 (982 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 030738991X |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 352 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2015-03-10 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
L. Finch said Brilliant man, and he knows it. Benoit Mandelbrot was a genius who discovered (or invented) the field of fractal geometry and several other important discoveries in mathematics. His memoir is interesting, especially to those with a scientific bent, but readable and understandable by anyone. The one thing that put me off was his need to continually remind us of how brilliant he was. His accomplishments speak for themselves; the work doesn't need the self-aggrandizing reminders.. Ash Jogalekar said A fractal journey through the mind of Benoit Mandelbrot. "My life", says Benoit Mandelbrot in the introduction to his memoir, "reminds me of that fairy tale in which the hero finds a hitherto unseen thread, and as he unravels the thread it leads him to unimaginable and unknown wonders". Mandelbrot not only found those wonders, but bequeathed to us the thread which will continue to lead us to more wondrous discoveries.Mandelbrot was one of those chosen few scientists in history who are generalists, people whose ideas impact a vast landscape of fields. A maverick in the best sense of the term, he . "A Wonderful Non-Standard Memoir" according to Jordan Hedberg. I came to know Benoit Mandelbrot's work through the writings of Nassim Taleb, little did I know at the time "Mandelbrotian" would play a significant role in changing my life. The day the memoir came out, I finished the entire work and have since reread it again. I lack the words to describe how inspirational Mandelbrot's work is to followers of his fractal geometry, even if they are not professional mathematicians.For people that have a fear of math - this is a great book. In fact, there is only one equation in the entire book. Instead thi
Guest Reviewer: Nassim Nicholas Taleb
We observe his unusually broad education in Europe, and later at Caltech, Princeton, and MIT. We learn about his thirty-five-year affiliation with IBM’s Thomas J. A fascinating memoir from the man who revitalized visual geometry, and whose ideas about fractals have changed how we look at both the natural world and the financial world.Benoit Mandelbrot, the creator of fractal geometry, has significantly improved our understanding of, among other things, financial variability and erratic physical phenomena. In The Fractalist, Mandelbrot recounts the high points of his life with exuberance and an eloquent fluency, deepening our understanding of the evolution of his extraordinary mind. We begin with his early years: born in Warsaw in 1924 to a Lithuanian Jewish family, Mandelbrot moved with his family to Paris in the 1930s, where he was mentored by an eminent mathematician uncle. Watson Research Center and his association with Harvard and Yale. An outsider to mainstream scientific research, he managed to do what others had thought impossible: develop a new geometry that combines revelatory beauty with a radical way of unfolding formerly hidden laws governing utter roughness, turbulence, and chaos. With full-color inserts and black-and-white photographs throughout.. During World War II, as he stayed barely one step ahead of the Nazis until France was liberated, he studi