One the most productive researcher in Operations
Research I have met in my life once told me that he writes a page or two
every day. When I asked him what he writes about, he said that he wrote
about anything that came to mind. That often it was just an idea that just came to mind. Many of those pages written did not go anywhere, but the few that he pursued were gems.
I have tried that, but I am not disciplined enough, and so most of the ideas that come to my mind never see the light of the day.
When I was in junior high, my teachers required me to write a page every day. When I was doing my doctorate at Pittsburgh I took two courses from one of the most profoundly scholarly mathematical sociologist I have ever known. He required us to write essays about 4-5 pages EVERY week. Even today, after forty years I have every bit of paper I wrote in those courses, and I look at them every now and then. I look at all the red ink on these notes to realise that I will never be able to repay my debt to that professor. And over the decades almost every paper I have written has been influenced profoundly by what I learnt in those courses. None of the dozens of courses I took in my student days comes close in their impact on me.
Operations Research I have met in my life once told me that he writes a page or two every day. When I asked him what he writes about, he said that he wrote about anything that came to mind. That often it was just an idea
that just came to mind. Many of those pages written did not go anywhere, but the few that he pursued were gems.
I have tried that, but I am not disciplined enough, and so most of the ideas that come to my mind never see the light of the day.
When I was in junior high, my teachers required me to write a page every day. When I was doing my doctorate at Pittsburgh I took two courses from one of the most profoundly scholarly mathematical sociologists I have ever known. He required us to write essays about 4-5 pages EVERY week. Even today, after forty years I have every bit of paper I wrote in those courses, and I look at them every now and then. I look at all the red ink on these notes to realise that I will never be able to repay my debt to that professor. And over the decades almost every paper I have written has been influenced profoundly by what I learnt in those courses. None of the dozens of courses I took in my student days comes close in its impact on me.
PS: I would be remiss if I did not name the professor. It is Professor Tom Fararo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Fararo).
I have tried that, but I am not disciplined enough, and so most of the ideas that come to my mind never see the light of the day.
When I was in junior high, my teachers required me to write a page every day. When I was doing my doctorate at Pittsburgh I took two courses from one of the most profoundly scholarly mathematical sociologist I have ever known. He required us to write essays about 4-5 pages EVERY week. Even today, after forty years I have every bit of paper I wrote in those courses, and I look at them every now and then. I look at all the red ink on these notes to realise that I will never be able to repay my debt to that professor. And over the decades almost every paper I have written has been influenced profoundly by what I learnt in those courses. None of the dozens of courses I took in my student days comes close in their impact on me.
Operations Research I have met in my life once told me that he writes a page or two every day. When I asked him what he writes about, he said that he wrote about anything that came to mind. That often it was just an idea
that just came to mind. Many of those pages written did not go anywhere, but the few that he pursued were gems.
I have tried that, but I am not disciplined enough, and so most of the ideas that come to my mind never see the light of the day.
When I was in junior high, my teachers required me to write a page every day. When I was doing my doctorate at Pittsburgh I took two courses from one of the most profoundly scholarly mathematical sociologists I have ever known. He required us to write essays about 4-5 pages EVERY week. Even today, after forty years I have every bit of paper I wrote in those courses, and I look at them every now and then. I look at all the red ink on these notes to realise that I will never be able to repay my debt to that professor. And over the decades almost every paper I have written has been influenced profoundly by what I learnt in those courses. None of the dozens of courses I took in my student days comes close in its impact on me.
PS: I would be remiss if I did not name the professor. It is Professor Tom Fararo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Fararo).
