Over the last month a pile of books grew in our living room to impressive heights, intended to be packed for our usual 3+week vacation to the south of France. From the outset it was clear that ‘circumstances’ (see title for hint) forced us to slim it down to 2 weeks-max, this year.
So, last week I did divide the pile into two, those books I really wanted to read on vacation and those that could wait a bit longer. But then, a few days ago, the bigC stroke again, making it imperative to change our plans (and probably forget about vacation at all, this year). There’s a slim chance we’ll get away for a couple of days, so I made a further selection, just in case.
Below, I’ll give the original list (as well as their fate in the selection process) hoping that you can take them all with you, that is, if life treats your loved ones gentler…
In the category physics-general public books :
- The goldilock enigma (final selection)
- The fabric of the cosmos (got through the first round, but no further)
- Warped passages (will have to wait)
- The fabric of reality (will have to wait)
In the category mathematics-general public books :
- Prime obsession (final selection)
- Prime numbers (got through the first round, may make it)
- The code book (will have to wait)
- Fermat’s last theorem (will have to wait)
In the category mathematics :
- Vertex operator algebras and the Monster (final selection, but don’t read too much into this)
- From error correcting codes through sphere packings to simple groups (will have to wait)
- Moonshine beyond the Monster (will have to wait) but I may take Gannon’s paper along
In the category literature :
- The Tent (final selection, just read the column encouraging the young and you’ll know why)
- The stone gods (reluctantly but will have to wait)
- Darkmans (final selection)
In the category litter-ature :
- Stalin’s ghost (will have to wait)
- Sepulchre (will have to wait)
- The Lord’s day (will have to wait)
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