Being a weblog devoted to a variety of topics. Including Mathematics. And Mathematical Finance. Sometimes with homework.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Thomas Jefferson's Library

LibraryThing is a site that allows you to catalog books from your library, and uses that information as a basis for some sort of social networking. In their words "Enter what you're reading or your whole library—it's an easy, library-quality catalog. LibraryThing also connects you with people who read the same things."

But this post is not about LibraryThing. It's about Thomas Jefferson.

It turns out that some enterprising person who goes by the name "Thingamabrarii" has entered Thomas Jefferson's library. There are also links to other sites with information and exhibits about Thomas Jefferson's books.

There are 55 books in the Pure Mathematics category. Among these are The doctrine and application of fluxions (that's calculus to you and me), as well as Euclid's elements and some works by Archimedes. He even has some books on mathematical finance, including one by Isaac Newton: Sir Isaac Newton's Tables for renewing and purchasing the leases of cathedral-churches and colleges.

It's interesting to look over the titles, but humbling when you consider that my shelves are filled with books like this and this.

(Actually, I do read real books sometimes.)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Librarian + Thing = Thingamabrarian

Thingamabrarii is the plural of Thingamabrarian (a fun name for members of LibraryThing).

So it's not one person, but a collective of persons!

D. Handron said...

Right you are! I had taken the term to be someone's screen name. Didn't think about the plural Latin ending business.

Thanks for the tip.