Customer Reviews

Of Men and Numbers: The Story of the Great Mathematicians

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

 

 

This is an great book for anyone who has even a slight interest in mathematics. There are lots of references to interesting math ideas & concepts, but nothing overbearing or over-techincal. It doesn't read like a textbook at all. In fact, it reads like a biography - an intriguing look into the lives of famous mathematicians with plenty of math ideas to keep your mind going - all that can be understood with a minimal education in high school math. If there is anything to complain about the book, it is that sometimes it focuses too much on the lives of the mathematicians and not enough on their work (this is why I gave it 4 and not 5 stars). However, if you're into biographies AND math, then this is a must-read, 5-star book!

I have been reading a lot of popular math/biography books, and this is one of the best books I have read. The way the author weaves history and math in a seamless manner is just awesome. Even the descriptions of the countries/cities where the mathematicians lived makes you want to grab a history textbook to know more.

P.S: You might be surprised by certain politically incorrect phrases like "we modern men", etc ...That is because this book was originally published in 1961

This is an ENJOYABLE book. I am not a mathematician, but came across this book by chance while looking for some specific explanations. The book was so interesting and well written that I stopped my research and read it through. I would characterize it roughly as a chronological explanation of the lives of the world's great mathematicians. It relates their lives and contributions to knowledge to those who lived before and after them. The author strikes a very nice balance between explanation of their environment and their contribution to knowledge (and its acceptance, rejection, or being ignored). Its all nicely woven together. The book gave me the feeling of getting just the right amount of detail and explanation with plenty of references for those who wish to study deeper on many subjects covered in the book. Try it. You'll like it. End of review

I am a high school math teacher and picked this book out of one of my cupboards for some lame "read during school" promotion (It's not like they ever have "do math during school" promotions...). I found the book difficult to put down. The book is filled with intriguing information at several levels; the math, the biographies, the drama, etc. Terrific book.

I've read Of Men and Numbers twice and have enjoyed the book immensely. It's so interesting and sometimes funny, and Jane Muir paints a great picture of the twelve most famous mathematicians that ever lived. Many mathematics books can be technical when presenting a story, but not in Of Men and Numbers. The writing is so simple that Jane Muir made the book extremely accessible for anyone and even for the kids. There are legends associated with many of the famous mathematicians, and they are all contained in this book. Before I read Of Men and Numbers for the first time, I had no idea of the men, only just their names associated with special numbers, proofs, etc., and afterwards, I felt my knowledge enriched by the colorful sketch of each man's biography. Of course, as I use the word "men," there is no biography of a female mathematician because the title Of Men and Numbers implies its omission. All in all, I greatly recommend Of Men and Numbers to anyone regardless of her/his interest in mathematics.

Of Men and Numbers narrates the stories of the greatest known mathematicians that lived - their lives, personalities, struggles, faith, and inventions, while unraveling the fascinating evolution of mathematics to date. Mathematics that started as a study of quantities has morphed into a 'science that draws necessary conclusions based on reason and logic'. Whether the basis for this reason and logic is 'firm' or not is the question that modern day mathematicians are trying to answer. As Einstein put it, "So far as the theorems of mathematics are about reality, they are not certain; so far as they are certain, they are not about reality".

This happened to be just what I was looking for: info on some of the more prominent mathematicians in history, in a short readable format. Not written as a necessarily easy, novel-like read, but definitely worth adding to my library.

It is a pity that Jane Muir seems to have modeled her book on "Men of Mathematics" by E. T. Bell. Like him, she "embellishes" her biographies to the point of sacrificing historical accuracy. Unfortunately (from my point of view) she also shares some of Bell's anti-Christian sentiments. For example, in the section on Blaise Pascal, she portrays Pascal as a mentally ill religious lunatic. Naturally, in the section on Evariste Galois, the great mathematician Cauchy is made out to be a fool and a bigoted religious fanatic while Galois (a very unstable, self-destructive character if there ever was one) is made out to be the martyred hero!

I dontated this book. Hopefully someone will like it but I didn't. It is boring.