Review of: Structure and Randomness: Pages from Year One of a Mathematical Blog by Terence Tao

While I am not one to argue with God, George Burns, or George Burns playing God, I do not think Mathematics was a mistake. But I do wish it was easier. Or perhaps it’s easy enough to make so much progress in that it becomes hard. Terence Tao has a math blog that I try to read but find difficult. Often the mathematics itself is beyond me, but other times I have a sense that I really could understand it if I just gave it a bit more time. How to get that time? I can’t really explain it, but having the blog in book form really makes a difference for me. I made the same comment when reviewing both books based on the blog Gödel’s Lost Letter and will likely make the same comment if I review Scott Aaronson’s upcoming blog-book. And I don’t think it’s my inner-Luddite talking, as many non-Luddites I’ve spoken to agree with me. Making the blog entries into a book removes one obstacle. Now the question arises, is the book worth reading? The short answer is yes. The long answer is that there are several types of chapters– some I could read, some I really couldn’t, and some are in between. I review the book by giving some examples of each type.