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Mathematics without Apologies: Portrait of a Problematic Vocation
Michael Harris
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Description for Mathematics without Apologies: Portrait of a Problematic Vocation
Hardback. Num Pages: 464 pages, 10 line illus. BIC Classification: BM; PBB; PBX; PDZ. Category: (G) General (US: Trade); (U) Tertiary Education (US: College). Dimension: 244 x 158 x 34. Weight in Grams: 818.
What do pure mathematicians do, and why do they do it? Looking beyond the conventional answers--for the sake of truth, beauty, and practical applications--this book offers an eclectic panorama of the lives and values and hopes and fears of mathematicians in the twenty-first century, assembling material from a startlingly diverse assortment of scholarly, journalistic, and pop culture sources. Drawing on his personal experiences and obsessions as well as the thoughts and opinions of mathematicians from Archimedes and Omar Khayyam to such contemporary giants as Alexander Grothendieck and Robert Langlands, Michael Harris reveals the charisma and romance of mathematics as well as its darker side. In this portrait of mathematics as a community united around a set of common intellectual, ethical, and existential challenges, he touches on a wide variety of questions, such as: Are mathematicians to blame for the 2008 financial crisis? How can we talk about the ideas we were born too soon to understand? And how should you react if you are asked to explain number theory at a dinner party? Disarmingly candid, relentlessly intelligent, and richly entertaining, Mathematics without Apologies takes readers on an unapologetic guided tour of the mathematical life, from the philosophy and sociology of mathematics to its reflections in film and popular music, with detours through the mathematical and mystical traditions of Russia, India, medieval Islam, the Bronx, and beyond.
Product Details
Format
Hardback
Publication date
2015
Publisher
Princeton University Press
Condition
New
Number of Pages
464
Place of Publication
New Jersey, United States
ISBN
9780691154237
SKU
V9780691154237
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 15 to 20 working days
Ref
99-15
About Michael Harris
Michael Harris is professor of mathematics at the Universite Paris Diderot and Columbia University. He is the author or coauthor of more than seventy mathematical books and articles, and has received a number of prizes, including the Clay Research Award, which he shared in 2007 with Richard Taylor.
Reviews for Mathematics without Apologies: Portrait of a Problematic Vocation
Winner of the 2016 PROSE Award in Mathematics, Association of American Publishers One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2015 "Mathematics without Apologies ... provide[s] an unmatched perspective on life in this 'problematic vocation' ... a kaleidoscope of philosophical, sociological, historical and literary perspectives on what mathematicians do, and why."
Amir Alexander, Nature "Harris is the kind of mathematician one hopes to meet at an intimate dinner party... Recommended for curious readers in any subject wishing to answer problems in creative ways."
Library Journal "If you are interested at all in what mathematics really is and what the best mathematicians really do (and you're up for an intellectual challenge), I highly recommend that you get a copy and set some time aside for delving into this unusual book... Harris manages to move back and forth between the deepest ideas about mathematics at the frontiers of the subject, insightful takes on the sociology of mathematical research, and a variety of topics pursued in a sometimes gonzo version of post-modern academic style. You will surely sometimes be baffled, but definitely will come away knowing about many things you'd never heard of before, and with a lot of new ideas to think about."
Peter Woit, Not Even Wrong "[A] wry and insightful look at what being a pure mathematician is all about, as seen from the inside."
Steven Strogatz, Physics Today "This extraordinary, extravagant Apologia pro Vita Sua
the title more deliberately echoes G. H. Hardy's renowned 1940 memoir A Mathematician's Apology
heads off in many directions and is all the more admirable for it. The book is part memoir, part account of the arcane research that brought number theorist Harris a measure of fame, and part sociological/economic study of academic mathematics. Together with interspersed chapters amusingly titled 'How to Explain Number Theory at a Dinner Party,' the work offers erudition, panache, and an intriguing authorial voice... A book to be read and then read again."
Choice "The erudition displayed by Harris in this book is amazing... The satisfaction it gives is more than rewarding."
A. Bultheel, Adhemar Bultheel Blog "This book is a rich tapestry interweaving various aspects of culture and tradition
social, economic, religious, aesthetic
in an attempt to explicate the three basic philosophical questions underlying mathematics as a human endeavor: the What, Why and How of it."
Swami Vidyanathananda, Prabuddha Bharata "Michael Harris is more than a mathematician; he is a Parisian intellectual."
Brendan Larvor, London Mathematical Society Newsletter "Even apprentice number theorists can understand and enjoy this well-written book. Harris's theories are coherent and rational, and he provides lay readers clarity into what contemporary mathematicians really do."
Bernadette Trainer, Mathematics Teacher
Amir Alexander, Nature "Harris is the kind of mathematician one hopes to meet at an intimate dinner party... Recommended for curious readers in any subject wishing to answer problems in creative ways."
Library Journal "If you are interested at all in what mathematics really is and what the best mathematicians really do (and you're up for an intellectual challenge), I highly recommend that you get a copy and set some time aside for delving into this unusual book... Harris manages to move back and forth between the deepest ideas about mathematics at the frontiers of the subject, insightful takes on the sociology of mathematical research, and a variety of topics pursued in a sometimes gonzo version of post-modern academic style. You will surely sometimes be baffled, but definitely will come away knowing about many things you'd never heard of before, and with a lot of new ideas to think about."
Peter Woit, Not Even Wrong "[A] wry and insightful look at what being a pure mathematician is all about, as seen from the inside."
Steven Strogatz, Physics Today "This extraordinary, extravagant Apologia pro Vita Sua
the title more deliberately echoes G. H. Hardy's renowned 1940 memoir A Mathematician's Apology
heads off in many directions and is all the more admirable for it. The book is part memoir, part account of the arcane research that brought number theorist Harris a measure of fame, and part sociological/economic study of academic mathematics. Together with interspersed chapters amusingly titled 'How to Explain Number Theory at a Dinner Party,' the work offers erudition, panache, and an intriguing authorial voice... A book to be read and then read again."
Choice "The erudition displayed by Harris in this book is amazing... The satisfaction it gives is more than rewarding."
A. Bultheel, Adhemar Bultheel Blog "This book is a rich tapestry interweaving various aspects of culture and tradition
social, economic, religious, aesthetic
in an attempt to explicate the three basic philosophical questions underlying mathematics as a human endeavor: the What, Why and How of it."
Swami Vidyanathananda, Prabuddha Bharata "Michael Harris is more than a mathematician; he is a Parisian intellectual."
Brendan Larvor, London Mathematical Society Newsletter "Even apprentice number theorists can understand and enjoy this well-written book. Harris's theories are coherent and rational, and he provides lay readers clarity into what contemporary mathematicians really do."
Bernadette Trainer, Mathematics Teacher