This was a delight to read, the writing, the research, the artwork, the incorporation of music. In a world where everything is supposed to be fast this really helped me slow down. And it has inspired me to get into deep reading once again. Thanks a lot, looking forward to your next articles !
Hey VT, so glad this was worth your time, but super happy that it has pushed you into deep reading. I hope you continue to find books and rabbit holes which you love going into!
Wonderful , we'll researched, write up. Still trying to wrap my head around about how you could connect two distant dots Mathematics and taste. Looking forward for more such articles.
I have an open question with 'going against the grain' with regards to the canon, because when reading the classics, there is a form of friction and pain involved.
Question: Does following our curiousity necessarily mean we are enjoying what we consume?
(e.g. philosophy books are not enjoyable. It's almost like a part-time job to read and understand them. But what you gain from the process can be helpful.)
Thank you, Ved, for reading, and glad you are enjoying it :)
The distinction I make between curiosity and friction is this
If one is reading philosophy because it is helpful, then it may not necessarily be a matter of taste. It could just be a means to an end, something one finds useful and serves a purpose.
If one is reading philosophy because one enjoys it, then I would say it is frictionless curiosity, because even if going through the text maybe hard, it does not feel like a chore. Its how one enjoys doing a hard thing.
On the matter of taste, I strongly feel that taste is about practice. It is not a destination where one can arrive. I think of it as continuous refinement through practice, with no end goal.
“Be boring, orderly and bourgeois in your life, so that you maybe violent and original in your work.”
To finally read something that I resonated with throughout was amazing. Intertwining mathematics, story-telling, philosophy, thoughts so seamlessly to give an insight with such nuance is a feat in itself. Every minute of this 30 minute read was worth it.
Hey Anwesha, so pleased to know the piece resonated with you so deeply! Thank you for persisting with the long read, and I’m glad that more of us are coming to the conclusion around being orderly and boring, for us to do our creative work!
Thank you for the time and work you put in your writing. I really appreciate reading your work. When I saw the new post this morning, I saved it for later, when I knew I would have the time to read it with no interruptions. In an online space full of entertainment, value is even more special to find; I'm glad I found your Substack.
Thank you, Cristiana, not just for reading, but for finding my work worthy of carving out time for. In an attention-deficit world, that is the best compliment a writer can get.
Wow! I cannot say enough how well researched and structured this entire essay was. As someone who has no background in mathematics, everytime you pieced it back together, I gushed a lil in excitement.
Especially the last part, where the music created entirely on E scale, when another piece of art (the book) was devoid of it. I don’t know if thats was intentional but just goes on to show how deeply meditative reading this was!
The E scale and the 'e' missing from Georges Perec's writing was not intentional! I just realised it as I read your comment :)
I am so glad the mathematics is giving you joy. Each time a reader tells me that the math interested them, it (much like you) gush with excitement, since one of my aims of writing these essays is to make the subject less scary and more approachable for everyone. Than you so much for reading Simran! I am going to bask in the glory of you calling this piece 'deeply meditative'
Just came here to say a VERY BIG thank you to you! Since the day I read this post, one point or another keeps coming back to me, like I took so much from your writing that I had to come back and let you know how deeply thankful I am to you for writing this beautiful article.
Thank you so much! I am thrilled that the piece stayed with you long enough for you to think about it repeatedly, and it actually meant so much to you. You'd made my day when I first saw your comment, and now re-reading it puts a big smile on my face!
Thank you so much for this! I just downloaded some essays about topics that interest me to read at work rather than scrolling. This was an absolute joy to read, thank you thank you thank you.
the pleasure is all mine! The way you weaved together such different subjects like mathematics, sociology, and buddhism was truly impressive and kept me hooked through the entire thing. I look forward to all your future work.
A beautiful read. The moment I find that you have published a new article, I carve time out to find an empty corner to read it. The music just added to the whole experience, awakened all my senses.
I have been pondering on the idea of taste ever since I read the essay "How to do great work" by Paul Graham (https://www.paulgraham.com/greatwork.html) . What intrigues me is that he starts his essay by highlighting the three qualities of great work: something you have a natural aptitude for, something you have deep interest in, and something that offers great scope. In essence, it lead me to believe that you need to have a natural interest in a topic to the extent that work which feels painful to others, would be mostly frictionless for you. I like the fact that you mention the friction, and you go ahead to highlight seeking friction :).
So, do you agree with the below?
"There may be some jobs where you have to work diligently for years at things you hate before you get to the good part, but this is not how great work happens. Great work happens by focusing consistently on something you're genuinely interested in. When you pause to take stock, you're surprised how far you've come."
Would be interesting to know your take on the essay! (hope it does not feel like homework).
First, I want to sincerely thank you for carving out time in your life to read my work. In this attention-deficit world, there are a few compliments bigger than this.
Thank you for sharing Paul's essay with me. I had not read this one, but I did now to ensure I am getting the context of the overall essay as well (and no it does not feel like homework!)
I agree with what he says to a large extent. The lines that stood out to me are
"The way to figure out what to work on is by working. If you're not sure what to work on, guess. But pick something and get going. You'll probably guess wrong some of the time, but that's fine."
"What are you excessively curious about — curious to a degree that would bore most other people? That's what you're looking for."
I would put this above everything, and definitely above aptitude. It takes care of friction, going deep and ignoring the cannon. It is only by doing that we figure out what our taste is, and by extension, who we are.
Thank you for writing this. Thank you for writing like this, it's a great piece. I never thought I could read 30 mins long posts in one sitting and understand the underlying concept with more curiosity towards the end.
Thank you Hardik, for reaching out! Glad that you found the piece worth your time, and I could hold your attention for 30 mins - one of the best things for a writer to hear from their readers :)
This writing is amazing. I am a writer too, and it gave me an inferiority complex. I mean I never research so deeply for a newsletter. Also, I remember you singing rhapsodies about mathematics in one of your previous newsletters as well. It seems that you studied and live* mathematics!
That said, the newsletter is kind of long. I read a bit, then got bored, took a break, then read some more, and took another break, which lasted for 3 days. Now I am reading again, but now I have forgotten some of it, so I must start from the top.
I would deeply appreciate it if your newsletter could be a bit shorter. Please don't mind.
* here I wanted to type 'you love mathematics, but I made a typo, and now it kind of looks cool, so I kept it that way!
Namaste Jay ji, thank you for your kind words for my writing and I am glad you enjoyed it. I do indeed love mathematics, but don’t know enough of it to live it :)
As for the length, yes I agree it’s pretty long, but that’s the way of writing I enjoy, so unlikely that will change. I know it doesn’t work for everyone, but can’t do much about that :(
Thank you for writing this article. I opened it 2-3 times and closed it because I knew I didn’t have 30 minutes at that moment. But today I finally opened it when I had the time for a deep read! And it was worth the wait :)
I’m going to keep it in my saved list to revisit it again and again. It drives the point so beautifully (and scientifically) - like a lovely painting that compels you to stare at it just a tad bit longer.
Also (and I say this with the most genuine feeling and not to mock) - I have this ‘ick’- it’s probably because I went to a convent school and certain things were just drilled into us quite efficiently!
It’s “receive”
(It’s a gift we all ‘recieved’ in the cradle)
where the e precedes the i and the spelling doesn’t follow the same pattern as similar sounding words like “believe”! Whenever i see it, I see it like a zoomed in image and can’t unsee it. Like I said it’s an “ick” and I have to live with it.
I thought I’d share it here because maybe my taste develops from all these “icks” that I tend to have.
Hi Tanushree, I am so pleased to hear it was worth the wait, and you will be re-visiting it over the coming days. The fact that you scheduled time to read this is one of the best things a writer can hear. Also, thank you for sharing the correction, but I don't wish to change it because those were the words of Grothendieck and I am quoting his text, so have to let things remain as they are.
But yes, our taste does develop from the 'icks' we have :)
Thank you for writing this, Utsav. You’ve clearly found your taste, and it shows.
It reminded me of when I was working on my master’s thesis. It was an engineering topic I loved, and I’d get completely sucked in. I’d do 18-hour work sprints, wake up not knowing if it was day or night. My flatmates thought I’d lost it and would probably fail.
But I was having fun, reading papers, designing experiments, testing them in the lab, finding new books in the library. I did submit my thesis and got good marks, but honestly, those didn’t matter. I had already had my time with it. By the time the results came in, I was obsessed with another engineering problem at my internship.
Your writing brought that feeling back. That joy of chasing good problems and going deep. Engineering or otherwise.
I guess it’s time to do that in other parts of life too.
I’ll come back to this in a few days—love how good writing shows you something new each time.
Hey Deepak, thank you for your kind words, and I hope you find more to think about when you return to this piece. Most importantly, I hope you find in life problems or things in life to get obsessed with, just like you did for your master's thesis.
And yes, I am chasing these 'life' questions which I am struggling with and thinking about, and only by going deep am I understanding myself better.
Thank you for writing this, Utsav! This piece gave me solace in two awkward forced situations where it saved me from my social anxiety by letting me escape into something deep.
Having the strong urge to take the next week off and read/watch/listen to things that I've saved for later but never made time for. Will you sign my leave letter, please?
One might say that, David Smith is a 'Mind Hatter' heheh. Get it coz the tile was a hat... And well the reference to the character is because Lewis Carroll (also a mathematician ) supposedly expressed his disdain for Willaim Hamliton's work on Quaternions while writing Alice in Wonderland! ( https://www.npr.org/2010/03/13/124632317/the-mad-hatters-secret-ingredient-math)
Ps: i wasn't expecting to read such a math heavy write up, but thanks to your wonderful writing everthing added up. And I definitely wasn't expecting to reply with a somewhat math fact?
This was a delight to read, the writing, the research, the artwork, the incorporation of music. In a world where everything is supposed to be fast this really helped me slow down. And it has inspired me to get into deep reading once again. Thanks a lot, looking forward to your next articles !
Hey VT, so glad this was worth your time, but super happy that it has pushed you into deep reading. I hope you continue to find books and rabbit holes which you love going into!
Wonderful , we'll researched, write up. Still trying to wrap my head around about how you could connect two distant dots Mathematics and taste. Looking forward for more such articles.
Thanks a lot
Thank you, Gautham, glad that you found the piece worth your time! Do check out the other pieces as well.
I love the stories and how they led to your main point: go against the 'canon' and follow your curiosity to make stuff you want to see
It sounds like taste should be treated as a practice:
1. Knowing what you like and appreciating it in more detail
2. Expressing what you appreciate through your own work
vs a trait (e.g. he has great taste).
Or purely input based (consume the classics to improve your taste)
I have an open question with 'going against the grain' with regards to the canon, because when reading the classics, there is a form of friction and pain involved.
Question: Does following our curiousity necessarily mean we are enjoying what we consume?
(e.g. philosophy books are not enjoyable. It's almost like a part-time job to read and understand them. But what you gain from the process can be helpful.)
Thank you, Ved, for reading, and glad you are enjoying it :)
The distinction I make between curiosity and friction is this
If one is reading philosophy because it is helpful, then it may not necessarily be a matter of taste. It could just be a means to an end, something one finds useful and serves a purpose.
If one is reading philosophy because one enjoys it, then I would say it is frictionless curiosity, because even if going through the text maybe hard, it does not feel like a chore. Its how one enjoys doing a hard thing.
On the matter of taste, I strongly feel that taste is about practice. It is not a destination where one can arrive. I think of it as continuous refinement through practice, with no end goal.
“Be boring, orderly and bourgeois in your life, so that you maybe violent and original in your work.”
To finally read something that I resonated with throughout was amazing. Intertwining mathematics, story-telling, philosophy, thoughts so seamlessly to give an insight with such nuance is a feat in itself. Every minute of this 30 minute read was worth it.
Hey Anwesha, so pleased to know the piece resonated with you so deeply! Thank you for persisting with the long read, and I’m glad that more of us are coming to the conclusion around being orderly and boring, for us to do our creative work!
righttt! it was a great read✨
Thank you for the time and work you put in your writing. I really appreciate reading your work. When I saw the new post this morning, I saved it for later, when I knew I would have the time to read it with no interruptions. In an online space full of entertainment, value is even more special to find; I'm glad I found your Substack.
Thank you, Cristiana, not just for reading, but for finding my work worthy of carving out time for. In an attention-deficit world, that is the best compliment a writer can get.
Wow! I cannot say enough how well researched and structured this entire essay was. As someone who has no background in mathematics, everytime you pieced it back together, I gushed a lil in excitement.
Especially the last part, where the music created entirely on E scale, when another piece of art (the book) was devoid of it. I don’t know if thats was intentional but just goes on to show how deeply meditative reading this was!
The E scale and the 'e' missing from Georges Perec's writing was not intentional! I just realised it as I read your comment :)
I am so glad the mathematics is giving you joy. Each time a reader tells me that the math interested them, it (much like you) gush with excitement, since one of my aims of writing these essays is to make the subject less scary and more approachable for everyone. Than you so much for reading Simran! I am going to bask in the glory of you calling this piece 'deeply meditative'
Just came here to say a VERY BIG thank you to you! Since the day I read this post, one point or another keeps coming back to me, like I took so much from your writing that I had to come back and let you know how deeply thankful I am to you for writing this beautiful article.
Thank you so much! I am thrilled that the piece stayed with you long enough for you to think about it repeatedly, and it actually meant so much to you. You'd made my day when I first saw your comment, and now re-reading it puts a big smile on my face!
Thank you so much for this! I just downloaded some essays about topics that interest me to read at work rather than scrolling. This was an absolute joy to read, thank you thank you thank you.
Thank you, Quinn, for choosing my essay and taking the time to read it completely. Glad that you enjoyed them so much :)
I am most pleased that you are choosing to cultivate your taste and avoid scrolling. More power to you!
the pleasure is all mine! The way you weaved together such different subjects like mathematics, sociology, and buddhism was truly impressive and kept me hooked through the entire thing. I look forward to all your future work.
A beautiful read. The moment I find that you have published a new article, I carve time out to find an empty corner to read it. The music just added to the whole experience, awakened all my senses.
I have been pondering on the idea of taste ever since I read the essay "How to do great work" by Paul Graham (https://www.paulgraham.com/greatwork.html) . What intrigues me is that he starts his essay by highlighting the three qualities of great work: something you have a natural aptitude for, something you have deep interest in, and something that offers great scope. In essence, it lead me to believe that you need to have a natural interest in a topic to the extent that work which feels painful to others, would be mostly frictionless for you. I like the fact that you mention the friction, and you go ahead to highlight seeking friction :).
So, do you agree with the below?
"There may be some jobs where you have to work diligently for years at things you hate before you get to the good part, but this is not how great work happens. Great work happens by focusing consistently on something you're genuinely interested in. When you pause to take stock, you're surprised how far you've come."
Would be interesting to know your take on the essay! (hope it does not feel like homework).
First, I want to sincerely thank you for carving out time in your life to read my work. In this attention-deficit world, there are a few compliments bigger than this.
Thank you for sharing Paul's essay with me. I had not read this one, but I did now to ensure I am getting the context of the overall essay as well (and no it does not feel like homework!)
I agree with what he says to a large extent. The lines that stood out to me are
"The way to figure out what to work on is by working. If you're not sure what to work on, guess. But pick something and get going. You'll probably guess wrong some of the time, but that's fine."
"What are you excessively curious about — curious to a degree that would bore most other people? That's what you're looking for."
I would put this above everything, and definitely above aptitude. It takes care of friction, going deep and ignoring the cannon. It is only by doing that we figure out what our taste is, and by extension, who we are.
Thank you for writing this. Thank you for writing like this, it's a great piece. I never thought I could read 30 mins long posts in one sitting and understand the underlying concept with more curiosity towards the end.
Thank you Hardik, for reaching out! Glad that you found the piece worth your time, and I could hold your attention for 30 mins - one of the best things for a writer to hear from their readers :)
Utsav ji,
This writing is amazing. I am a writer too, and it gave me an inferiority complex. I mean I never research so deeply for a newsletter. Also, I remember you singing rhapsodies about mathematics in one of your previous newsletters as well. It seems that you studied and live* mathematics!
That said, the newsletter is kind of long. I read a bit, then got bored, took a break, then read some more, and took another break, which lasted for 3 days. Now I am reading again, but now I have forgotten some of it, so I must start from the top.
I would deeply appreciate it if your newsletter could be a bit shorter. Please don't mind.
* here I wanted to type 'you love mathematics, but I made a typo, and now it kind of looks cool, so I kept it that way!
Cheers!
Namaste Jay ji, thank you for your kind words for my writing and I am glad you enjoyed it. I do indeed love mathematics, but don’t know enough of it to live it :)
As for the length, yes I agree it’s pretty long, but that’s the way of writing I enjoy, so unlikely that will change. I know it doesn’t work for everyone, but can’t do much about that :(
Loved reading this. Thanks!
Thank you for reading SG! Glad you enjoyed it :)
Thank you for writing this article. I opened it 2-3 times and closed it because I knew I didn’t have 30 minutes at that moment. But today I finally opened it when I had the time for a deep read! And it was worth the wait :)
I’m going to keep it in my saved list to revisit it again and again. It drives the point so beautifully (and scientifically) - like a lovely painting that compels you to stare at it just a tad bit longer.
Also (and I say this with the most genuine feeling and not to mock) - I have this ‘ick’- it’s probably because I went to a convent school and certain things were just drilled into us quite efficiently!
It’s “receive”
(It’s a gift we all ‘recieved’ in the cradle)
where the e precedes the i and the spelling doesn’t follow the same pattern as similar sounding words like “believe”! Whenever i see it, I see it like a zoomed in image and can’t unsee it. Like I said it’s an “ick” and I have to live with it.
I thought I’d share it here because maybe my taste develops from all these “icks” that I tend to have.
Hi Tanushree, I am so pleased to hear it was worth the wait, and you will be re-visiting it over the coming days. The fact that you scheduled time to read this is one of the best things a writer can hear. Also, thank you for sharing the correction, but I don't wish to change it because those were the words of Grothendieck and I am quoting his text, so have to let things remain as they are.
But yes, our taste does develop from the 'icks' we have :)
Thank you for writing this, Utsav. You’ve clearly found your taste, and it shows.
It reminded me of when I was working on my master’s thesis. It was an engineering topic I loved, and I’d get completely sucked in. I’d do 18-hour work sprints, wake up not knowing if it was day or night. My flatmates thought I’d lost it and would probably fail.
But I was having fun, reading papers, designing experiments, testing them in the lab, finding new books in the library. I did submit my thesis and got good marks, but honestly, those didn’t matter. I had already had my time with it. By the time the results came in, I was obsessed with another engineering problem at my internship.
Your writing brought that feeling back. That joy of chasing good problems and going deep. Engineering or otherwise.
I guess it’s time to do that in other parts of life too.
I’ll come back to this in a few days—love how good writing shows you something new each time.
Hey Deepak, thank you for your kind words, and I hope you find more to think about when you return to this piece. Most importantly, I hope you find in life problems or things in life to get obsessed with, just like you did for your master's thesis.
And yes, I am chasing these 'life' questions which I am struggling with and thinking about, and only by going deep am I understanding myself better.
Thank you for writing this, Utsav! This piece gave me solace in two awkward forced situations where it saved me from my social anxiety by letting me escape into something deep.
Having the strong urge to take the next week off and read/watch/listen to things that I've saved for later but never made time for. Will you sign my leave letter, please?
Leave letter signed in triplicate with one copy each sent to your workplace and to your social anxiety!
I am glad it helped you escape and you found it a worthy place to escape to :)
One might say that, David Smith is a 'Mind Hatter' heheh. Get it coz the tile was a hat... And well the reference to the character is because Lewis Carroll (also a mathematician ) supposedly expressed his disdain for Willaim Hamliton's work on Quaternions while writing Alice in Wonderland! ( https://www.npr.org/2010/03/13/124632317/the-mad-hatters-secret-ingredient-math)
Ps: i wasn't expecting to read such a math heavy write up, but thanks to your wonderful writing everthing added up. And I definitely wasn't expecting to reply with a somewhat math fact?
Ooh, you have given me mathematics gossip! Thank you so much for sharing this. I enjoyed reading it. Happy to know that things added up eventually :)