12 best technology books

Product features

From the all-new foreword by Bret Victor

The Art of Doing Science and Engineering is the full, beautiful expression of what “You and Your Research” sketched in outline. In this delightfully earnest parody of a textbook, chapters on “Digital Filters” and “Error-Correcting Codes” do not, in fact, teach those things at all, but rather exist to teach the style of thinking by which these great ideas were conceived.

This is a book about thinking. One cannot talk about thinking in the abstract, at least not usefully. But one can talk about thinking about digital filters, and by studying how great scientists thought about digital filters, one learns, however gradually, to think like a great scientist.

Hamming demands that you do extraordinary work

“Hamming is here to tell you about excellence. His lessons unfold through personal stories of discovery and failure—life as an extraordinary scientist. But Hamming demands that you do extraordinary work, too, and for that he offers the best advice I know."

––Andy Matuschak, software engineer, designer, and researcher

One of the major US intellects

"Your last chance to read the words of thinking of one of the major intellects that the USA has produced."

––Eugene N. Miya, NASA researcher

Preparing the next generation for even greater greatness

“Hamming was always as much a teacher as a scientist, and having spent a lifetime forming and confirming a theory of great people, he felt he could prepare the next generation for even greater greatness. That’s the premise and promise of this book.”

––Bret Victor, founder of Dynamicland, designer, and engineer

About the author

Richard W. Hamming was a scientist and mathematician whose work inspired a generation of engineers, scientists, and researchers. He is best known for discovering mathematical formulas that allow computers to correct their own errors, a fundamental function of modems, compact disks, and satellite communications.

Born in Chicago in 1915, he provided crucial programming support as a member of the Manhattan Project. After World War II, he joined Bell Labs, where over the next 15 years he was involved in nearly all of its most prominent achievements. He later taught and lectured at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. Throughout his career, Hamming received many awards for his work, including the Turing Award in 1968, the highest honor in computer science. In 1988, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers created the Richard W. Hamming Medal in his honor, of which he was the first recipient. He died in 1998.

About the publisher

Stripe Press publishes books about economic and technological advancement. Stripe partners with hundreds of thousands of the world’s most innovative businesses—organizations that will shape the world of tomorrow. These businesses are the result of many different inputs. Perhaps the most important ingredient is "ideas." Stripe Press highlights ideas that we think can be broadly useful. Some books contain entirely new material, some are collections of existing work reimagined, and others are republications of previous works that have remained relevant over time or have renewed relevance today.

Other titles by Stripe Press:

• High Growth Handbook by Elad Gil
• The Dream Machine by M. Mitchell Waldrop
• Stubborn Attachments by Tyler Cowen
• The Revolt of the Public by Martin Gurri
• An Elegant Puzzle by Will Larson
• Get Together by Bailey Richardson, Kevin Huynh, and Kai Elmer Sotto
• The Making of Prince of Persia by Jordan Mechner

Product features

Mugaritz Pectinase Apple

5 g pectinase

25 g water

1 red apple

Salt

This recipe from Mugaritz uses pectinase to break down the pectin in apples. Since enzymes have very specific targets, only the pectin is broken up. The flavors of the raw apple are preserved. Breaking down the pectin also breaks down its cell walls and exposes the polyphenol oxidase to oxygen, causing browning.