Terry Tao

The Times has an interesting article on the math genius Terry Tao, an Australian of Chinese ancestry. In this excerpt, he is discussing how one does not do 'real math' until the latter part of graduate school.

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That spring day in his office, reflecting on his career so far, Tao told me that his view of mathematics has utterly changed since childhood. ‘‘When I was growing up, I knew I wanted to be a mathematician, but I had no idea what that entailed,’’ he said in a lilting Australian accent. ‘‘I sort of imagined a committee would hand me problems to solve or something.’’ But it turned out that the work of real mathematicians bears little resemblance to the manipulations and memorization of the math student. Even those who experience great success through their college years may turn out not to have what it takes. The ancient art of mathematics, Tao has discovered, does not reward speed so much as patience, cunning and, perhaps most surprising of all, the sort of gift for collaboration and improvisation that characterizes the best jazz musicians. Tao now believes that his younger self, the prodigy who wowed the math world, wasn’t truly doing math at all. ‘‘It’s as if your only experience with music were practicing scales or learning music theory,’’ he said, looking into light pouring from his window. ‘‘I didn’t learn the deeper meaning of the subject until much later.’’

-- Gareth Cook, "The Singular Mind of Terry Tao
A prodigy grows up to become one of the greatest mathematicians in the world" at The New York Times

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Bret Easton Ellis

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INTERVIEWER
Have you ever made money from anything other than writing?

ELLIS
No.

INTERVIEWER
No babysitting, no bartending, no teaching gigs?

ELLIS
I’d be a terrible babysitter, a terrible teacher, maybe a so-so bartender. No, the only money I’ve ever made is from writing novels and short stories and screenplays and TV scripts and TV pilots and the occasional essay on pop culture.

INTERVIEWER
Is there anything you’ve ever wanted to be besides a writer?

ELLIS
A musician. I was in a band in L.A. in high school, and then I was in ­another band at Bennington. I played keyboards and wrote songs. Then Less Than Zero happened. And once it became clear I could make a living from writing, I never seriously thought about making money any other way. I still played in bands here and there after college, but writing gradually took over my life.

-- Bret Easton Ellis at The Paris Review (2012)

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