The art of doing science and engineering
by Richard Hamming, Bret Victor · first published 1996
70% recommend30% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Write-up of Hamming's graduate course on doing significant work, drawing on Bell Labs R&D culture, with chapters on n-dimensional spaces and the effectiveness of mathematics; suits readers rereading yearly for direction.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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Hamming was also writing from a highly privileged position. He was able to work at Bell Labs for the majority of his career. That just doesn’t exist today. The Art of Doing Science and Engineering is a great book but it needs context. The last edition was released in 1994. Programmers had a lot of labour power back then. Today though? The median house costs more than a third of the median income.…
on “If you don't design your career, someone else will (2014)” ↗Without any doubt The Art of Doing Science and Engineering by Richard Hamming. I have accomplished more in 5 years after reading it than I did in 15 years before. Much of it I attribute to the change of perspective the book brought about for me and to the fact…
on “Ask HN: What was a book that changed your life?” ↗I highly recommend "the art of doing science and engineering" by Richard hamming. It's basically a book collection of his essays and history in the field. In fact I think this might be a chapter of it.
on “You and Your Research (1986)” ↗…Captain Disillusion - debunking fake videos/understanding video effects - https://www.youtube.com/user/CaptainDisillusion/videos Maths-related: Gilbert Strang Science-related: Feynman Hamming's The Art of Doing Science and Engineering: Learning to Learn course - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2FF649D0C4407B30
on “Ask HN: Favorite teachers on YouTube?” ↗…comes to building healthy companies in 2020: crypto and equity sales to VC. They're going to become fossils soon anyhow [1]. Read Rework by Basecamp. Read The Beginning of Infinity by Deutch. Read the Art of Doing Science and Engineering by Hamming. Watch some Bret Victor talks. Ignore the negative memes about tech. They're all wrong, the rules get re-written every 10 years, and that is going to decrease in duration, not increase. You…
on “Extremely disillusioned with technology. Please help” ↗Richard Hamming wrote a book, "The Art of Doing Science and Engineering", which - despite its name - is more or less a memoir of his own scientific career. It's a fun read if you're interested in that culture.
on “Work Hard (2007)” ↗…Probability, and Statistics is one of a kind. For the OP; there is also The Art Of Probability by Richard Hamming which you might find interesting. And finally of course everybody needs to read; The Art of Doing Science and Engineering: Learning to Learn by Richard Hamming.
on “Ask HN: Math books you recommend just for the way they are written?” ↗May I suggest a couple of books? How to Solve It by George Pólya's 1945 http://www.amazon.com/How-Solve-Aspect-Mathematical-Method/d... and The Art of Doing Science and Engineering Learning to Learn by Richard W.Hamming http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/9056995014/ref=olp_product_... Great books, and they will introduce you to learn the mathematical thinking, so you can deduce…
on “Ask HN: Math for hackers.” ↗I try to re-read Hamming's "The Art of doing Science and Engineering" every year or so. It's basically the book version of this talk IIRC.
on “Hamming, "You and Your Research" (1995) [video]” ↗Here are few that have influenced my work: The Art of Doing Science and Engineering: Learning to Learn - Richard Hamming The Timeless Way of Building - Christopher Alexander The Humane Interface - Jef Raskin The Visual Display of Quantitative Information - Edward Tufte The Art Spirit…
on “Ask HN: Are there any books that inspire or highly influence the way you work?” ↗If you like this, I highly recommend Hamming's book The Art of Doing Science and Engineering. This is the write-up of a graduate course he taught at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School. There is also a complete set of video recordings of his lectures from his 1995 teaching of that course on…
on “Ask HN: What essay/blogpost do you keep going back to reread?” ↗…per se). The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan. The Ascent of Man by Jacob Bronowski are not essays, but it is one of the finest writings on science I've read. The Art of Doing Science and Engineering by Richard W. Hamming Letters to a Young Scientist by Edward O. Wilson I can't not help mention The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson, which is fiction, but hear me out - it melds natural philosophy,…
on “Great Essays and Essayists” ↗…world every time. I stumbled across the pragmatic programmer in my 4th year, and immediately started applying it on my project. This carried through to work and helped me a lot early in my career. 5. The Art of Doing Science and Engineering, Richard Hamming There are so many gems in this book: from the emphasis on fermi numbers for quick approximations, to a simple demonstration of the distance covered by a random walk as opposed to the…
on “Ask HN: Best books you read in the past decade?” ↗For anyone interested in this article I'd also highly recommend Richard Hamming's book The Art of Doing Science and Engineering | Learning to Learn
on “One Man’s View of Computer Science (1968) [pdf]” ↗"The Art of Doing Science and Engineering" by Hamming is like having the greatest doctoral advisor in your pocket. Any time I'm at a loss I open it up and find some sage wisdom to keep me going.
on “Stripe Press” ↗