Ever since the blogs and books of Tim Harford introduced me to the intriguing world of Behavioural Economics, I have been on the lookout for more stuff on this subject. "The Art of Thinking Clearly" by Rolf Dobelli is another excellent book in this series.
The book has 99 chapters, each precisly 2 and half pages long. Each chapter begins with a real-world example (sometimes companies offer us freegifts like free sachets of shampoo), the economic principle behind the action (Reciprocity) and why they do it (accepting a free gift subsconsciously makes us feel bound to purchase whatever the company wants to sell later). In a few cases, the author also provides advice as to how to avoid the pitfalls (don't accept anything for free). The book makes for a very informative reading and opens our eyes to how the world around us operates. A must-read for everyone, but especially so for those who interact with other people on a regular basis.
When we think of Apollo missions to the Moon, the first image that comes to our mind is that of astronauts. Doubtlessly, they were the public face of the mammoth project, but there was another group of people that was equally vital to the success of their flight: The Mission Control Center, Houston.
Conceptualized by Chris Kraft, the mission control was nerve center of each space flight. Flight controllers guide the rocket and spacecraft, monitor the onboard systems and instruct the astronauts. They analyze the vast streams of data pouring into their consoles and sometimes have to make split-second decisions that can save or destroy the billion-dollar spacecraft as well as invaluable lives onboard. In the case of Apollo-13, it was the team at Mission Control that devised procedures and workarounds to keep the three astronauts alive and bring them back safely to Earth. This is the story of these people. We get to meet tough and competent Flight Directors like Gene Kranz and Glynn Lunney, bright and sharp flight controllers like John Aaron, Steve Bales, and Sy Liebergot. It is inspiring to see what these men, almost all of them from humble beginnings, could achieve within a decade, and it is equally humbling to realize that when they created history, the average age of team at mission control was... 30 years. If the words NASA and Apollo turn you on, then skipping this documentary is not an option.
A boy from a middle-class family in Andhra Pradesh, son of a Marxist father and Sanskrit scholar mother, emigrates to United States at the age of 21 for higher education. He then joins a software company, rises through the ranks and after a span of 28 years becomes its CEO. All of this made possible through sheer talent, hard work and equally importantly, a culture that rewards meritocracy. Such is the inspiring life story of Satya Nadella, the current CEO of Microsoft. However, when Satya took the helm, the company was facing an existential crisis. Once the dominant and belligerent player in the arena of software industry, it was now trailing behind Apple and Google. Its ambitious products like Windows Vista, Windows 8, Windows Phone, acquisition of Nokia, had failed to make any improvements in market share.
In his book "Hit Refresh", Satya narrates how all this came to be, and what he plans to do bring Microsoft back to its glory. This is a story of how a company, just like an individual, sets out to retrospect, introspect and seek its soul. Along the way, Satya has had to make some unpopular decisions (one of it being to sideline the Windows Phone, driving away many of its loyal users like me), but he explains his reasoning and over-arching strategy behind it. Of course, the journey has just barely begun, and the results are yet to come in. But that's what makes this book unique and exciting; it would have been easy to write a book after he retired, with a perfect 20/20 hindsight. By sticking out his neck now, Satya has shown he means business. Apart from developments unique to Microsoft, this book also covers Satya's thoughts about a vast range of topics, with emphasis on artificial intelligence and quantum computing. He writes about the much-sensitive issues of privacy and security, as well as the importance of a global framework for creating AI. One of the important takeaways from the book is that next age would be about the shift from know-it-alls to learn-it-alls. This book was released just last week, and I was eager to read it after reading a splendid review by Bill Gates on his site, GatesNotes.
The folks working in the field of Information Technology and related industries would be well aware of 'Machine Learning'. Hardly a day goes by without us reading one or the other news about how the machines are getting better at analyzing, predicting, and in some cases taking over the various fields once dominated by us. If like me, you too are a newbie to this Next Big Thing, and wondering about where you can get a bird's eye view, this book is a good place to start.
In 'The Master Algorithm', author Pedro Domingos begins with real-life, familiar examples of how ML pervades our lives even today. Next, we get an overview of various high-level methodologies that comprise ML. The book concludes with an insight into a 'master algorithm', a mind-boggling concept, one that means the rise of learning machines that would create more learning machines. This book makes for a persuasive and captivating read. Of course, it barely scratches the tip of a giant iceberg, and the author is quick to admit that the current techniques may not only evolve vastly but in many cases, there could be completely unforeseen breakthroughs. No matter what your area of work is, one thing seems certain: Machine Learning is going to impact all of us, it is here to stay and evolve into general artificial intelligence. As humans, we better be scared... And be better prepared.
Garry Kasparov is a multifaceted personality. He is an author of several critically-acclaimed books, much sought-after orator, political opponent to none other than the mighty Vlad Putin... And, did I mention that he is a former World Chess Champion and widely regarded as one of the greatest chess players of all time? I have been a die-hard Kasparov fan (except when he was playing against the Indian chess prodigy V. Anand), and yet I was reluctant to pick up this book, thinking it to be some half-baked pseudo-science. Boy, was I so happy to be proved thoroughly wrong!
"Deep Thinking" has three main threads running in parallel throughout the book. At the core of it, Kasparov writes about his chess 'wars' with Deep Blue, the IBM supercomputer. On top of this, he elaborates the history of chess-playing machines: Deep Junior, Hydra, Fritz, et al. Encompassing this, he muses about machine learning, human-machine interfaces and artificial intelligence in general. You need not be a chess pro or an AI expert to enjoy this book. Kasparov has an engaging writing style, and his razor-sharp, no-holds-barred approach makes for a delightful read!
Ever wondered why our past experiences don't make us much wiser?
or, why being structured actually makes a person more creative?
What does our phone contact list say about us?
Would you like to know how to choose a gift?
Are you aware of your "Johari window"?
Struggling with problems of converting your group of employees into a cohesive team?
What's a "long tail"? How to determine if a business proposal is worth investing in?
And most importantly, why do printers seem to break down just before an important deadline?
Well, as it turns out, there are proven statistical models and matrices that answer all these questions and much more. "The Decision Book" by Mikael Krogerus and Roman Tschappelr puts together a collection of 50 of them.
Some of them are quite well-known and straightforward, such as Eisenhower matrix, the SWOT analysis, or the Pareto principle. But many are fairly complicated, with exquisite names such as Uffe Elbaek model, or the Sinus Milieu model.
Whether you are a student of management, a professional in a managerial position, or like me, simply interested in mathematical models and personal productivity tools, this book is definitely for you.
It is rare to see an autobiography of an Indian scientist. It's even more rare to see an autobiography of Indian scientist in Marathi. So, coming across चार नगरांतील माझे विश्व by Dr Jayant Naralikar was something special.
Dr. Naralikar is well known for his Quasi-Steady State Theory, an alternative theory to Big Bang Model of the origin of the universe. In his autobiography, Dr. Naralikar narrates his life as a sequence of his living in four cities: His childhood and formative years in Benaras (Varanasi), doctoral and research years with Fred Hoyle at Cambridge, a professorship at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai, and as Founder- Director of IUCAA, Pune. The narrative is extremely detailed, running about 600 pages, and has a good collection of photographs, and a superb index. In fact, I read the book primarily using the index rather than the traditional start-to-finish approach. The book has received a Sahitya Academy award.
Economics wasn't a subject we had much exposure to in our school and college, and as a result, the concepts of monetary economics remain rather fuzzy. However, its cousin seems much more interesting and exciting: The Behavioural Economics, partly because it relates more to our day-to-day lives and contains intriguing stuff such as Game Theory (developed by John Nash of " A Beautiful Mind"). During the last three weeks, I have been reading two superb books by a British economist, Mr. Tim Harford, and enjoying them thoroughly.
You know that a book is going to keep you busy reading for a while when the page count is 750, excluding the 40 pages with photographs. You know that the book is likely to be well-researched when the list of books referenced (bibliography) runs 35 pages and footnotes for chapters take up 110 pages. You know that the author has done a splendid job with writing when, after finishing an 850-page book you are desperate enough to immediately order another 800-page beast of a book by him.
"Dark Sun" is that book, and Richard Rhodes is the author. His "Making of Atomic Bomb" chronicled the invention of nuclear weapons; in the "Dark Sun" he takes us further, to the dawn of thermonuclear... The hydrogen bomb. It's a script apt for a movie thriller, full of espionage, betrayal, works of genius, and torture. It tells the story of spies like Klaus Fuchs and the Rosenbergs, the brilliance of physicists like Ulam and Kurchatov, the belligerence of military leaders like LeMay and Beria. The sinister shadow of mushroom cloud looms large across each page, and it doesn't even have a silver lining... Instead, it ends in the heartbreaking tragedy of espionage trial of a giant of science like Robert Oppenheimer by paranoid bureaucrats and jealous colleagues.
As a teenager, whenever I browsed through film magazines, there was a class of photos that stood out distinctively. The photos, mostly -- but not always -- in black & white, had their subject glowing in a soft focus, seemingly at peace with themselves and the world. They were shot at such a close range that threatened to expose every pimple and every mole, but instead made them look even more serene. And, no matter which magazine, one thing was common: The tagline that said "Photograph by: Gautam Rajadhyaksha" Some of us friends had a rare chance to get a glimpse of the maestro himself during a photo exhibition titled "Faces" in Goa, the year was 2000. Fast forward a decade, and many of those photos had made it into a coffee table book with the same name. (Marathi edition is similarly titled "चेहरे"). For five years I tried to get the book but in vain. Apparently, only a limited copies were printed and most of them for private circulation only. At last this year, I found it with a vendor at National Book Exhibition, but only after fighting tooth and nail with another customer. I felt sorry for him, but I deserved this one... After all, I have waited 15 years.
Do you like algorithms? And, like me, do you often get confused and frustrated with how to deal with humans in a rational, logical way? And.. Do you often wish there were computer algorithms to deal with human behaviour and interactions? If your answer to these questions is No, then don't read this book.
"Algorithms to live by: The computer science of human decisions" attempts to reduce complex, often chaotic human actions and decision-making processes to a set of well-defined mathematical rules. For example, how many houses you should look at before deciding which one to buy? (Short answer: 37%). Or which is the best way to sort your books? Or to schedule interviews of candidates so that you get the best person in shortest time? Or how to use the concept of caching to organize your papers in an optimum manner? The book is full of such examples of how to use the mathematical theories that are commonly used in computer algorithms, into our day to day lives. The authors, Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths, have taken care not to faze and daze the reader with too much jargon, which makes this book an easy read. The only complaint I have about this one is: Even after reading 370 pages, I wanted more of it. That, perhaps, is less of a complaint and more of an acknowledgement of how good this book is.
My fascination with the Project Apollo Moon landing missions started in 1992 when my father handed me a book titled The Story of Apollo 11. Over the last 20+ years, I have read every book, every NASA publication and every astronaut biography I could get; and yet, two of the best books I read were just last two weeks. "Apollo: The Race to the Moon" by Catherin Cox / Charles Murray and "A Man on the Moon: Voyages of Apollo" by Andrew Chaikin are two most comprehensive, detailed accounts of what is widely considered one of the most notable achievements of human race.
The two books, each running 500+ pages cover the same subject, but from two different perspectives. Chaikin interviewed all the astronauts, and he focuses on their careers, their selection into NASA, the fierce competition among them, rigorous training and details each Moon mission in detail. Cox and Murray provide a detailed account of the NASA technology management for Apollo program, development of Saturn V, Apollo spacecraft and the art & science of mission control. There is practically no overlap between the two books, and each one stands as a must-read book on its own.
There are books; there are good books, and then there are masterpieces. But "The Making of Atomic Bomb" by Richard Rhodes is a not just an ordinary masterpiece; it's a magnum opus of epic proportions.
There are scores of tomes written about the Manhattan Project, but this book is universally acknowledged as THE definitive history of the subject. And rightfully so, because it is multiple books rolled into one: Scientific discoveries, political intrigue, technological and engineering difficulties, and the thoughts and actions of political leaders, scientists and military staff associated with the project. It's a beast of a book, 800 pages of text (set in small typeset) plus 60 pages of photos, and it covers a huge time span, from the beginning of 20th century culminating in the atomic bombs that literally obliterated the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. While you feel a sense of wonder and excitement reading about giants of physics, such as Einstein, Fermi, Oppenheimer and many others and how they solved complex issues, the last hundred pages make you weep reading about the immense suffering of civilians that were slaughtered by bomb. Like a true historian, the author narrates actions and events in a non-partisan way, without taking sides or assigning blame. It should come as no surprise that the book has won a number of literary awards, including Pulitzer Prize for Non-Fiction .
This was a book, which, after I finished reading it, filled me with an overwhelming sense of regret: I should have read this 20 years ago... Never mind the fact that the book was only published last year (2015)
From nuclear bombs, computer data centers to tectonic plates, from dishwashers, space shuttles to Large Hadron Collider, from animal cells to skyscrappers... This book explains more than 60 complex technical, physical or biological phenomena using just a thousand common words, and beautiful line drawings. It distills the essence of each of these topics to its bare bones and teaches us about them without using incomprehensible jargon.
And, what makes it even more enjoyable is the wry humor that fills every page. For example, consider this entry for the Saturn V rocket, describing its rocket nozzles: "Fire comes out of here. These should point to the ground when you're going to space. If they start pointing to space, you're having a bad problem, and you will not go to space today."
This book is truly one of its kind, and worth every penny. I love pizza and often use it as a standard to compare prices. Skip a medium-size pizza and buy this book; the knowledge gained will last a life time, for you and your kids.
Just finished reading "O Jerusalem!" by Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins; and also its Marathi counterpart "इस्रायेल छळाकडून बळाकडे" .
Both these books portray a chilling, intriguing story of how the state of Israel came into being; its struggle to maintain its independence against the wrath of Arab countries and its victory in the Sixty Day War. Reading this history reveals a stark contrast between the iron will and pragmatic vision of Israeli leaders as against the ghastly errors of judgement made by the Indian national leadership at the time of our independence. These books are not an easy read; but exactly for this reason, they should be read.
Last weekend, I started (and finished!) reading "Operation Blue Star - The True Story" by Lt. Gen. K S Brar.
Written by the commander who spearheaded this mission, this book is perhaps the most comprehensive and authentic account of one of the most important and unfortunate events of post-Independence era. The author provides details about the rise of Bhindranwale, failure of state and central governments to control his menace, reasons for military action, strategic and tactical planning, the actual commando attack and the aftermath.
The text is direct, matter-of-fact and candid, and it is well-supplemented by over a dozen photographs and maps.
A Marathi translation of this book is also available.
When I just finished reading a superb Marathi book titled "गीतकारांचीबखर". Written by विजयपडळकर, it gives an excellent synopsis of more than 100 lyricists who have given us immeasurable moments of happiness through their songs for the Hindi film industry.
The book also provides some interesting nuggets /anecdotes.... Here are some of my favourites!
When recording the song "aayega aanewala" from the movie "Mahal", the music director Khemchand Prakash wanted a rising pitch/ tone to indicate that the 'ghost' is coming closer. The technology to achieve this sound effect wasn't available at that time . So he placed the microphone in the middle of recording room and Lata didi stood in one corner of the room, gradually walking towards the mike while singing.
The song "yeh mera prem patra padhkar", written by Hasrat Jaipuri, was a rage in the 1960s. But very few people know that he had actually written this as a poem for the love of his life, a girl named Radha. Hasrat sahab could never express his love for her, and she eventually married someone else.
Raj Kapoor was so touched by this that not only he included this poem in his movie "Sangam" but also named the heroine as Radha.
In the 1940s-50s, working in film industry was considered 'below standard'. So when Naushad was about to get married, his parents hid the fact that he was a budding film music director and instead told his in-laws that he was a tailor.
The height of irony was: When the wedding procession arrived at his place, Naushad was stunned to see the 'baaraat' folks dancing to the songs from the movie "Rattan", blissfully unaware that the music for this film was composed by…. Naushad.
Here a song composed by Naushad, one of my all-time favourites.
The song "jara saamne to aao" is a Lata - Rafi duet from the movie "Janam Janam Ke Phere ". Its picturization shows a prayer to God urging Him to make an appearance.
In reality, lyricist Bharat Vyas wrote this song in memory of his son who had run away from home. When seen in this context, the words of the song take on a completely different, heart-wrenching meaning.
The movie "Mera Naam Joker" was a dream project of Raj Kapoor, and it had many beautiful songs penned by his favourite lyricist, Shailendra. Unfortunately, Shailendra passed away after writing a few lines of "Jeena yahan marna yahan".
His son Shaily, just aged 17 that time, found the unfinished poem and completed it. Such a great job he did, that, when we listen to this song, it is impossible to differentiate between the lines of father and son.
"Hai apna dil toh aawara"… Whether you've heard this beautiful melody by Hemant Kumar or not, listen to it once again, this time with special attention to the fantastic mouth organ piece after each stanza. Guess who has played the mouth organ?
Rahul Dev Burman.. He started his musical career as an assistant to his father S D Burman and played harmonica and mouth organ in his music troupe.
When R D Burman saw the lyrics of a song written by Gulzar, he said , "अरेयार ! मैइसपेधूनकैसेबनाऊ? कलतुममुझेटाईम्सओफ़इन्डियाकेहेडलाईन्सपेम्युझिकबनानेकहोगे! (Oh dear! How do I set these line to tune? Tomorrow you'll ask me to compose music for Times Of India headlines!"
Gulzar left the song at Burman's home. A short while later, Asha Bhonsle found the pages lying around, picked them up, and started humming them. R D was impressed. "I have found my tune", he said… And thus was born the unforgettable song…. "Mera kuch saaman"
Everyone has a favourite Lata Mangeshkar song, even politicians. During a film award function, the then-Home Minister L K Advani mentioned in his speech that "Jyoti Kalash Chhalake" was his all-time favourite. When Lata ji began her speech, she surprised everyone by singing a few lines of this song impromptu, and you could see the stalwart politician deeply touched.
As much as I love this song in the mellifluous voice of Lata ji, listening to its Sudhir Phadke version, who composed music for it, makes me wish that Babuji had sung/composed more Hindi film songs.
My mornings during the bachelor days in Pune usually begia with a Vividh Bharati programme on old Hindi film songs, at 7 AM. I do not recollect the name of the programme, but what I clearly remember is that every day it ended with a K L Saigal song.
So… It's quite apt that I close this miniseries on anecdotes of film songs with a Saigal song that I like.
I have always
wondered why old film songs are more dearer than recent ones. The answer came
when reading lyrics written by Sahir Ludhiyanwi… They are good poetry first,
film songs later.
"Wings
of Fire", the autobiography of late Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam inspired millions
of people across not only India but world at large. It narrated an amazing,
true life story of a small boy from the sands to Rameswaram who became one of
the one most prominent scientists of the country.
However, it
didn't tell the complete story: the same boy went on to become the 11th
President of our country!
This is the stuff that legends are made of, and I was hoping that one day Dr Kalam would again
write his memoirs to pick up from where he left us in the Wings of Fire.
"Turning
Points: Journey through Challenges" is the answer to my hopes and wishes.
In this
book, Dr Kalam writes in detail about his tenure as the President of India and
his teaching experiences. He describes the turning points that shaped his life:
ISRO... DRDO... TIFAC... PSA... and others. In a chapter, he shares what he learnt from the
various people he came across in his life, be it his elder brother, his mentors like Dr.
Sarabhai, Dr Dhawan or Dr Brahma Prakash, and... Yes, the politicians!
Dr Kalam initiated many activities in the
Rashtrapati Bhavan, such as e-governance, teleconferencing, re-vitalizing the
beautiful Mughal Gardens, and many more. He candidly explains his thought process by
which he arrived at his decisions as the President. This chapter
makes for an engrossing and informative reading.
Unlike Wings
of Fire which had lot of personal anecdotes, this book is more about Kalam's
vision of India 2020. Many chapters are devoted to a 'blueprint' for reforms to make judiciary,
parliament and government more efficient and responsive.
It's a small
book, just 150 pages, and can be finished in a single seating. Language is simple, direct and unornamented. There
are many photographs that show Dr. Kalam's life during his presidential days,
and his interactions with a wide range of people, right from heads of state
such George W. Bush to small school children.
There is something extra delightful about a hydrogen fire — its flame is almost invisible in the daylight, and you can easily walk right into one without seeing it. Any intimate mixture of a fuel and an oxidizer is a potential explosive. And when they are only separated by a pair of firmly crossed fingers, it is an invitation to disaster. Crocco knew the dangers, but with a courage which bordered on certifiable lunacy, he started a long series of test firings with nitroglycerine. By some miracle, he managed to avoid killing himself and his team. As he grew old, he reluctantly made do with somewhat less sensitive nitromethane. Instead of working outdoors, as any sane man would have done, Malina conducted his tests in the building, which was promptly filled with a mixture of methanol and N2O4 fumes. This stuff cleverly converted itself to nitric acid, which rained corrosively on all the expensive machinery in the building. Malina's popularity suffered a vertiginous drop; he and his apparatus and his accomplices were summarily thrown out of the building. Fluorine might be good, but it's a holy terror to handle. Ignition delay apparatus varied wildly, the designs being limited only by the imagination of the investigator. The simplest setup consisted of an eyedropper, a small beaker, and a finely calibrated eyeball. Most of the Navy work on peroxide was directed toward "super performance" for fighter planes so that when a pilot found six MiG-29 aircraft breathing down his neck he could hit the panic button and perform that complex maneuver known as "getting the hell out of here". Chlorine Trifluoride is, of course, extremely toxic, but that's the least of the problem. It burns rapidly with every known fuel, and no delay in ignition has ever been measured. It also burns with such things as cloth, wood, asbestos, sand, water — and, not to mention, human beings. And did I mention that when added to water, it produces hydrochloric acid and hydrofluoric acid?For dealing with this chemical, I always recommend a good pair of running shoes. There was once a 2-tonne spill of a tank of Chlorine Trifluoride. Miraculously, nobody was killed, but the man who was controlling the tank was found some five hundred feet away, where he had reached a horizontal running speed of Mach 2. The rocket people continued working with CTF, but they nevertheless knew enough to be scared to death, and proceeded with a degree of caution appropriate to dental work on a king cobra. The nature of chemists and of chemistry being what it is, the paths that Germans took were the same ones that Americans and Russians took, just sooner or later. Boranes are unpleasant beasts. They ignite spontaneously in the atmosphere, and the fires are remarkably difficult to extinguish. They react with water to form hydrogen, and of course, the reaction is violent. Also, they have a peculiarly repulsive odour and are extremely poisonous in all forms. This collection of properties does not endear them to me, except one: They are also very expensive. Combustion product of boron is boron trioxide, B2O3, and it is a thick, glassy liquid. When you have a turbine spinning at 40000 RPM, with clearance between the blades a few thousandths of an inch, and this sticky, viscous liquid deposits on the blades, the rocket engine usually undergoes what the British, with their characteristic mildness, call a "catastrophic self-disassembly."
The rocket engine test range hadn't been used for several months, and a large colony of bats —yes, bats, Dracula types —had moved in to spend the winter. And when we resumed the engine test, they all came boiling out with their sonar gear fouled up, shaking their heads and pounding their ears. They chose one particular rocket mechanic and decided that it was all his fault. If you have never seen a nervous rocket mechanic being buzzed by nine thousand demented bats and trying to beat them off with a shovel, there is something missing from your experience. ----------------------------------- If you enjoyed reading this till now, then the book "Ignition!" written by Dr. John D. Clark, is definitely for you. It has many such paragraphs that make you chuckle. But do not let the humour fool you. This book is a comprehensive and serious history of development of liquid rocket propellants.
After a tongue-in-cheek Forward written by none other than the great Isaac Asimov, Dr. Clark begins with the writings of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, and experiments by Robert Goddard and Herman Oberth. He then goes on to provide a detailed account of efforts made by various teams from Germany, Britain, USA and Soviet Union to create various rocket propellants and their combinations explored to get the best performance out of rocket engines. He narrates stories of rocket engine tests gone awry, and tells us how they came up with funny names for the compounds such as "Penelope", Phyllis" and "Minnie" . A note to the reader: This is a highly technical book and it is littered with chemical nomenclature, formulae and reaction sequences. Understanding it completely requires a good knowledge of organic and inorganic chemistry. And yet, it still makes for a delightful reading simply because the author has such an engaging writing style. I wish to read more such books in the areas of advanced science and technology.
Many of my favourite books have been read in the Nagpur-Goa-Nagpur
journeys. Last weekend I added "गणिती" by
Achyut Godbole to the list. The book made me think about beauty in mathematics.
In the preface to this book,
the author Achyut Godbole brings up an interesting idea:
Is Mathematics a
discovery, or an invention? Laws of physics and chemistry would exist even if
there were no humans to measure them. But would algebraic equations and
calculus exist without us?
Laws of physics
seem to be the same across the universe. Would the mathematics of aliens be
same like us?
