Category Archives: books

Oppenheimer on discipline

August 4th, 2008 | Posted in books

Here’s the first Oppenheimer anecdote from American Prometheus that really grabbed my attention.
In the spring of 1932, Robert wrote his brother a long letter explaining why [discipline and work had always been his guiding principles]. The fact that discipline, he argued, “is good for the soul is more fundamental than any of the grounds given [...]

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American Prometheus

August 3rd, 2008 | Posted in Uncategorized, books

I recently finished American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherman. This magnificent biography covers the span of Oppenheimer’s remarkable life, from his birth into a prosperous German-Jewish immigrant family in New York and ascent in to the top echelons of theoretical physics, his experiences with [...]

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William Vollmann has killed me

July 13th, 2008 | Posted in books

I can’t read “Rising Up and Rising Down”. It’s just too long, too insufferably long, and too egocentric and insanely self-involved for me to read. Apologies to John Whitmore and everyone else who seems to love this book but I just can’t deal.
Honestly, what can one make of a sentence like this: “When honor [...]

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