Daily Archives: July 9, 2001

Monday, July 9 2001

Yeah, of course. I knew I would find something interesting to post today after telling everybody yesterday that I was too busy to write anything…

Anyway, as Al said: Life without blogging is life. Blogging without a life is…nothing.

Math

Euclid’s Geometry, the oldest math textbook still in use today. Wow.

Link via Craig.

I’m a big fan of geometry, and I think I need that book. Not an old and elaborate version like this one, mind you. I learned Latin, but I’m not very excited about reading math books in Latin. A German translation and modern print will suffice, thank you very much. (By the way, why is Euclid written with a ‘c’ in English and with a ‘k’ in German – Euklid?)

More Euclid links:

  • Biography
  • Euclid, Elements (ed. Thomas L. Heath) at the Perseus Digital Library
  • Euclid’s Elements, with a Java applet that illustrates the diagrams
  • Sample page from Euclid’s Elements
  • Oliver Byrne’s edition of Euclid
  • The Visual Elements of Euclid
  • Auszüge aus den Elementen von Euklid, bei Mathropolis.de
  • A painting of Euclid by Raphael
  • Digital Library

    The Perseus Digital Library is a remarkable collection:

    Perseus is an evolving digital library, engineering interactions through time, space, and language. Our primary goal is to bring a wide range of source materials to as large an audience as possible. We anticipate that greater accessibility to the sources for the study of the humanities will strengthen the quality of questions, lead to new avenues of research, and connect more people through the connection of ideas.

    Update: Jörg mentions that the site has two mirrors in Berlin and Oxford. The one in Berlin is maintained by him.

    Thanks, Jörg!

    Jane Austen

    I enjoyed watching Mansfield Park yesterday. In fact, I watched it twice: First I watched the film in English. I love to hear people speak British English. Since most films are American, this is quite rare. Then I discovered that the DVD offers comments of Patricia Rozema, the director, and I watched it again, listening to her comments. There was lots of background info on Jane Austen, her writing, the places where the film was shot and much more. Background information really helps one understand a film and enjoy it more.

    If you want to read Mansfield Park, there’s a good online version at Austen.com: Mansfield Park. Austen.com also offers other works of Jane Austen.