James Gleick's Chaos: The Software

This book changed my life. I was an awful mathematics student in high school, but having a very lukewarm interest in an artistic career I decided to take maths as an advanced subject so that I might pursue architecture or something. I ended up getting a U in my maths exams, which in the British grade system stands for “Unmarked”. I did so poorly that my paper wasn’t even worthy of a mark!

Around the same time, I was wandering around the I saw a book cover with the weirdest, most beautiful looking graphics I’d ever seen. I still remember thinking “What the hell is that supposed to be?” as I picked it up. The copy I held had a colored picture segment as the middle pages with crisper, more mindblowing images. I borrowed the book and started reading it, trying to figure out how those images were drawn.

Long story short, I ended up becoming quite competent at mathematics. Fractals (albeit statistical ones) actually ended up being an important topic in my doctoral research. I sometimes wonder what my life might have been like if I hadn’t seen those weird images - I’d certainly have become a very mediocre architect at best.

> This book changed my life.

Ditto! I thought science was... all about the end state? You mix these two chemicals together, you get these products. You solve a math problem, you get an answer.

The idea that the interesting bit was the process, not the outcome, was a whole new way of looking at the world. It was my introduction to the idea that you could iterate - feed the outputs back in to the function as inputs - and not just get feedback squeal.

How many genuine paradigm shifts do you get in a lifetime? Right book, right age. I bet most of the people leaving comments like this are circa 50 now.

I never became competent at mathematics though :)

It is a brilliant book, first book I bought with my own money college. It makes math interesting and approachable.

>which in the British grade system stands for “Unmarked”.

IIRC it was "Ungraded". But it was a long time ago!