Riley Harris

A collection of posts that “seemed like a good idea at the time”.

  • Trial by fire: My mission to prove every real analysis theorem from scratch

    Proving stuff yourself is hard, and my initial attempts were catastrophic. I wrote one proof that began with a stronger statement than the conclusion I was attempting to draw, rendering the proof useless even in the unlikely case it was otherwise successful. It was not otherwise successful. Jumping through several dodgy implications and logical errors,…

  • Books I Love (Updated for 2020)

    Here is an updated list of my favourite books, divided into five categories: Books on learning Books on understanding the world Books that changed my perspective Entertaining and fun books Honourable mentions

  • Two Approaches to Learning

    Josh Kaufman argues you can learn anything in less than 20 Hours. This seems to contradict research that says it takes (on average) 10,000 hours to master a skill. Josh Kaufman doesn’t mean it takes you 20 hours to master a skill, it just takes that long to get “good enough”. This article explains two…

  • Don’t Learn Latin, Don’t Use Translations, Don’t Be a Hack.

    I recently read my first book in Spanish. To celebrate, I’m reflecting on how I got here. It was an arduous journey and there are many pitfalls to avoid. Three principles guided my way: Don’t be led astray Eliminate the unimportant Go slow to go fast

  • Attracting Exceptionally Famous Speakers to Your Events

    I was so excited by our event with Peter Singer last year. My small team of core student organizers managed to book a sought-after public figure with almost no money or experience. Hundreds found our Facebook event with no advertising, and about 50 people rocked up to ask the renowned philosopher questions. How did we…

  • Radical Democracy

    How can governance represent the needs of the people?  How can governments disseminate power, and give equal consideration of interests? One proposal is quadratic voting, outlined in the book “Radical Markets”. The authors, Eric Posner and Glen Weyl, propose “Quadratic Voting”. This proposal replaces ‘one person one vote’. It replaces equal influence in choosing governments…

  • Fantastic Beasts and Where they Came From

    Sitting in the botanic gardens, hungover, watching the ducks skim across the water, waiting for the revival we knew only coffee could bring. Attempting a normal conversation. “Have you heard the theory that octopuses are aliens that arrived on a comet?”, my friend asked. I hadn’t. We examined this strange theory. It apparently relied on…

  • The Missing Puzzle Piece

    Recently, I decided to go back to basics, and learn mathematics from the ground up. You will find that post here. Calculus was first on the list. I’m taking the MIT course in single variable calculus, it’s available for free online. It’s tempting to try and jump a few rungs. We understandably want to learn…

  • What I’ve Been Reading

    Books I’ve read, complete since 2016 (and whatever I could remember of 2015). If I read it more than once, it appears more than once. I’m not sure why I decided to post this publicly. 2015 A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgress The Art of Thinking Clearly Armidillo A Rough Guide to the Future –…

  • So I’ve Decided to Learn Math

    I might want to do an Economics PhD My undergraduate degree was in economics, now I’m studying a master’s in philosophy. I absolutely love philosophy, and I’m excited by the opportunity to dive in deep. Yet there are reasons I’d consider further study in economics, rather than philosophy. Importantly, the job prospects for even the…