This book contains a collection of tales about mathematicians and the mathematical, derived from the author's experience. It shares with the reader the nature of the mathematical enterprise, and gives a glimpse of mathematical culture. The book brings legendary names to life, and shares little known stories about names we have heard all our lives. The book is written in a brisk and engaging manner and it also includes a number of attractive photographs and illustrations.
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'... a fascinating and amusing collection of stories about mathematicians and the mathematical world ... The pace is quick and I have to admit that I read it in one sitting and then left it by the loo so that I could skim through again looking for my favourites ... I hope that a really wide audience will read it as it brings to life a world that most people cannot imagine.' The Mathematical Gazette
Book Description
This is a collection of tales about mathematicians and the mathematical, derived from the author's experience. It shares the nature of the mathematical enterprise, and gives a glimpse of mathematical culture. It is written in a brisk and engaging manner and also includes a number of attractive photographs and illustrations.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stories about mathematicians as storytellers,
By Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (VINE VOICE) (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)
This review is from: Mathematical Apocrypha: Stories and Anecdotes of Mathematicians and the Mathematical (Spectrum) (Paperback)
Quite against the opinion of many, mathematicians are people too. They have quirks, foibles and eccentricities that are only slightly different in kind from those possessed by the remainder of the population. If you doubt that statement, read this book and be convinced. The author has collected together a set of the most interesting short stories about people, independent of the fact that they do math. It is funny, insightful and can be read by anyone. After I started it, I found it very difficult to put down, and I highly recommend it to everyone, whether they can balance an equation or not.Published in Journal of Recreational Mathematics, reprinted with permission.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Mathematical Apocrypha" is Full of Interesting and Humorous Anecdotes,
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This review is from: Mathematical Apocrypha: Stories and Anecdotes of Mathematicians and the Mathematical (Spectrum) (Paperback)
In my reading of Steven Krantz's "Mathematical Apocrypha", I encounter numerous anecdotes that endorse the view that not only do mathematicians tend to be eccentric, but they are often very funny -- sometimes intentionally so, and sometimes not.As something of an amateur mathematician-mathematical hobbyist, I find Krantz's book a very good read -- well worth buying. My guess is that many non-mathematicians could also find in the book many stories about mathematicians and their numerous quirks that could provide for humorous storytelling and joking. As an enthusiaist of mathematical ideas and those who generate them, I find "Mathematical Apocrypha" to be the best source of mathematical anecdotes I've yet been blessed with encountering.
6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Rather colourless,
By A Customer
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This review is from: Mathematical Apocrypha: Stories and Anecdotes of Mathematicians and the Mathematical (Spectrum) (Paperback)
I thought this book would be about the non-mathematical lives of famous mathematicians, and I was not proven wrong. The problem is that it is a compilation of one-paragraph anecdotes of many matehmaticians' lives, which makes for good coffee table reading and not bedtime reading. There is very little substance to any of the lifestyles of any of the characters.The accounts themselves relate to the famous and not-so-famous, but many of them are questionable as to whether they actually deserve to be in this book as they are may times simple accounts of a person's daily life - chronicling the events that happen to many of us on a daily basis. I summary the stories are too brief and there are other (better) factual books on the real lives and histories behind mathematics and mathematicians.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
George Mackey (1916- ) was with a group of other mathematicians on the free afternoon of a conference in New Mexico. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
math department Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Norbert Wiener, Fine Hall, Fields Medal, John von Neumann, World War, Paul Halmos, Washington University, Nobel Prize, Princeton University, United States, Albert Einstein, Bertrand Russell, University of Chicago, Stefan Bergman, Guido Weiss, Mittag-Leffler Institute, Paul Erdcis, Ralph Boas, Cambridge University, Dennis Sullivan, John Nash, Marcel Riesz, New York City, Penn State, Richard Courant New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
George Mackey (1916- ) was with a group of other mathematicians on the free afternoon of a conference in New Mexico. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
math department Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Norbert Wiener, Fine Hall, Fields Medal, John von Neumann, World War, Paul Halmos, Washington University, Nobel Prize, Princeton University, United States, Albert Einstein, Bertrand Russell, University of Chicago, Stefan Bergman, Guido Weiss, Mittag-Leffler Institute, Paul Erdcis, Ralph Boas, Cambridge University, Dennis Sullivan, John Nash, Marcel Riesz, New York City, Penn State, Richard Courant New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 32
books:
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16
books
cite this book:
See all 16 books citing this book
- A Century of Mathematics in America, Part 1 (History of Mathematics, Vol. 1) by Peter Duren in Back Matter
- An Introduction to Harmonic Analysis (Cambridge Mathematical Library) by Yitzhak Katznelson on page 13
- Mathematical Circles Squared: A Third Collection of Mathematical Stories and Anecdotes (Eves Series in Mathematics) by Howard W. Eves in Back Matter
- Norbert Wiener 1894-1964 (Vita Mathematica) by Pesi R. Masani on page 119
- Non-Euclidean Geometry (Mathematical Association of America Textbooks) by H. S. M. Coxeter in Front Matter
See all 32 books this book cites
- A Mathematician's Survival Guide: Graduate School and Early Career Development by Steven G. Krantz in Back Matter
- Sherlock Holmes in Babylon and Other Tales of Mathematical History (Spectrum) by Marlow Anderson in Front Matter
- 99 Points of Intersection: Examples-Pictures-Proofs by Hans Walser in Front Matter
- Mathematical Circles Revisited & Mathematical Circles Squared (Mathematical Association of America) by Howard W. Eves in Front Matter
- Mathematical Circles Adieu and Return to Mathematical Circles (Mathematical Circles, Volume III) (Mathematical Association of America) by Howard W. Eves in Front Matter
See all 16 books citing this book
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