The Story of Mathematics [Hardcover]

Richard Mankiewicz (Author), Ian Stewart (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2001 | ISBN-10: 069108808X | ISBN-13: 978-0691088082

The mysterious tally sticks of prehistoric peoples and the terrestrial maps used for trade, exploration, and warfare; the perennial fascination with the motions of heavenly bodies and changed perspectives on the art and science of vision: all are testament to a mathematics at the heart of history. This visually stunning volume takes the reader on an illustrated tour of mathematics across cultures and civilizations, bringing to life a world of important ideas and-rarely supposed-great intrigue and charm.

The development of mathematics can be seen in a wealth of images, from the richly illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages to the deeply unsettling art of Dali and Duchamp, from the austere beauty of Babylonian clay tablets to the delicate complexity of computer-generated pictures. These images, and many others, are lavishly reproduced to accompany a text that travels from the dawn of Chinese and Indian civilizations to the scientific and digital revolutions of our day.

Including portraits of household names such as Kepler and Copernicus as well as lesser-known but equally compelling figures like Niels Henrik Abel and Leonhard Euler, The Story of Mathematics is a rich amalgam of history, biography, and popular science. Readers will come away understanding how and why mathematics evolved as it did--of how it entered and remained close to the center of every area of human activity. Explaining mathematical concepts without equations, Richard Mankiewicz enables us to appreciate this essential intellectual occupation without "doing the math."

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"The evolution of science, philosophy, and mathematics, all related, is far more important to the history of humanity than a parade of rulers and a procession of wars." Strong words, but Richard Mankiewicz comes mighty close to backing them up in his fascinating book, The Story of Mathematics.

Divided into brief chapters, the book traces the development of mathematics from a baboon's fibula with 29 clearly visible notches (from Swaziland, circa 35,000 B.C.) to the Babylonian sexagesimal--or base 60--number system, which survives to this day in our method of timekeeping, to Euclid's Elements, described as "the most important textbook of all time," to fractals and other Mandelbrot sets. Along the way, Mankiewicz pays tribute to the men and women at the forefront of mathematics, though he's not afraid to dispel some myths: the Pythagorean theorem was widely known in antiquity before Pythagoras was even born, and a 14th-century Chinese manuscript clearly depicts what is now known as "Pascal's Triangle," a good three centuries before Pascal was born. Most entertaining are the chapters on practical applications of mathematics: astronomy, codemaking and -breaking, military strategy, modern art, and navigation.

At times, it is difficult to follow the actual complex mathematics, but the vast majority of the book is readily accessible to the general reader. Filled with beautiful illustrations taken from ancient papyri, medieval manuscripts, scientific instruments, Renaissance painting, and computer-generated art, The Story of Mathematics is a singularly handsome volume and a pleasure to read. --Sunny Delaney

From Publishers Weekly

A producer of events about the cultural dimensions of math and associate researcher at Middlesex University, Richard Mankiewicz presents The Story of Mathematics (with a foreword by Ian Stewart), a visually stunning work that takes the reader across time, highlighting the key moments in the development of the mathematical sciences and their cultural influences. The narrative is intriguing, the 80 color illustrations are magnificent and the inclusion of writings by famous mathematicians is a wonderful touch. The only problem with the book is that the primary font is so delicate and the type size so small that even the most avid math fans will have difficulty doing more than peruse its contents.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (February 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 069108808X
• ISBN-13: 978-0691088082
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,199,068 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good text, terrible production, January 25, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Story of Mathematics (Hardcover)

As far as the text goes, this is a pretty nice book. But the publishers have done the author a disservice in how they produced the book (maybe over-produced is a better term). It looks to me as if the book was intended to be a coffee-table sized book, then, when that turned out to be too expensive, the size was reduced. So we get tiny print, small pictures, and an over-dense page layout. Plus, there's one of the most irritating typos I've ever seen: the splash page for chapter three says it is about the Pythagorean "theorum"!!

The actual content is competently done, for the most part reflecting what is in the standard references and not taking any big interpretive risks. There is more coverage of recent mathematics than is common on books aimed at the "general reader." The bibliography is much too short, but it points to other books that do have more extensive references. There are better short histories of mathematics, but this one won't lead you astray... provided your eyes are good and small sans-serif type doesn't bother you!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It's OK. Just know what you're getting., August 8, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Story of Mathematics (Hardcover)

I was under the impression when I ordered this that it was an ordinary book you could read straight through. It's actually more of a general reference book of math history, organized in subtopics with really tiny, dense print written with little flair.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good history, not enough mathematics, May 10, 2001

By 

Paul M Hanssen (Perth, WA Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Story of Mathematics (Hardcover)

The book has an excellent layout and has clear descriptions and focus. I liked the references to other cultures and how they influenced the early development of mathematics, which is a refreshing change to the usual Western European slant that is portrayed in most modern mathematics textbooks.

This is a book for the lay person, and the author has gone to lengths to make sure there are no equations to look at. You may think this is a good thing, but consider that most of us learned mathematics from textbooks writing equations on paper. On several occasions, the author makes references to mathematical formula or theorem but does not illustrate their mathematical representation. As a person with a Master's degree in mathematics (admittedly its been about 6 years since I used it seriously :), I found myself scratching my head to remember some of the formulas the author mentions in the book and how they were applied.