Customer Reviews

A Piece of the Mountain:The Story of Blaise Pascal

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

 

 

My mother handed me this book--I thought "Oh no another school book." When I started I discovered how incredible a 17th century mathematician can be.This book is especially good if you try to work out the mathematical equations it contains.This is a very good book.Though it would not make much sense to people younger than 13.READ THIS BOOK. I am going to read it again.

Here is the biography of a life well worth studying. Pascal was one of those rare people who, like da Vinci, was a genius in several areas--in science, mathematics, and theology. He also helped develop the world's first public transit system! As homeschoolers, we also enjoyed the depiction of his early education, as he and his siblings were taught by their brilliant, loving father. Throughout, the book reveals Pascal as a thoroughly decent and honest man. I highly recommend this book for about sixth grade up through adults.

I never knew as much about Blaise Pascal until I had read this book. What I'm really interested in is getting to know all of those lovely sources that McPherson used for her research material.

Before I had read this book, I didn't know much about Pascal's scientific experiments or his contributions to French society. This book has also cleared up a lot of the background concerning Pascal's writings. It is well written and highly entertaining.

The Book came to me in perfect condition and within a week.
It is exactly what I was looking for; a book written at a younger
person's level about a very important and "heady" mathematician - turned
Philosopher.

BEWARE this is far from a scholarly biography.
This is far from what I had expected. I expected a biography of a brilliant
man but got an unapologetic evangelical polemic aimed at an elementary school student level. Monsieur Pascal would be rolling in dismay in his grave. It plays (to say the least) VERY fast and loose with the facts, at least as far as I can ascertain them from other sources. Pascal's famous "bet" does not fit well with this born again account of evangelical revelation and certainty. The truth of a terrifying Church/Inquisition demanding supremacy over all including reason peeks through the cracks in the lines here but historical truth is a largely a "left behind" casualty.

I should have read the other reviews more closely. This book is written for a target audience of 5th and 6th graders. I was expecting a factual biography but this is actually a children's book written to entertain. I believe it probably does entertain to the targeted audience but I would not recommend this book to someone researching this theologian's life.