Coining the word ‘fractal’ has been foreshadowed from the early chapters – such as Mandelbrot’s study of Latin as a youth and his education in the US near pioneers of newly named fields like biochemistry. He compares his writing style and objectives with that of his uncle Szolem, and summarizes his approach towards writing.

Best Quote(s)

“Throughout my life, it had been my principle never to compete frontally with anybody.” 4087

Mandelbrot’s The Fractalist, Chapter 26 (Location 4087)

Mandelbrot is delighted to find a group that will be publishing a collection of artwork, and with that he writes out a life rule that is unique, and likely colored by the violence that surrounded him in his youth.

“Many scientific articles are completely flat because they are written for people who do not have to be convinced.” 4189

Mandelbrot’s The Fractalist, Chapter 26 (Location 4189)

This is a fantastic insight – if the audience is captive, and if the author knows their information is unique and valuable, then what incentive do they have to make reading a joy?

“Whether it is opera or Greek drama, one must know how to enter into a subject quickly because one cannot assume that the audience will wait to understand. One has to be able to speak to people in their style, to motivate and even amuse the reader a little.” 4193

Mandelbrot’s The Fractalist, Chapter 26 (Location 4193)

Enter the subject to quickly – and the reader is not prepared to receive the message. Enter it too slowly, and they are bored and walk away. How wonderful to enter a topic in conversation, where words can flow back and forth and we can reach the topic at the pace needed in order to achieve our goals.

“Szolem responded, “Yes, there are about fifteen people in the world who read everything I write. That is enough. I find that very comforting.”” 4018

Mandelbrot’s The Fractalist, Chapter 26 (Location 4087)

The humor of this statement, with Mandelbrot’s uncle proudly boasting of his 15 loyal readers, compared to the generations of people who now know Mandelbrot and his fractals, is a great contrast to the anxiety that Mandelbrot faced his whole life.

Page by Page, Screen by Screen, Swipe by Swipe – 24 Mandelbrot Quotes

3984

“NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER of a word that appears at the right time and in the right context and—let us not forget—accompanied by the right pictures.”

3989

“I also checked in advance that “fractalist”…”

4007

“But I chose to coin a new word—one not directly evocative of anything in the past. I wanted to convey the idea of a broken stone, something irregular and fragmented.” 4007

4018

“Szolem responded, “Yes, there are about fifteen people in the world who read everything I write. That is enough. I find that very comforting.”” 4018

4023

“… But watch out: don’t let yourself be carried away and spend the rest of your life trying to improve it. Go back to something standard and build yourself a reputation that will ease your career.” Advice that—of course—I failed to follow.”

The 1982 Book, The Fractal Geometry of Nature

4029

“I succeeded in persuading W. H. Freeman’s top brass to charge a low price for the book and include a sixteen-page color signature (at a time when color was still perceived as expensive) because I felt it would be a good investment.”

First Fractals Meeting in Courchevel

4055

“The mathematicians were amazed that what they considered to be safe esoterica was in fact part and parcel of nature. The physicists were amazed that many complicated problems could be solved in a simple and transparent way. All the Kepler moments of my life to that day had come together.”

4072

“Then we drove on to Tulle, that hollow in the mountains where I had spent several years during the war, which, after all those years, I still consider my true home.”

4082

Riding the Coattails of a Best Seller from Bremen

4087

Color prints from another publisher

“Throughout my life, it had been my principle never to compete frontally with anybody.” 4087

I Become Known as the Father of Fractal Geometry

4104

“One reason The Fractal Geometry of Nature took off was that an amazing variety of journals reviewed it—in glowing terms.”

4110

“And the book did not become that nightmare of publishers: one that reviewers love but readers avoid.”

4116

Mandelbrot 26.2

4099

I Become Known as the Father of Fractal Geometry

A Shower of Awards

4135

“A specialized award in mathematics is the annual Sierpiński Medal of the University of Warsaw and the Polish Mathematical Society.”

Awards Accompanied by Backlash

4152

“But unfair competition from an outsider is something that no group faces rationally.”

4156

“The third worst, which is what happened, was an uncanny split I had to learn to live with.”

“In addition to the continuing flow of glowing reviews there was a trickle of dismissive comments and virulent diatribes.”

4160

The Balzac-Bohr-Bialik Syndrome: The Tongue, the Pen, and the Eye

“Being an agile writer can be a great asset.”

4165

“Once, having seen in a museum in Paris a page of Balzac’s proofs—and feeling bubbly and flush—I tried to buy a corrected proof for myself.”

4169

“He (Neil’s Bohr) had to be urged by colleagues to stop revising and publish, and his earlier drafts continue to be viewed as better than the last and to circulate in a kind of samizdat.”

4173

“I never begin with a table of contents and then write chapters, sections, and sentences in the order in which they appear.”

4180

“Let me elaborate by expanding on the distinction I see between “seers,” who favor pictures—as I do—and “hearers,” who favor language. Written or printed material is a hybrid that came late in human evolution and some otherwise advanced cultures never produced it at all.”

4189

“The paper becomes a new crucible for creativity, a crutch for lesser Mozarts.”

“Many scientific articles are completely flat because they are written for people who do not have to be convinced.” 4189

4193

“Whether it is opera or Greek drama, one must know how to enter into a subject quickly because one cannot assume that the audience will wait to understand. One has to be able to speak to people in their style, to motivate and even amuse the reader a little.” 4193

4192

A regret?

“And I must confess harboring a sharp regret. Had I been able to get more assistance in the early years, I would have moved faster, and The Fractal Geometry of Nature would have appeared when money for scientific research was flowing, well before 1982.”