During his studies, Dr. Predrag Pale, associate professor at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing at the University of Zagreb, was fascinated by the human physiology textbook by Arthur C. Guyton 'Medical Physiology' because it resembled a user manual or service guide for the human body. It was engaging and he enjoyed reading it, but he claims that he was probably most influenced by two books by one author. This is Andrew Stuart Tanenbaum, a professor of computer science at Vrije University in the Netherlands, and the books 'Operating Systems' and 'Computer Networks'. When preparing his courses that included these topics, Pale could not think of clearer ways to explain than Tanenbaum’s regarding why certain technology, methods, or solutions are needed and how they actually function.
What is a good book
In the end, he believes, these were textbooks that should be clear to everyone and without pretentious mathematics. Since Pale has always wanted to read and write clear, simple books, he was somewhat discouraged and in doubt whether he was wrong with such views and aspirations, as no book matched his ideas of a good book.
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—– Finally, these were such books. They did not change anything in me, but they encouraged me, strengthened me, gave me the confidence to follow my intuition and to teach others, not just in the way Tanenbaum does but in every way I feel is right. After that, I never doubted my intuition again and I relentlessly make interventions, changes, improvements, and experiments in teaching. Everything I do in teaching is emphasized simplification so that almost everyone can understand everything. I firmly believe that if I cannot explain something simply, then I do not understand it deeply. Especially today, with the internet, I believe it is not the teacher’s job to explain details, but the meaning and main properties; to put what he teaches in context and provoke the student to think. And to motivate him to further explore on his own – said Pale.
