<p>I love James Joyce. Portrait of an Artist as A Young Man rocked my socks. Especially Joyce's views (portrayed through Stephen Dedalus) on philosophy. They were so insightful.</p>
<p>no no michael is definitely not one of those anti social math geeks who are arrogant and are only good at one thing. He's one of the nicest people I've met and just has so much passion for what he does. If you meet him you will know. Also..if you don't know already..he's a violin/piano virtuoso.</p>
<p>I don't know how "good" Michael is at the other stuff, only that he's a brilliant mathematician (of course) and a prodigial violinist. But it's funny, you don't feel stupid talking to him. I mean, if you ask him, he'll talk about math, but otherwise he'll act totally normal. That being said, being home-schooled (which has, by the way, given him an advantage, but also the opportunity to make the best of his genius) has made his social life much different than any of ours. But when I asked him about it, he was saying that between his music lessons and his courses at UCSD he does make friends and I didn't go into the level of what he meant by "friend" but he's certainly a friendly kid :)</p>
<p>DHA--I bet you can't characterize all rational solutions of the Dirichlet problem to save your life :p</p>
<p>Go San Diego, two winners in a row! I'll see if I can pay him a visit at our concert in 4 and a half hours. I'm sure he'll be surrounded by a lot of awe-shocked people.</p>
<p>Hey, if you see him, tell him Adam says hi :)</p>
<p>
[quote]
He took calculus in 8th grade and is now taking graduate level differential geometry
[/quote]
um what the hell... doesn't that mean hes finished all the undergraduate mathwork? Then why the hell does he need to go to Harvard for math??</p>
<p>That's why students like him actually choose Harvard...undergrads like him will have the opportunity to take a wide range of grad level classes. Also, there are a lot of math opportunities at the undergrad level that may be outside the sequence this student took. My son, who also finished BC calc in 8th grade and then took three college level classes, still plans on taking some other math undergrad courses that are off-shoots of the areas he studied during h.s. (he is not, by the way, on the level of this Siemens guy, nor does he plan to pursue math as a career).</p>
<p>Wow, that's still really impressive, what your son did!! It humbles the rest of us :(</p>
<p>I remember Michael telling me about this one undergrad math course at Harvard that's supposedly the hardest in the country. He seemed really excited about it :)</p>
<p>Yeah, my son told me about it...I think it's Math 55. Apparantly, they tell you right off the bat that if you're not one of the top 100 h.s. math students in the country, you better not start with that! (Sounds perfect for your friend!)</p>
<p>Ah yes...if admitted....I think I'll skip that one :)</p>
<p>I'd love to try to take it, but unfortunately I won't have enough experience. :(</p>
<p>yea he's a good pianist--we were in a comp. together.
his biography in the concert program was insane. And if he doesn't get in... :p</p>
<p>ya i ate dinner with the kid last night and wow was he amazing. He was adding single digits like it was like eating donuts.</p>
<p>"I love James Joyce."</p>
<p>I think it's funny when people say this...they usually mean "i've read portrait or ive read dubliners or ive tried reading ulysses or ive tried reading finnegans wake" im not trying to knock anyone when i say this, but i think very few people can say that i love james joyce's entire body of work (provided that enjoyment entails a certain qualified level of understanding) </p>
<p>that being said, i liked portrait and dubliners mostly because each time i reread those books (especially portrait) i catch something that i didnt get in previous readings</p>
<p>by the way i know this has nothing to do with this thread im just replying to what hotpiece said earlier^</p>
<p>I don't love james joyces entire body of work. I love him!!! Seriously, i would marry him if he wasn't dead.</p>
<p>he he wasn't the hottest guy by today's standards ( i know this means alot to you hotpiece :)) and not the most social person either hehe</p>
<p>Oh but we love him anyway ;) Were you at Nationals, deadhead?</p>
<p>"he wasn't the hottest guy by today's standards (i know this means alot to you hotpiece)"</p>
<p>Wow, i am not as superficial as you all might think. I don't even care that James Joyce wasn't hot. In fact, i would rather date a guy that was hideous but fun talk to than a guy that is extremely hot but a huge jerk. I know i talk about looks a lot on this board, but it was all in fun. I was completely joking. I mean, seriously, this is the Harvard board. I think all of us are intellectually developed enough to look beyond superficiality.</p>
<p>no way...im a math/science doofus....but i was there in spirit ;)</p>
<p>yea i know hotpiece i was just jokin with ye...all in good fun</p>