This isn't an entirely new concept. For work, I manage a blogging site called MaplePrimes which is a community of mathematicians fascinated by the Maple software system. Within this site, I introduced an collaborative book called Singular Planet, an embryonic collection of travel destination that would be of interest to math types.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Why a Nerd's guide?
Simple ... most travel guides seem to be written for old people, young urban hipsters, or tree-hugging mountain-climbers. Yes, I am not as young as I used to be, I think I was hip at some point in ancient history, and I do like a brisk walk in the woods but there are so many things that interest me that the conventional guides to travel seem to not cover well. For instance, my work is somewhat mathematical in nature and I get a big kick out of retracing the footsteps of science and math types. Westminster Abbey in London is far more appealing to me than the Tower of London because Isaac Newton among others, is buried there. In florence, the Santa Croce cathedral was far more interesting to me because of Galileo's tomb (among others) than the main cathedral as spectacular as it is. I recently found out the Goettingen in Germay is the historic mathematical center of Germany due to its famous citizens Gauss and Hilbert among others. When I go to California, I always try to stop by a Fry's Electronic mega store ... a staggering tribute to all things great and silicon-based.
My wife is a nerd as well ... of a different flavor though. Her gig is philosophy, political science, and dance, and the arts. So when we travel, we tend to pick places like Weimar (cultural center of Germany) and Mainz (home of Gutenberg) instead of Munich, or Florence instead of Rome. We're not globetrekkers by any means but we do try to get one major trip in every year and I get out a few times through work. This blog will try to recall places I've or we've visited and any nerdy thoughts that come to mind.
I hope you too can offer some of your suggestions as well.
Stimulating travels all ...
Tom 4 from Waterloo, Canada
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