Here is a 3-paragraph summary of the blog post:
This math blog post tells a charming personal story that begins with the author clearing out their old math book collection. The reasoning is simple and practical: most mathematical information is readily available online these days. But while sorting through the shelves, the author stumbles upon a forgotten book that stops them in their tracks.
Opening the book, the author discovers an inscription that immediately brings on laughter. The handwritten note reads: "To Tanya, in memory of Sasha Beilinson's PhD thesis defense. May you always be in a good mood. Volodya..." The inscription connects three mathematicians in a single moment, capturing a slice of mathematical history tied to the PhD defense of Alexander Beilinson, a highly influential mathematician known for groundbreaking work in algebraic geometry and representation theory.
The story is a wonderful reminder that math is not just about theorems and proofs, but also about the human connections formed along the way. A book that might have seemed expendable at first glance turns out to hold something irreplaceable: a memory shared between colleagues and friends at a meaningful moment in mathematical history. It is the kind of discovery that makes even the most digitally minded mathematician think twice before tossing another book into the discard pile.