David Strumfels

• Age: 53
• Gender: Male
• Industry: Technology
• Occupation: Scientist / Computer Programmer / Writer
• Location: Philadelphia : PA : United States

About Me

I have to believe that what stands out more than anything else in me is my curiosity and passion for knowledge, truth, and understanding in so many fields, particularly nature and science, but also people and human psychology and various areas of technology. I tend to be -- well, obsessive is probably the best word for it -- about solving interesting problems and mastering the knowledge needed to do so. When I find something interesting, it is very difficult to pull myself away from it. Although I am in many ways rather a loner, as I said I do like people, and I believe this obsessiveness is what accounts for my desire to understand other people.

How tall would you be if you had never cut your fingernails?

I can't imagine it would make any difference at all, but I'd love to know if it does, and why.

Interests

• My main intellectual interests physics
• cosmology
• astronomy
• chemistry
• a certain amount of math
• geology
• molecular /cell biology
• computers
• the brain
• and the field of consciousness. I also enjoy computer programming
• largely on a professional basis. Oddly perhaps
• despite this
• and the considerable time I spend at computers
• I would not consider myself a computer "geek" by any sense of the word. I view computers and software and computer networks like the Internet as fascinating and useful tools for the variety of tasks they have found niches for. Probably
• this lack of (geekhood?) is because I have never been much into games playing. I also Very much enjoy reading
• mostly science
• but also some fiction and history. I also enjoy writing
• and have published some science fiction and am currently corking on a book on curiosity
• imagination
• and science. Although physical activities are not among my prime interests
• I do enjoy hiking and exploring nature. I also enjoy watching tennis (which I used to play)
• baseball
• and football. Other than these
• however
• I am not very sports oriented (with the possible exception of sports statistics
• which probably appeals to me for purely mathematical reasons). I also enjoy people: not as much in social settings but more one a one on one basis
• where I try very hard to understand them; also
• people with interesting or "off- beat" minds draw me to them. I also have some interest in Buddhism. These days I get a lot more information from the internet
• primarily through Wiki. Some television
• e. g.
• documentaries
• PBS shows like "Nova" and "Nature".

Favorite Movies

• "Annie Hall"
• "The Maltese Falcon"
• "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest"
• "Chinatown"
• "As Good As It Gets"
• Monty Python's "Search For The Holy Grail" and "Life of Brian"
• Mel Brooks' "Blazing Saddles" and "The Producers"
• Stanley Kubrik's "Dr. Strangelove" and "2001: A Space Odyssey"
• The Beatle's "Hard Day's Night"
• "Casablanca"
• "Lawrence of Arabia"
• "Saving Private Ryan"
• "The Mask"
• "The Shawshank Redemption"
• "12 Angry Men
• "Inherit the Wind"
• "North by Northwest"
• "Rear Window"
• "The Birds"
• "The Haunting"
• "The Matrix" "Apocalypse Now"
• "To Kill a Mockingbird"
• "Chinatown"
• "A Clockwork Orange"
• "Midnight Cowboy"
• and a few others which I can't think about at the moment.

Favorite Music

• I love a number of classical works (Beethoven's "Pastoral"
• "Afternoon Of A Fawn" and "Clair De Lune" by Debussey
• Pachelbel's "Canon" come to mind. My favorite piece is probably Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue". But I also enjoy a great deal in modern music
• including many jazz pieces
• folk songs by people like Dylan
• Simon and Garfunkel
• a hodgepodge of pieces by Crosby
• Stills
• and Nash
• Niel Young
• and practically everything the Beatles wrote.

Favorite Books

• My favorite science writers are Jacob Bronowski ("The Ascent of Man")
• Richard Dawkins (his "The Blind Watchmaker" is right up there up Ascent
• and he has many other wonderful books as well)
• "The Elegant Universe" and "The Fabric of the Cosmos" by Brian Greene
• "Guns
• Germs
• and Steel"
• "Why People Believe Weird Things" and "The Borderlands of Science: Where Sense Meets Nonsense" by Michael Shermer
• and much of Isaac Asimov. I also have a favorite writer on Buddhism
• Pema Chodron. I also enjoy Steven Pinker
• John Allen Paulos' "Innumeracy"
• and many books by Stephen Jay Gould
• Carl Sagan
• Oliver Sacks
• Paul Davies
• Matt Ridley
• Robert Frost
• and Ernest Hemingway.

My Blogs	Team Members
A Medley of Potpourri