These “What Kind of — Are You?” personality tests have run their course. Case in point:

If I were a Springer-Verlag Graduate Text in Mathematics, I would be William Fulton and Joe Harris’s Representation Theory: A First Course.

My primary goal is to introduce the beginner to the finite-dimensional representations of Lie groups and Lie algebras. Intended to serve non-specialists, my concentration is on examples. The general theory is developed sparingly, and then mainly as a useful and unifying language to describe phenomena already encountered in concrete cases. I begin with a brief tour through representation theory of finite groups, with emphasis determined by what is useful for Lie groups; in particular, the symmetric groups are treated in some detail. My focus then turns to Lie groups and Lie algebras and finally to my heart: working out the finite dimensional representations of the classical groups and exploring the related geometry. The goal of my last portion is to make a bridge between the example-oriented approach of the earlier parts and the general theory.

Which Springer GTM would you be?

The Springer GTM Test

Now, I find this mildly amusing, since I used to work in a bookstore and was, more than once, responsible for receiving boxes and boxes of Springer-Verlag books (it was a University, we had quote-unquote “yellow sales,” it wasn’t fun), but what’s the point? Really, what’s the point? Found at Tuppence.

Wil Wheaton writes:

Although I hadn’t ridden the backstage tour in years, I knew immediately that I would miss it forever.

I never went on studio tours again like the ones I did when I was 16.

Jesus, does anyone?

I think maybe this is what I like most about Wheaton’s (award-winning, la de da) weblog and why I continue to come back to it — his willingness to poke fun at his image and his movies, in this case Stand By Me.

I still don’t think I’ll ever like Wesley Crusher, though.

Caterina writes:

I’m always interested in how little people sleep, seeing as how I’m a terrible insomniac myself. Rumor has it that [Thomas] Pynchon sleeps til noon or one, but then works non-stop until three in the morning.

But, then again, just about everything about Thomas Pynchon is rumor, isn’t it? The only known photographs of the man date back to the early 1950s, he doesn’t actively promote his novels, and he has been interviewed only once in the past forty years. Presumably, no one but his agent and editor could tell you when, or even if, he sleeps. I certainly couldn’t. I’ve never even read any of his books.

Uncle Harlan says:

“It’s come to the point where very few people in these strange times can make a living writing short stories. I’m able to do it because I’m one of the last of that breed. There was Borges, Bradbury and me, and that’s about it.”

From an interview with Fantastic Metropolis. Be sure to also check out Kelly Link’s wonderful short story “Most of My Friends Are Two-Thirds Water” while you’re there. Found via Boing Boing.