Author Archives
In 2018 I semi-retired by retiring from Weston High School after my 21st year teaching mathematics there. This was also my 44th year as a teacher altogether. In 2023 I retired fully, adding in my 18 years at Harvard’s Crimson Summer Academy each summer. For 21 years I had taught at the Saturday Course in Milton, MA, and I used to serve on the board of the Dorchester Historical Society.
I read, cook, and spend a lot of time building my model railroad. For some reason I’m left with less free time than would be ideal, considering that I’m supposed to be retired, but somehow I also manage to devote time to my wife, Barbara, and to our varying number of cats (once up to six, but now sadly down to one).
Larry Davidson
ljd@larrydavidson.com
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Apparently a book review: What is Château Rock?
Read the book! But read this review first. (I know that some people don’t like to read reviews first, but be assured that you won’t find any spoilers here.) First, though, take this one-question multiple-choice quiz: What do you think… Read More ›
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Two surprising Ancestry conclusions
Capitalization matters. Occasionally. The title of this post can be read as written, with an upper-case “A,” or it can be read as spoken aloud, with a lower-case “a” (not that case choice can easily be heard in speech, though… Read More ›
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The Lola Quartet
“Have you ever made a decision in a moment of panic and then regretted it for the rest of your life?” One of the characters in Emily St. John Mandel’s novel, The Lola Quartet, asks this question near the end… Read More ›
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Why accelerate in math?
Looking back over five decades (more or less) of teaching high-school mathematics, I estimate that maybe 30–40 of the students I have taught over the years were truly accelerated in math. But let’s define our terms first: So, you ask,… Read More ›
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Building a house under construction
Now that my model railroad includes a pre-fab house built from a standard kit, which I showed as a work in progress over ten weeks, it’s time to experiment with a different approach: a compromise between a standard kit and… Read More ›
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Harris/Buttigieg.
Clearly.
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If you don’t love this book… what’s wrong with you?
Christine Lavin has been one of my favorite singer-songwriters for forty-odd years (some odder than others). I most recently saw her in concert three months ago, and that inspired me to read her memoir, Cold Pizza for Breakfast. Even though… Read More ›
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JD Vance: A view from the recent past
Now we know who our next VP is going to be. Well… maybe not.. but let’s look back at what I wrote on August 8, 2017, and subsequently on August 28, 2022: Post of 8/8/2017: What an irritating book! Even… Read More ›
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Building a model railroad structure, week 10
Finally, the house and detached garage are done! It will take a few more weeks before we can see them in context, as the surrounding neighborhood isn’t quite complete (it’s missing some streets and most of the landscaping). When all… Read More ›
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Trying new (to us) dishes at Tavolo
So often, it seems, we get the same menu items at Tavolo. That’s because they’re so good! But it was time to try something new. Not to jump right into new things, however, we started with our traditional kale Caesar… Read More ›
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They claim to speak 20… or 50… or even… wait for it… 367 languages!
Me (in front of my geometry class) (Don’t ask): What do you call someone who speaks three languages? Several members of the class simultaneously: trilingual. Me: What do you call someone who speaks two languages? Several members of the class… Read More ›
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Building a model railroad structure, week 9
More progress, as the Goldbergs get close to the scheduled date for their closing. They needed a mezuzah before the closing — and remember that it’s 1969, so they had to look up Mezuzahs in the Yellow Pages (if you’re… Read More ›
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Not just for nerds, not just for geeks.
Suppose you heard from someone (me, for instance) that you might enjoy a book titled Thinking Inside the Box. What would you expect it to be about? Perhaps some sort of pushback against those of us who advocate thinking outside… Read More ›
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Building a model railroad structure, week 8
Porch is done, including the columns, porch roof, and stairway.
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dBar
Lovely anniversary dinner yesterday out on the patio at dBar! (Zeus must have approved, because it stopped raining just before we got there, and it didn’t pick up again until we got home.) It was hard to know what to… Read More ›
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The Mathematical Murder of Innocence
You could call this a non-fiction novel. You could, that is, if that genre name hadn’t been pre-empted by Truman Capote back in the ’60s. Or you could call it historical fiction, if that genre name hadn’t had a long… Read More ›
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Building a model railroad structure, week 7
Right now the contractor claims she’s still on time and under budget! Never heard of such a thing, but let’s take a look at her progress. Here are two views of the house right now, front and back: I’m sure… Read More ›
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Sourdough (a science fiction novel, not a manual for breadbaking!)
Maybe it’s just me. Maybe it’s a current publishing trend. Whatever the reason, I seem to be reading too many dystopian novels these days. Actually, though, Robin Sloan’s wonderful novel Sourdough turns out not to be dystopian after all. It… Read More ›
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Building a model railroad structure, week 6
The four walls and the basement have finally assembled themselves into something approximating a house: The prospective homeowners came by — against the realtor’s advice — to look at the progress. They were unhappy to find that they got wet… Read More ›
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Think globally, shop locally.
My new glasses were ready, so Barbara and I made the brief trek down to Eye & Eye. As we have good parking karma, a legal parking spot opened up for us right in front of Eye & Eye on… Read More ›
Learning Strategies 