Books Galore

In my last post, I mentioned the fact that I found some old books of mine during the department's spring cleaning. I have actually accumulated a lot of books over the years, most of which bought during my PhD years and the subsequent years after that. As my financial commitment grew (with family and properties), I bought less and less books. I can't even remember the last book(s) I have bought; they are probably Bob's book with Aleks Kissinger, "Picturing Quantum Processes", d'Ariano's book with Chiribella and Perinotti, "Quantum Theory From First Principles" and Wallach's "Geometric Invariant Theory". 

I found some pics of my books taken in 1992 at my old office in Physics Department. Prior to that, I was in Bintulu campus, teaching physics foundation courses. I was send there immediately after returning from my PhD studies. I remembered feeling sore about it particularly when we were in grief after my father passed away just a day after reaching home from UK. Anyway, did bring some books to Bintulu and back (probably some even got lost then). The pics are shown below.

In the above pic, you can see my old 386 PC which I bought. I had little exposure to PCs before that and you can see the computer books that I bought on the lower shelf just to get me going.

The above is a closer shot. Just next to London Mathematical Society series of books (greenish blue in colour) are the light green MAAS Journal of Islamic Science which I have followed for awhile to see what was being discussed. Beyond that I have also subscribed Afkar Inquiry magazine to follow civilisational issues from Islamic perspectives. Both journals are now, sadly defunct. Before Afkar stopped publishing, I ordered  the bound copy of the older issues of the magazines before my subscription (see pic). I think I have lost my loose copies of the subscribed issues, probably somewhere in the theoretical physics room (now under someone else's care) in the old building. Besides this, I also used to subscribe The Muslim World Book Review, which is essentially books about books.

Below are the other pics showing my collection.

Here is me in 1992 in the old office.

Beyond the office, I tend to keep my religious books at home. Here is a snapshot of the books at 6th College where I used to be a fellow.

I will probably keep these books at least a few years after I retire and will probably let them go once I'm sure that I do not need them anymore.

Now somebody once mentioned to me that's instead of me reading more books, I should write at least one book. In fact, I did have a draft of my quantum mechanics lectures (see pic). It was written during the time when we were still teaching the courses in Malay. Indeed, the draft was actually sent to the university press for review, following the instruction of the dean at the time (Prof. Muhammad Awang). I did not get any feedback from the university press but I did get some comments personally from Prof. S.C. Lim (the reviewer). I wasn't actually happy with the book as it was sent in a rush (complying with dean's request). At some point, I did consider revising it, adding more examples and exercises plus even considered a second volume. Somehow this didn't happen; I have lost interest and particularly now that the course is conducted in English. Perhaps it is time for me to relook at my book writing as my younger colleagues have suggested. 

If I were to do so, I would probably want to include new materials considering the recent progress in quantum information and quantum foundations. The other factor to consider is to include an advanced portion of quantum many-body systems that may be useful to materials science. It should be tailored to our needs and interests, in the hope of that the book will differentiate itself from the numerous QM books in the market. So perhaps to end this post, I should ask the readers what they would like to see to be included in a new book of quantum mechanics. If you like, you can comment in the comment section below.