Les: > i love a nice looking piece of math, in fact i tend > to get it only if i can see the artwork effort which > went into creating it.
Between you and I, me too. Not only that, I pay great attention to make my mathematics writing look beautiful. Unlike most people believe, mathematics is not about numbers at all. It is about patterns and structures. I heard him speak a few times as well, once on dynamic stability, and he made the topic so easy to understand that I couldn't believe that he is the same person who wrote those papers. I am familiar with his early work, until the late 1980s, in mechanics and don't know what he did after that, but the area in which he was working prior to 1990s died. Not that there is nothing left to do in there but that what is left is very difficult for anyone to attack, and more importantly, doesn't sell any more. I like Marsden though. A very smart guy. Best, Sabri
