Interesting Conversations

So I had an interesting interaction on a plane.  So I am sitting in an exit row and enjoying myself reading my book (The Princeton Companion to Mathematics).  I come back from the bathroom and the lady behind me across the aisle ask me a question.  It is obvious she had been wondering for a while and wanted to ask: "Is that a textbook?"  So I was like, 'no', I mean it isn't a textbook.  How do you though say what it is.  So I said it was a tour-de-force of the modern mathematical research at the end of the 20th century, which I think is mostly an accurate way to look at it.

So but here is the thing.  The number of people who actually read this book is slim and there is an exceedingly small portion of the population which could even understand the 'review' chapter.  So I felt extreme pride in telling them what I was reading.  I mean it is quite something that I can read it and understand the majority of the concepts (thought I don't honestly get the insanely complicated ones, I am still having trouble with buildings (there isn't even a wikipedia article on it)).  So is it right to feel proud of myself?  I mean I am trying to improve myself by doing more than just reading people magazine.  Or is it wrong to feel that way?  You know in my opinion it is ok because this is complicated and advanced and I can understand it and I should feel good.  I am sure most people will disagree that it is valid to feel proud that you can do something well or at all but I completely disagree.  Now it isn't like I was standing up on the plane and being like, 'I'm better than you because I can read this' (that would have been inappropriate).  However it is important to know your strengths and nuture them, additionally (and I will write more on this later) humility is not the lack of pride in yourself it is the proper amount of pride and the self awareness to know where that line is between your abilities and where your abilities are not.  Anyway.  All of that went through my mind so I thought I would write about it.

I would add that no one else can judge whether you have the proper amount of pride in your abilities.  They might think they can but they cannot mostly because people always remember the one time you were wrong instead of the other times where you were not.