I'm currently working on a Stats project for which I have decided to analyze extremely large datasets. As a result, most of today has been spent on trying to figure out how to massage such massive amounts of data and how to import them into the statistical software that will perform brainless, effortless analysis for me.

I've observed that it takes about 15 minutes to import a month's worth of data into Minitab, and so I'll take that downtime now to catch up on that list I made so long ago. Well, it wasn't that long ago, but still. I'll start with the second item on the list (even though I know the first item is the one for which everybody is waiting) because I'm much too tired to articulate my thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes as clearly and delicately as they should be. An area as foggy as the politeness motivation is only too vulnerable to misunderstandings and incomprehension. While I wouldn't say that no effort should be spared to prevent such confusion, such caution should definitely play a significant role in the writing.

Well, you can see why I hesitate to write about anything terribly introspective with the state I'm in. Running long in the mouth already, and the entry not even started!

My textbooks this semester are precious, sometimes in a positive way, sometimes in a not-so-positive way.

Sidenote: I've become a huge fan of the "nicht so gut" construction. I try to use it in English as often as I do in German (unconsciously), I like it that much. ^_^ It just seems so ... apt sometimes.

My Econ textbook, for example, has a wonderfully comfortable satin sheen on on its cover. I do believe that is my favourite texture of book cover. The font is classy, the colours also. But it looks like a dry and boring textbook despite its newness and modernity. And it is. The worst part of the textbook is that the author thinks he's the funniest person the in world, and has the immature habit of putting his jokes in the footnotes. Sometimes the footnotes, when historical in nature, are very interesting. But other times, when he makes innunedoes, they are not as attractive. I have to say, though, that I've never experienced any of these phenomena in textbooks before - the jokes in the footnotes or the lewdness in the jokes.

My German textbook, on the other hand, very straightforwardly refers to matters of the flesh. Chapter 5 was entitled "Freundschaften" (friendship), and one of the vocab words was "schumsen" (to make out). Ah, the things I learn in German ... Also, it is very colourful with lots of pictures and has exercises which often make me feel like I'm back in kindergarten. Well, in a way I am, aren't I?

My Statistics textbook is nice and stolid. Decent, nothing spectacular. It wouldn't deserve a mention except that its examples are so ... notable. They're all taken from professional journals, but the source publications span the entire range of science and engineering disciplines. The examples are therefore delightfully random scenarios, such as the warp strength of yarn.

My Linear Algebra textbook is beautiful, what with its aesthetically pleasing layout, style, and colour. Its got what I like to call the mathematician's voice in it, which is always nice to read now and again, because one does get tired of the engineering side of it all sometimes. Pure math and pure sciences have their charm. The thing I love the most about this particular textbook, however, are its historical digressions. Such lovely breaks from reading the actual mathematical discussions.

My favourite textbook, however, is one of my physics textbooks (Vibrations and Waves, by A P French). What I love about it so much is that it is wrriten as if for me. The level at which French discusses the topics and the way in which he discusses them are exactly my level and the way I think. You don't know how much of a joy it is read something which fits you so well. I don't mean to say it's easy to read - certainly, I have to read it very slowly and very carefully - but the experience is satisfying, in a way opposite to the frustration aroused in me by, for example, my Econ textbook's limiting geometric explanations when a more analytic approach would serve me so much the better.

This semester has been unique in many respects, not least among them the strong feelings I have for my textbooks. ^_^

dreaming down highways - 2005-03-20

when the day was bright and new - 2005-03-18

meat - 2005-03-17

singular occurrences - 2004-12-25

pomposity (concerning ideals) - 2004-12-23