Mathematical writing

What Hacker News says

1. WillAdamsDec 2025
   Books which I have read and would recommend include:

   - _Ashley's Book of Knots_ --- everyone should be aware of knots and now at least the basics interesting, _The Klutz Book of Knots_ was also mentioned once

   - James Clavell _Noble House_ --- part of his "Asian Saga", not sure if it has aged well --- if a person could read only one of these, I'd recommend _King Rat_, based on his experience in a Japanese prison camp in WWII.

   - Hesse _Steppenwolf_ --- that Hesse is no longer read saddens me deeply, and not just because this makes _The Glass Bead Game_ less likely --- his thoughts on the difficulties of interpersonal relationships resonate even now

   - Knuth _Literate Programming_ --- I _really_ wish this style f programming would gain traction and that there would be more instances of taking famous programs and re-writing as a Literate Program, e.g., http://literateprogramming.com/adventure.pdf

   - Knuth _Digital Typography_ (and not just because I have a reward check)

   - Knuth _Mathematical Writing_ --- if you do any work in math, you probably already have a copy --- if you don't, you probably need one

   - Dewdney _The Planiverse_ --- response to the classic _Flatland_, this has a real charm and despite the dated computer technology, has held up well

   - Walter jon Williams _Hardwired_ --- an amazing cyberpunk novel, part of which was published in _Omni_

   - Steven Brust's _Jhereg_ --- one of my favourite fantasy novels, which I've been reading since picking it up in a Waldenbooks when I was in high school, waiting for the last two books, and esp. glad of these since they made the "Paarfi Romances" exist --- anyone who enjoys Alexandre Dumas and fantasy should read _The Phoenix Guards_

   - C.J. Cherryh's _Regenesis_ --- her entire Alliance--Union series is amazing and books are so varied pretty much everyone will find something which appeals

   - Trevanian _The Eiger Sanction_ and _Shibumi_ --- not sure if this and _Shibumi_ have aged well or no, but the latter was a big part of my childhood

   - Ben Franklin's Autobiography --- read presidential biographies to my kind in chronological order as a trial and regret not continuing with the actual project: biographies of important persons in chronological order

   - Sanora Babb's _Whose Names Are Unknown_: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1197158.Whose_Names_Are_... (ob. discl., that was my mention)

   Other books which only I mentioned:

   - Hal Clement _Space Lash_ now available in https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/939760.Music_of_Many_Sph... --- I recommend folks read it in reverse chronological order, starting at the back, then working to the front and bailing when things get too quaint/old-school/golden-age.

   - H. Beam Piper "Omnilingual" --- this should be a part of the middle school canon, lightly updated version at: http://vrici.lojban.org/~cowan/omnilingual.html

   - _Foxfire_ --- a classic series what predated the "Maker" movement

   - Tolkien's _The Fall of Arthur_

   - Knuth _TeX: The Program_

   Books which were sufficiently striking that I have made a note of them to get to read (hopefully this will work out better than _The Black Swan_ which I found annoying)

   - _Visual Thinking in Mathematics_

   - _Hardcore VisualBASIC_ --- still a bit bummed that I managed to miss this and MacBasic....

   - _Phoebe and her Unicorn_ --- getting this for my daughter

   - _Harmony with Lego(R) Bricks_ --- book on music improvisation

   - Ornamental Origami

   Note that a number of books weren't actually mentioned, e.g., Isaac Asimov's _Book of Facts_

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2. thomasahleNov 2025
   There are lots of good books on writing mathematics:

   1. How to Write Mathematics — Paul Halmos

   2. Mathematical Writing — Donald Knuth, Tracy Larrabee, and Paul Roberts

   3. Handbook of Writing for the Mathematical Sciences — Nicholas J. Higham

   4. Writing Mathematics Well — Steven Gill Williamson

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3. ergotuxDec 2024
   Two resources which helped me improving my writing, when I was writing my thesis were "How to Write Mathematics" by Paul R. Halmos and "Mathematical Writing" by Donald E. Knuth et al. I would always start with Halmos to get into the spirit of perusing clear and precise communication. The "Bad/Better/OK" suggestions especially reminded me of the discussions in the lecture notes from Knuth et al. And at a third step a linter such as the proposed one is probably helpful, if something slips through.

   I think these resources are essential for anyone who writes on any subject which at least involves definitions here and there.

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4. qzncAug 2022
   I find Donald Knuth an awesome technical writer: https://jmlr.csail.mit.edu/reviewing-papers/knuth_mathematic...

   Skip the math stuff if you don’t need it, the rest is still worth it.

   However, much better than reading about writing is getting direct feedback on your own writing. Maybe offer mentoring to your juniors?

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5. CalChrisJun 2022
   Anything by Rachel Carson.

   Anything by Donald Knuth. He even teaches good writing in Mathematical Writing.

   I always thought IBM held a high standard for their writing. So anything from the IBM System/370 Principles of Operation to their IBM Journal of Research and Development would be good.

   Lately, I've been reading Algorithms by Dasgupta, et al and those boys can write.

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6. vngzsApr 2022
   I'd also like to recommend Knuth's lecture notes on mathematical writing [0].

   [0]: https://jmlr.csail.mit.edu/reviewing-papers/knuth_mathematic...

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