The Manga Guide to Linear Algebra by Shin Takahashi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Manga Guide to Linear Algebra is a manga comic that teaches linear algebra concept. When I stumbled upon the terms Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors, I found those were greek to me, and I had no intuitive understanding of those terms. I decided to spend 4-hours to read about the basics of linear algebra from this book.

The book starts with the concept of sets, functions, and relations. Then introduces matrices, and then vectors. It gives a gentle introduction to various matrix operations. Gives visual clue on vector representations. Introduces the concept of linear dependence and linear independence in vectors.

Shows the examples of linear transformations which are practical applications of linear algebra and finally goes to introduce eigenvalues and eigenvectors. Finally, for Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors, these are the examples that are shown.

This is a example of 2x2 matrix for illustrating Eigenvectors given in the book.

c_1[3, 1] + c_2[1, 2] [[8 -3]     -> c1[21, 7] + c_2[2, 4]
                       [2  1]]

c_1[3, 1] + c_2[1, 2] -> f[[8 -3]    -> c_1[7 [3, 1]] + c_2[2 [1, 2]]
                           [2  1]]

The image of the expression using the linear transformation, expressed using the same original vectors, but with coefficients, 7 and 2 now. Then gives the example of 3 dimentional vector, and finally explains the the concept of Eigenvalue and Eigenvectors.

In the above example, 7 and 2 are eigenvalues, and (3, 1) and (1, 2) are the eigenvectors associated with those eigen values.

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The word eigen seems to have come from german which means proper or characteristic. It seems that we express the original expression with the linear transformation properly using some values and vectors.

Image and Video Processing - From Mars to Hollywood with a Stop at the Hospital is the course offered by Guillermo Sapiro at Coursera. After a long time, I voluntarily took a course and finished it. I didn't pay for the course and so, I won't get a certificate. But I have this, and the course completion recorded in my accomplishments in coursera.

It was wonderful course, I learnt about digital signal processing, and image transformations.

I read this paper titled Shelling Out. The Origins of Money by Nick Szabo It starts with the origin of money in the european colony of the americas, how and why a mass scale currency was introduced by colonists upon the native americans.

Based on this anecdote, it discusses some of the important properties of money.

It defines the role of money to a basic human need for co-operation. Money, it says is delayed exchange of altruism on part by humans. And money sould have properties like non-stealable, non-reproducible in order to be valuable. The human society devised multiple tools for this kind. When the problem was met with scale, they invented a "fiat currency", started in China, was way to scale currency, and keep a ledger for supply and demand. The coin system that was first invented in Lydia is the same coin system that we use today, and the fiat currency is still in use. Except now that we have the technology to scale currency without trusting or depending on a government to maintain a ledger.

I recollected this favorite poem of my mine from school days. I first read it in a Sportstar magazine and I don't know the author of this poem.

When trying to understand the concept of radians, I came across the inventor of the concept Roger Coats His name is not familiar to many. I understood, he is known for working closely with Isaac Newton by proofreading the second edition of his famous book, the Principia, before publication.

Cotes died from a violent fever in Cambridge in 1716 at the early age of 33. Isaac Newton remarked, "If he had lived we would have known something."

Beyond the Door by Philip K. Dick
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A simple, imaginative book. Couldn't think about the plot. If it were a different author, this book or story would have been long dead.

Apache Mesos Essentials by Dharmesh Kakadia
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A simple overview of Mesos. It enlists the commands and scripts that will be useful to operate a Mesos cluster. Gives an overview of Hadoop and Spark data frameworks and how they can launched on Mesos. It is aimed at operators and system engineers trying to operate Mesos.

Lauren Ipsum: A Story about Computer Science and Other Improbable Things by Carlos Bueno
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Learnt some valuable computer science concepts too since this was taught to a child, it was very easy to grasp. The concepts share are foundational and it is presented in a neat, easy to understand manner. I internalized the importance of "naming", the thing with jargons and principle of 5-whys. Very helpful book.

Brief Introduction to Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy. by W Froggatt gives an overview of the Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, a Cognitive Behavior Therapy school of though in psychology.

The topic itself is accessible and is easy to read. The paper has suggestion on number of books that cover this topic for further reading and study.

The Linux Command Line by William E. Shotts Jr.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

For most purposes, I think this could be considered a reference book. Giving quick tips about the Linux/GNU utility and tools. Even as an experienced user, I managed to find useful tips in this book about Bash Shell, quoting and testing conditionals in Bash. I appreciated the general notes about the "Linux culture" sprinkled throughout the text.

This book might be a quick, due to glancing and turning of pages, and worthy read beginner and experienced programmers alike.