[LINK] Cliffs Notes: "Probability Theory: The Logic of Science", part 1

post by philh · 2014-02-05T23:03:10.533Z · LW · GW · Legacy · 4 comments

http://reasonableapproximation.net/2014/02/02/cliffs-notes-pttlos-part-1.html

A book sometimes cited on LessWrong as recommended reading is E.T. Jaynes' Probability Theory: The Logic of Science. I intend to write a series of posts reading this book, summarizing the key points, and solving the exercises. (There are no solutions in the book.)

The book has over 750 pages. This will take me a long time, if I finish at all. I'm not committing to finishing. For example, if this turns out not to be a thing worth doing, I hope that I will notice that and stop. I'm also not committing to any particular posting rate while I continue.

(I'm not cross-posting this because I expect to have to make edits and don't want to have to make them in two places.)

 

4 comments

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comment by buybuydandavis · 2014-02-06T01:36:28.507Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

A fellow named Kevin Van Horn did a similar project, writing an extended commentary on the book. I thought I saw him on this site once, but can't find him. Probably another hallucination.

But it seems he's an HPMOR fan - such fine taste in books.
http://lesswrong.com/lw/bdo/rationality_quotes_april_2012/692e

See his site for his commentary on Jaynes: http://ksvanhorn.com/bayes/jaynes/

Replies from: gjm, philh
comment by gjm · 2014-02-06T02:23:17.051Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

I thought I saw him on this site once

There is an LW user called ksvanhorn. I have no evidence beyond the name that it's the same person.

Replies from: Cyan
comment by Cyan · 2014-02-07T17:25:09.150Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

LW user ksvanhorn linked an essay which gives an email address with the ksvanhorn domain name, providing evidence that he is indeed the author of the commentary.

comment by philh · 2014-02-06T16:57:41.056Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Thanks for this! I'm going into more depth than Kevin, but I expect I'll find his commentary useful myself.