In the spirit of our earlier “happy computer memories” thread, I’ll open one for happy book memories. What’s a book you read that occupies a warm-and-fuzzy spot in your memory? What book calls you back to the first time you read it, the way the smell of a bakery brings back a conversation with a friend?
As a child, I was into mystery stories and Ancient Egypt both (not to mention dinosaurs and deep-sea animals and…). So, for a gift one year I got an omnibus set of the first three Amelia Peabody novels. Then I read the rest of the series, and then new ones kept coming out. I was off at science camp one summer when He Shall Thunder in the Sky hit the bookstores. I don’t think I knew of it in advance, but I snapped it up and read it in one long summer afternoon with a bottle of soda and a bag of cookies.
A Book of Abstract Algebra, by Pinter. I did almost every exercise in it while preparing for uni. I didn’t know that mathematical prose could be beautiful until I’d read it. it’s pleasant, friendly, and feels personally involved with its topic, without being overenthusiastic or chatty. even today I love to show people the intro to one of final chapters. the author launches into a genuinely stirring speech, in which he tells you the great work is almost complete and that not an ounce of your care and struggle has been wasted
I might pick this one up — almost every algebra text I’ve ever read has been an utterly miserable experience, so it’d be interesting to read a math textbook I don’t hate