A tiny autobiography
I grew up in Potomac, Maryland, which is characterized by having many big movie theaters you can drive to but none you can walk to. My parents are statisticians and can be read about here and here. My sister is a veterinarian in West Palm Beach -- if you happen to have a sick horse in South Florida, I highly recommend contacting her. While I lived in Potomac I spent a lot of time working math problems, writing small ironic stories, and listening to rock music made by depressed people.
After a while I went to Harvard, where I continued all three activities. The math problems became somewhat harder. I graduated from college in 1993, and then spent a year studying fiction writing at Johns Hopkins. I found that I missed working math problems, so I went back to Harvard and got a Ph.D. While there, I met Tanya Schlam, who is a very wonderful person, but who does not have a home page. If you want to know more about her you will have to come visit us.
Now I teach math at Princeton, where there are also many big movie theaters you can drive to. There is also a small one you can walk to, but it never shows anything good.
UPDATE: (27 Aug 2000) The theater you can walk to is now indefinitely closed.
UPDATE: (1 Jun 2001) The theater just re-opened, showing a movie I'd been wanting to see!
Slate
I am writing an occasional column called "Do the Math" for the on-line magazine Slate. You can see my columns here.
What am I reading?
4 Jul 2005:Random Family, by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc.
22 Jun 2005: Diana and Nikon, by Janet Malcolm.
17 Jun 2005: Triomf, by Marlene van Niekerk (Leon de Kock, trans.)
30 May 2005: The Complete Peanuts 1950-1954, by Charles Schultz.
27 May 2005: Domestic Manners of the Americans, by Fanny Trollope.
24 Apr 2005: The Quality of Life Report, by Meghan Daum.
20 Apr 2005: Five Lives at Harvard: Personality Change during College, by Stanley H. King.
1 Apr 2005: Granta 88.
26 Mar 2005: Trading Up, by Michael Silverstein and Neil Fiske.
11 Mar 2005: Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: an Introduction, by J.D. Salinger.
2 Mar 2005: The Only Good Thing Anyone Has Ever Done, by Sandra Newman.
26 Feb 2005: Modern Ranch Living, by Mark Jude Poirier.
18 Feb 2005: Incompleteness, by Rebecca Goldstein.
15 Feb 2005: Stoner, by John Williams.
11 Feb 2005: Caramba! by Nita Marie Martinez.
13 Jan 2005: We Should Never Meet, by Aimee Phan.
8 Jan 2005: Jokerman 8, by Richard Melo.
30 Dec 2004: The Grave of God's Daughter, by Brett Ellen Block.
25 Dec 2004: Madeleine is Sleeping, by Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum.
12 Dec 2004: Here Beneath Low-Lying Planes, by Merrill Feitell.
10 Dec 2004: The Confessions of Max Tivoli, by Andrew Sean Greer.
29 Nov 2004: Here Kitty Kitty, by Jardine Libaire.
20 Nov 2004: Now You See It, by Allison Lynn.
18 Nov 2004: Like the Red Panda, by Andrea Seigel.
8 Nov 2004: Cutty, One Rock, by August Kleinzahler.
1 Nov 2004: V., by Thomas Pynchon.
10 Oct 2004: The Squares of the City, by John Brunner.
9 Aug 2004: Next, by Michael Lewis.
6 Aug 2004: Problems of American Society:Drugs, G. Leinwand, ed.
31 Jul 2004: Little Children, by Tom Perrotta.
28 Jul 2004: Sportsworld, by Robert Lipsyte.
15 Jul 2004: Bay of Souls, by Robert Stone.
5 Jul 2004: Oblivion, by David Foster Wallace.
27 Jun 2004:Tales from the Orioles Dugout, by Louis Berney.
13 Jun 2004:Confessions of Zeno, by Italo Svevo.
10 Jun 2004:Fierce Pajamas, D. Remnick and H. Finder, eds.
11 May 2004: The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde.
30 Mar 2004: There are Jews in my House, by Lara Vapnyar.
29 Mar 2004: Codex, by Lev Grossman.
23 Mar 2004: American Woman, by Susan Choi.
16 Mar 2004: The Ring of Brightest Angels Around Heaven, by Rick Moody.
28 Feb 2004: Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? by Raymond Carver.
20 Feb 2004: In the Garden of the North American Martyrs, by Tobias Wolff.
11 Feb 2004: Granta 77.
4 Feb 2004: Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich.
24 Jan 2004: Granta 80.
14 Jan 2004: Popular Music from Vittula, by Mikael Niemi.
10 Jan 2004: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon.
1 Jan 2004: The Blue Suit, by Richard Rayner.
What was I reading in previous years?
Food
Book reviews and articles
While I was in graduate school, I reviewed books and wrote articles for the Boston Book Review and the Boston Phoenix.
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