tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4490806120643804324.post2012209340346253374..comments2019-08-14T10:58:28.547-07:00Comments on Resistentialism Incarnate: Open Tabs 3Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16229649515127565797noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4490806120643804324.post-3079237057623536312010-03-17T12:58:33.617-07:002010-03-17T12:58:33.617-07:00I notice that I've gotten a visitor from Wolfr...I notice that I've gotten a visitor from Wolfram Research: Welcome! (And thank you -- Mathematica was quite helpful in finishing my PhD thesis)<br /><br />Perhaps I should clarify my comment on the talk at Dartmouth: (this was probably about six or seven years ago, so take this with a grain of salt) This was advertised to me as part of a series of technical lectures at the engineering school, and I remember the talk as being rather high-level for what was supposed to be a technical audience, with lots of graphs that I remember thinking of as the "Let's wow the English majors" variety. This is not uncommon at all, particularly when high-profile people come to speak, but I was a bit disappointed.<br /><br />What really stuck with me about the occasion was not the contents of the talk, though, but how gracious Dr. Wolfram was, as I was reminded by Wil's post.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16229649515127565797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4490806120643804324.post-53445490228659031392010-03-16T18:48:51.568-07:002010-03-16T18:48:51.568-07:00I also read The Magicians. I enjoyed it, but I adm...I also read <i>The Magicians</i>. I enjoyed it, but I admit that I expected to enjoy it (based on the blurb and Scalzi's <a href="http://whatever.scalzi.com/2009/08/19/the-big-idea-lev-grossman/" rel="nofollow">Big Idea post</a>) much more than I actually did. There is skill there -- it would be so easy to screw up an idea like that in the implementation. But yeah, it was a tiny bit of a letdown.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16229649515127565797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4490806120643804324.post-39049537760753313342010-03-16T18:21:46.990-07:002010-03-16T18:21:46.990-07:00So I've read The Magicians, referenced in the ...So I've read <i>The Magicians</i>, referenced in the Weingrad article. It was excellently written, and I would recommend it to many people (yourself included), but somehow I just didn't *enjoy* it as much as I was hoping. It just felt ... joyless - amazing craftsmanship, no soul. But I figure that's just me.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4490806120643804324.post-7073647592569755042010-03-16T13:47:45.838-07:002010-03-16T13:47:45.838-07:00:D:DChuck Wendighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08798919366354453539noreply@blogger.com