My Beloved World - Sonia Sotomayor

This was the perfect follow-up to Sisters-In-Law that I read earlier this year.  It's the story of the third woman and first Hispanic to be appointed to the Supreme Court.  Her life was one of early hardship guided by the drive of her mother to get a good education for her children.  She is modest about her exceptional intelligence and measured in sharing her beliefs.  I came away with a deep respect and admiration for her achievements.

Some quotes:

"Not every experiment is a success.  that's the nature of doing science" She quotes her science teacher then she goes on to add: "The nature of doing many things, I might add: success is its own reward, but failure is a great teacher too, and not to be feared."

"In my experience when a friend unloaded about a boyfriend or spouse, the listener soaked up the complaint and rememberd it long afer the speaker had forgiven the offense." 

"Dressing badly has been a refuge much of my life, a way of complelling others to engage with my mind, not my physical presence.  I'm competitive enough that I'll eventually withdraw from any consistently losing battle".

Published: 2013  Read: November 2017  Genre: Autobiography

Hidden Harmonies - Robert and Ellen Kaplan

Sub-title:  The Live and Times of the Pythagorean Theorem

This is a different read.  Two mathematicians trace the history of the discovery and proofs of the Pythagorean Theorem - the one the scarecrow quotes in the Wizard of Oz when he gets his brain:

"The square of the hypotenuse of an isosceles [sic right angled] triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides"

That quote was about the extent of my knowledge of the theorem.  This book provided a delightful and quixotic look at its evolution and application throughout history.  I admit I skimmed the proofs and my eyes glazed in parts.  I felt I was listening to a discussion by two experts on a topic I barely understand and yet enjoy their enthusiasm for the subject.

They quote Georg Christoph Lichtenberg "What you have been obliged in discover by yourself leave a path in your mind which you can use again when the need arises."

Quotes:

On math as a craft:

"Should you conclude that so much doggedness, wedded to such inspiration, is beyond your wildest dreams, remember that what you've followed here is the tidied remainder of who knows how many lively conversations -- and conversation among practitioners as devoted to their craft as are cooks to theirs." 

Published:  2011  Read:  November 2017  Genre: Non-fiction, mathematics

A Fall of Marigolds - Susan Meissner

This book is a joy to read.  The story of two lives scarred by tragedy intersecting across decades.
A young mother working in a fabric store in modern day New York seeks a particular design she saw years ago.  A nurse on Ellis Island helps a widowed immigrant back to health.  These two characters lives come together over time to tell stories of great loss and how we react to it and eventually move on. 

Some quotes:

"Kindness is always motivated by something nobler than just a desire to be kind.  I had a wounded heart.  Like his.  That is what I had."

"I want to be able to remember and have it not hurt. I think it's possible to remember someone you loved and lost and feel blessed that you knew them, even for just a short time, without it hurting."

"The person who completes your life is not so much the person who shares all the years of your existence, but rather the person who made you life worth living, not matter how long or short a time you were given to spend with them." 

"...a strange but welcome ache for the loss of my island fell over me: the ache of losing something that is comfortable only because it is familiar, not dear." 

"Perhaps you are thinking, as I once did, that love is too precarious to want to lavish it again on another.  I want you to know that love is not a person.  It is not of this earth at all.   It wasn't until now that I realized I had mistakenly come to believe that love came from a place inside me and therefore I had to protect that place.  It comes from heaven.  It is given to us not to hold on to or hide from but to give away."

Published:  2014  Read: November 2017  Genre: Fiction