Customer Reviews

Men of Mathematics

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book has entertained, educated and intrigued two generations of young aspiring mathematicians, as well as people who would never grow up to do research mathematics, but who could see the beauty of number. Bell's style is addictive; he makes every personality come to life--from Galois, brilliant, unlucky and doomed, to Gauss, the "Prince of Mathematicians", to Pascal, mystical and tormented. No one who reads this book can forget, for example, the section entitled "Galois' last night", where, the night before Galois knows he will die, he spends "the fleeting hours feverishly dashing off his last will and testament, writing against time to glean a few of the great things in his teeming mind before the death which he foresaw could overtake him. Time after time he broke off to scribble in the margin 'I have not time; I have not time,' and passed on to the next frantically scrawled outline."

Which is sad, in a way, because it is, according to modern accounts of Galois' life, not accurate. The work Bell is describing was written before his last night, in no such hurry. This has been known for some time, and yet few who know, and who perhaps should know better, will relinquish their affection for this marvellous book. It so captures the enthusiasm one can feel for the beauty and poetry that mathematics brings to the mind that errors of fact are minor flaws.

And the errors are few enough that they really don't matter. In Galois' case, for example, one takes away a deeply etched portrait of an astonishing mind that descended on revolutionary France like a meteorite, and which had about as much chance of being understood. This is accurate, and Bell tells his stories so powerfully that they stay in the mind--for decades, in my case and that of others I know who have read him.

Bell includes many wonderful quotes and stories. The whole first section of the book is just a series of quotes--my favourite is perhaps Weierstrass, "A mathematician who is not also something of a poet will never be a complete mathematician." But he lards the book with quotes, and since this book can profitably be read by an enthusiastic 12-year-old, and often has been, for many people this book is the first time they will meet with such famous quotes as Newton's line about being merely a child, playing with pretty pebbles on the seashore.

Bell claims that the book is not a history of mathematics, and he's right. It's a series of chapters that provide biographical--and mathematical--sketches of thirty-odd great mathematicians, from Archimedes to Cantor. You'll learn a lot about the history of mathematics from this book, but mostly you'll be infected by the passionate enthusiasm of someone who knows and loves his subject. Buy it; read it; if you love mathematics you won't regret it.

This was the book that piqued my interest in mathematics and the people who does mathematics for a living. Be aware that this book was written in the days when only caucasian western men did mathematics. Asian mathematics weren't considered and women mathematicians were considered to be novelties, not worthy of attention.

This book considered all of the heavy weights in mathematics at the time. From the Greeks onward until those mathematicians considered worthy at the time of Bell's writing. Bell's review of their lives are partly general biography, part assessment of their mathematics, and part psychological studies of why they did what they did. Bell is by no means an objective reporter of the facts. He definitely had his favorites and he had his not so favorites, and he was not shy about letting you know. That is partly why this is such a good book. He puts in his opinions of the foibles and genius of each of the men he is writing about and he puts their genius in a pecking order that he himself created. I found it informative and entertaining. Others may find it bothersome, but this is by far the most complete book of its kind for its day. I recommend it to anyone even remotely interested in mathematics and mathematicians.

This book is a collection of dozens of (short) biographies of mathematicians ranging from the ancient Greeks to leading 19th century mathematicians, like Cantor or Weierstrass. His writing is charming, to say the least, and he puts forth his personal opinion numerous times throughout the text. While the work contains some mathematics, it is at a level simple enough for most people to understand, and in any case, those parts can be skipped through without too much loss in content.

We learn that mathematicians really are like the rest of the world, not nerds or ivory-tower type academicians. The types of people here span the whole gamut, and as their lives were intertwined with historical events of the time, we learn a bit about general history in this book as well.

Bell's writing is also excellent. He keeps the style varied, and as his material spans almost 2500 years, the book is never boring. My personal favorites were the biographies about Galois and Abel, and as their lives were tragically cut short by lots of unlucky circumstances, Bell writes wonderfully about their lives and how mathematics touched them, and in return was blessed by them. It is perhaps Galois' story which can ring true with younger readers - like many teenagers, he was full of ambition, dreams, and hopes, but, well, he had an incredible gift for mathematics and also a whole lot of bad luck - but you'll have to read the book to see for yourself!

This book is definitely not to be missed. Although the book is long, you'll enjoy every minute of it, and also come away wiser about a group of people not many people in this world know much about.

Eric Temple Bell was a fine mathematician on his own. And he could write, also."Men of Mathematics" is a great book and probably a perennial one. I read it first almost 50 years ago, in a Spanish translation. I was immediately fascinated. It obviously influenced me, as, later, on the brink of entering the university, I decided to change from medicine to mathematical physics. The chapters had charming titles: the one that talked about Cayley and Sylvester was called Invariant Twins (Gemelos Invariantes); the one on Galois, "Genius and Tragedy". Now I have the last edition, and the titles are all there. At the time of my first reading the men which impressed me more were Gauss (unforgetable chapter), Riemann (very moving), Galois and, of course, Newton. Recently I read some comments on his chapter on Riemann, considered overly romanticized. Who cares?

I first read this book when I was thirteen years old, from the public library. I found it engrossing and never forgot the title and author. Now sixty years later I have my own copy and have enjoyed it even more - basically because the math that went over my head then sticks a little more after college math, also many years ago, in science and engineering. I expected to find many anachronisms in a book published that long ago, but apart from prescient references to the upcoming World War II, it could have been written now. Of course the subject matter does not date. The style of writing flows very smoothly and holds the attention of the reader. This book will be enjoyed most by those who enjoy, or have enjoyed doing math. It has some relatively elementary math presentation for those who want to dust off their gray matter and try to follow. But this is not essential. The lives of the math geniuses of the centuries are of a fascinating variety. All these years I could not remember which one, at the age of twenty one was shot in a stupid duel and left to die at the side of the road. Now I know.

My father gave me this book when I was 9 years old, shortly after it was first published in 1937. I was a very disappointed child to receive a present I could barely read, let alone understand. Of course, I read this book when I was older and able to appreciate it as my father, no doubt, originally intended. The chapter that affected me the most was the one on Cantor, the last chapter in the book incidentally, and his horribly abusive treatment by Kronecker. His death in a mental instution in January 1918, was sad, indeed; despite the fact he was then 73 years old. It was no way for such a genius to be dishonored. There's little more I can add to what has already been said by others possessing the gift of eloquence. Since this book has been continually in print for the past 53 years, I suspect it will still be in print long after many of us are gone. I still re-read chapters of it from time to time; always enjoyable.

In this book, Bell provides the reader with an engaging look into the personal lives of many great mathematicians. While most mathematical biographies focus mainly on the individual's work, Men of Mathematics pays special attention to the lifestyles and life stories of some of the math greats. Mathematical contributions of the men are not downplayed, they are just presented in the context of their social and private lives and of the society in which they lived. For these reasons, Men of Mathematics has become one of my favorite pieces of biographical literature.

I first read this book in the 1960's based on the recommendations of a calculus teacher and have reread it many times (my poor paperback edition has long since fallen apart because of so much use).

There's not much to say -- just get the book and read it. You will enjoy it.

Realize the book was written in 1937 and covers few of the 20th century mathematicians. That's OK -- there's still plenty of good reading!

This is a truly wonderful book! As a female scientist I did not feel that the author was sexist. He treats women fairly. However, there is not a lot written about female mathematicians in Bell's book, because at that time there were not many of them (in fact there is a book about that "Women in Mathematics", which I have not read, which should be the appropriate book for the ones interested in women in mathematics).
I was totally delighted by the stories in the book. I just started to study again many of the subjects he discusses: Hamilton-Jacobi equations, Newton's original writtings, etc. I was so amazed that a mathematician (Bell) had also an amazing talent for writing. Read the book! I am sure you will love it too!

This is a superbly written collection of biographies. Mr. Bell was obviously a great writer--his ability shows in how he brings each mathematician to life, as well as in his witty sense of sarcasm. Each chapter is dedicated mainly to the life and career of the mathematician in question, and to a lesser extent to the substance of his mathematical work.

I decided to give the book four stars instead of five because I felt that it tackled too much in too little space. Not having any mathematical education beyond high school calculus (which I've completely forgotten), I found it very difficult at times to follow the technical discussions, despite Mr. Bell's assurance to the contrary in the Introduction. This is most likely, however, not something that the author could have remedied with a clearer explanation--let's face it, squeezing a mathematical genius's life work into three pages that a non-mathematician can (almost) comprehend is quite a challenge.

Overall, this book is well worth reading for anyone with an interest in mathematics and/or the sciences in general--keeping in mind, of course, that the focus of the book is the lives of great mathematicians and not an in-depth study of their work.