Customer Reviews

The Calculus of Friendship: What a Teacher and a Student Learned about Life while Corresponding about Math

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an absolutely beautiful book about the relationship through letters of a high school math teacher and one of his students who becomes a world class mathematician. It's about their lives and the mathematics that bound them together. I have read quite a few memoirs and don't recall any that choked me up like this one did, I want to thank Dr. Strogatz for being so open. Also, the math in the book is very interesting and well explained, if I could give if more than five stars I would.

This is a very interesting book about the relationship between a high school student and teacher that extends long after the student has graduated. Because both student and teacher are math teachers, the correspondence between them frequently revolves aroung math problems that interest them, but it includes much more than that. Not being mathematically inclined whatsoever, I skipped over all the math, and found it a touching story. For those interested in the math too, it will be a double treat.

I am clearly in the minority, but this book did not inspire me at all. Simply put, it seems as though the author was writing a story that was not compelling in the least, not as a book of friendship, nor as a book of mathematics. It was a story that seemed forced -- that is, it was made out to be more that it really was.

To review, Strogatz had Joff as a teacher in high school, and was uninspired by him. Nevertheless, they corresponded a few letters over the next few years of mathematical content, discovering or rediscovering various mathematical proofs (these proofs form the bulk of the book). Then, for many decades, Strogatz all but ignored his teacher's letters, while he got married and set out on his own path as a mathematician. Later, with some remorse, he began to write back again, and then visited Joff in what seemed a rather uneventful visit. Strogatz concluded after that visit that after all these years, he finally realized what he has to thank Joff for --- that "he let me teach him".
This is a friendship?

I didn't find their friendship to be a meaningful one at all. The tone throughout the book by Strogatz was one of condescension toward his teacher - that he was not the mathematician that Strogatz had become. The author's ego made it a somewhat uncomfortable read -- we get it -- you are very smart.

Perhaps this level of friendship is one that some mathematicians would consider meaningful. I didn't find it inspiring in the least.

Full disclosure: Don Joffray, about whom this book was written, was a great friend of my parents so I knew him as much more than a teacher. The great thing about this book is that the author, Steve Strogatz, paints an accurate, empathetic picture of Joff the man & Joff the teacher, and also weaves a compelling story about the enduring friendship between two math geeks (I say this with admiration). I am not a math major so some of the calculations went beyond my meager understanding, but that didn't matter. Even the math conversations replicated in the book were glimpses into the continuum of a student/teacher realtionship. Very cool!- V. Norris

Very touching book. I admit I did not understand all the math ... I enjoyed seeing it, though.:) Bittersweet in a "benjamin button" sort of way.

Written by a Math Prof @ Cornell University, it is on Calculus, not in the dry formal math textbook way, but via a life story and many correspondences with his retired high-school math teacher, who helped the author overcome his fear of "epsilon-delta" in Calculus lesson at high-school.

Also in this book the author gave the working example of Feynman's "Differentiate under Integral" trick, not shown in the original book "Are you Joking, Mr. Feynman" where Feynman mentioned he self-paced the "secret weapon" from the "Advanced Calculus" (Woods).

I recommended this book to our local National Library to procure 10 copies for general public's reading. It is a shame if they don't, this book is an excellent reading for curious nonmathematicians.

Having read Strogatz's "Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos" Nonlinear Dynamics And Chaos: With Applications To Physics, Biology, Chemistry, And Engineering (Studies in nonlinearity)
I can only say that this book shines in the same spirit of a man who is able to bring conceptual understanding of math to a level that the read is able to glimpse and understand the workings of the minds who derived and invented the theorems to begin with.
Many reviewers here have already mentioned the heartfelt rendition of the author's friendship and how it developes over decades, however no less does the complexity and intricacy of the math evolve over the chapters.
What stays the same is the easy with which Strogatz explains the concepts in his letters, even on complex (no pun intended) subject matter.
As such, paraphrasing from the blurb, two things stay constant in the turmoil that is life, friendships, the other, the shared joy of curiosity.

I wish I'd known earlier in the book that there would be references at the end to learn more about the math behind each problem. But the math is not really the point - it's mostly the author's growing realization of the influence his teacher had on him, over the long period of time covered in the book.

A touching collection of letters between a high school math teacher and a former student which explores the role of mentoring over many decades. Although the letters contain lots of calculus, it is a truly moving story of a friendship between student and teacher that moves ever so slowly from a purely professional exchange of information into more personal territory.

I am a new math teacher and this book was great at showing me how important lasting relationships can be to my students. It was wonderful reading about how the relationship blossomed through MATH!!! A fun read about math WITH some math in it!