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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More about teaching remotely
Some schools are back to 100% in-person learning at this point, but most are starting with either hybrid (apparently called “blended” in NYC) or all-remote. As I am (thankfully) mostly retired, do I still have skin in the game? Well,… Read More ›
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Greek! (The Ingenious Language)
Where do I begin when I try to describe this marvelous book? If you look at the cover (see image at the bottom of this post), you’ll see that the full title of this book is The Ingenious Language: Nine Epic… Read More ›
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Greek! (The Ingenious Language)
Where do I begin when I try to describe this marvelous book? If you look at the cover (see image at the bottom of this post), you’ll see that the full title of this book is The Ingenious Language: Nine Epic… Read More ›
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Semper Augustus, a short novel
A short novel? Maybe it’s a long novella. In any case, it’s well worth reading. This dystopian work by the well-known science fiction author Nancy Kress is set in the near future, and I do mean “near.” The wealth gap… Read More ›
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A math problem for the season
From this week’s issue of The New Yorker:
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Pawliamentary immunity
Yay! News out of Israel that’s about cooperation, not conflict. According to YNet, Israel’s major English-language news source, the 30 stray cats who hang out in the backyard of the Knesset have started entering the building, with the response that…… Read More ›
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Can’t have too much Tavolo!
Excellent dinner on the patio at Tavolo last night, all supported by server extraordinaire Michaela Collins. Barbara started with an enormous Chef’s Burrata (burrata, mixed greens, candied walnuts, gala apples, vincotto, evoo) accompanied by a Summer Lemonade cocktail (it is… Read More ›
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Popularizers III: George Gamow
What? Why was I reading without my eyeglasses? That’s easy. This photo, my semi-official portrait at age 11, was taken just before I got glasses. And that was all because of a substitute teacher! My regular teacher always had always… Read More ›
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A Cat
Why had I never heard of this book before? Well, at least I’m not alone. A Cat is a little-known 1995 work written by Leonard Michaels and illustrated by Frances Lerner. I read the 2018 Tin House hardcover version, which I… Read More ›
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Hebrew Script Hacking
How is this book different from all other books in the series? I’m referring to Teach Yourself Library’s Script Hacking series, which teaches you several alphabetical writing systems — a limited objective, and the series does a good job with it. Little… Read More ›
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Is this box small enough for you?
William says “Where I fits, I sits.” But does he fit?
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Facts, truth, math, and Donald Trump
Given Donald Trump’s uneasy relationship with facts (and a few other flaws), we all wonder how he has managed to maintain rock-steady approval from about 40% of Americans for the past four years. I was unwillingly forced to think about… Read More ›
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Popularizers II: the amazing Martin Gardner
A few days ago I wrote about Isaac Asimov in his role as a popularizer of math and science. Today I will turn to another important popularizer, Martin Gardner. But first I return to make a few more remarks about… Read More ›
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Quite a bicycle!
Well, it does have two wheels, but I’m still skeptical. At least it says it’s “low emission.” Legal definition of bicycle, anyone?
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Ashmont Grill patio under the tent
Barbara and I had a yummy dinner on the patio under the tent at Ashmont Grill last night: grilled asparagus; confit pork belly lettuce cups (which unfortunately disappeared somehow before I could take a photo); hot buttered lobster roll with… Read More ›
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Murder on Lexington Avenue
Signing or lip-reading? If you’re Deaf, which should you be taught? That is the question. And if you are in upper-class turn-of-the-century New York, no less, that is ultimately the core issue in Victoria Thompson’s Murder on Lexington Avenue. I… Read More ›
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Popularizers I: Asimov on Numbers
Many popularizers are unjustly looked down upon by professional academic scientists and mathematicians. I learned about that as an early age, and I also learned to reject those snobby attitudes. That’s mostly because of my dad’s influence: even though he… Read More ›
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Agoraphobia and other pronunciation conundra
Quick! How do you pronounce agoraphobia (a word we hear too much these days)? In particular, do you stress the first syllable and have a short /o/ in the second, or stress the first syllable but have a silent /o/ in the… Read More ›
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Hid from our Eyes
It was over eleven years ago that I read and reviewed the fourth book in Julia Spencer-Fleming’s series of upstate New York novels, and now we’re onto book #9. This averages out to only about one book every two years, a… Read More ›
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A walk in JP
Today I took my walk in JP rather than Dorchester. (That’s because I was on my way to Wegman’s for my first experience with their contactless curbside pickup, which I rated five stars without question.) Take a look at this… Read More ›
Learning Strategies 