It is hard to understand, indeed. Wolfram is clearly extremely accomplished by all standards. <i>We all know this</i>. Why in the world does he pump all his written work with insufferable self-promotion? <i>Anyone</i> in a position to make good use of Mathematica has heard of it. I haven&#x27;t met anyone who doesn&#x27;t know about WolframAlpha, and I&#x27;ve taught mathematics to high-schoolers.<p>Moreover, it should be obvious to Wolfram that his incessant self-promotion greatly reduces the probability that a reader will recommend his writing to their friends -- if Wolfram&#x27;s goal is to promote his software, research, or even just himself, then he&#x27;s clearly going about it in a ham-fisted way.