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Mathematics: The Science of Patterns: The Search for Order in Life, Mind and the Universe (Scientific American Paperback Library) Paperback – 1997

by Keith Devlin (Author)

14 customer reviews

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"The great book of nature," said Galileo, "can be read only by those who know the language in which it is written. And this language is mathematics." A richly illustrated celebration of the beauty and elegance of this ever-evolving language, Mathematics: The Science of Patterns explores the many ways mathematics helps us understand our perceptions of reality--both the physical, biological, and social worlds without, and the realm of ideas and thoughts within.

Mathematics: The Science of Patterns: The Search for Order in Life, Mind and the Universe (Scientific American Paperback Library)

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Product Details

Series: Scientific American Paperback Library
Paperback: 216 pages
Publisher: Scientific American Library; 1st edition (1997)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0716760223
ISBN-13: 978-0716760221
Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 0.5 x 9.3 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #571,569 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #216 in Books > Science & Math > Mathematics > Pure Mathematics > Logic
- #117137 in Books > Reference

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Customer Reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars

5 star		86%
4 star		7%
3 star		7%
2 star		0%
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

71 of 72 people found the following review helpful

Beautifully illustrated, clear and engaging

By Mike Christie on December 31, 2000

Format: Paperback

Keith Devlin is one of the best popular mathematics writers around, and this is one of his best works. The six chapters cover number theory, set theory, calculus, group theory and topology; but to state it baldly like this is to miss the main value of this seductively illustrated book. Devlin titles his chapters innocuously--"Shape", or "Position"--and the initial discussion, couched generally in English, not mathematics, is so clear that a math-phobic can understand it. By the end of each chapter a great deal of fascinating mathematics has been described, and in some cases the formal basis is sketched--but the emphasis is always on narration, and a lay reader who doesn't even want to understand mathematics can still read this and get a sense of the dramatic history of mathematics. And of the dramatis personae, too; one nice feature is the large number of good pictures of mathematicians, including several more recent figures such as Ribet and Thurston.
Devlin states at the end that he decided to exclude many areas of mathematics in order to focus more effectively on what he did cover. As a result there is little or no coverage of chaos theory, game theory, catastrophe theory, or a long list of other topics. The fact is there will always be holes in a book this size--mathematics has expanded so much in the last hundred years that even a book ten times this size could barely survey it. The decision to focus was a good one, and the subjects chosen are good: the truly exciting stories are here: Archimedes, Fermat, Gauss, Galois, Riemann, Wiles, and many more.
The illustrations deserve an extra comment. I've already mentioned the pictures of mathematicians. There are good diagrams, of the quality you'd expect from Scientific American.Read more ›

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35 of 38 people found the following review helpful

Easy to Understand, Hard to Put Down

By A Customer on June 15, 1997

Format: Paperback

This book is a brilliant example of mathematics at it's best. It is from Scientific American, so you know you can trust it. And it is written at an understandable level, quite a feat for many very complex topics. The book features incredible illustrations, every concept is laid out in a colorful image. If you like the works of M.C. Escher, you will like this book. It has a lot of substance to it, and it will keep you busy thinking for a long time, and that's time well spent

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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful

Imaginative, Engaging,Fascinating, Delightul

By A Customer on January 4, 2001

Format: Paperback Verified Purchase

This marvelous book to explains to non-mathematicians the joy, beauty and power of mathematics. Each topic is presented in an original manner with alot of colorful illustrations to delight the eye and mind. Devlin shows how mathematical thinking is critical to our exploration of the world around us. This is one my top ten of all time list

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

Mathematics is a continuous process of extrapolation of new patterns from more fundamental ones and Devlin captures that process

By Charles Ashbacher HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on August 9, 2007

Format: Paperback

When I teach a course entitled "Fundamentals of Arithmetic and Logic" I constantly emphasize the fact that the basics of mathematics is all about the use of more sophisticated and abstract patterns. For example, I use the following argument to demonstrate why the commutative law of addition holds:

1) Positive integers can be considered shorthand representations for piles of sticks.
2) If you have two piles of sticks, which pile you move on top of the other has no affect on the number of sticks you have.

While this is simplistic, the students find it easy to understand and they do remember it when we move on to other sets of numbers such as the rationals and the reals.
In this book, Devlin does an excellent job of taking similar, simple concepts and then abstracting it to an initial general pattern. From this pattern, he then expands it out to more generalized patterns. This is the essence of mathematics and in my experience, one that students find easier to follow when learning. Humans naturally carry out inductive reasoning, taking distinct yet similar experiences and reaching generalized conclusions. In fact, it can be argued that such activities are a signature characteristic of intelligence.
Devlin cites many examples of fundamental mathematical concepts that are the basis of mathematics. I try to include as many of them as possible in my basic math courses, because in my opinion together they form the best way for people to learn mathematics. It is natural and consistent with how humans do a large percentage of their learning.

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

An excellent and entertaining survey for the general reader

By Irfan A. Alvi VINE VOICE on February 21, 2010

Format: Paperback

This book by Keith Devlin is an enjoyable survey for the general reader with a serious interest in mathematics. The presentation is conceptual and there's very little formalism, but Devlin still manages to go into meaningful depth on many topics, so some readers may find portions of the book somewhat challenging. The text is acccompanied by abundant and excellent color graphics.

Devlin at least touches on most of the main areas of mathematics, such as number theory, algebra, logic, set theory, series, functions, calculus, differential equations, geometry, group theory, and topology, but of course this also leaves out areas such as probability, statistics, computational complexity, optimization, nonlinear dynamics, and game theory. But choices have to made in a book of this size, and I think Devlin's tradeoff between breadth and depth is good.

The book gives the reader a meaningful sense of the beauty, power, and mystery of mathematics, so I highly recommend it to people looking for this sort of thing. Just keep in mind that this isn't a textbook, so the book is oriented towards showing the big picture rather than teaching details of mathematics.

Suggested further reading:

1089 and All That - A Journey into Mathematics
Mathematics: A Very Short Introduction

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

Five Stars

read it

Published 6 months ago by Jim Connell

Five Stars

Devlin is the champ!

Published 6 months ago by William C. Nyberg

Excellent explanation of mathematical concepts from the past to the...

Mr. Devlin has given some of the clearest explanation of many mathematical concepts and how the fit into the continually improving of mathematical patterns to everyday concepts and... Read more

Published 22 months ago by Michael E. Christian

A Picture Is Worth One Thousand Words

great survey, depth and breadth, can be read at many levels with pointers to where to next go to pursue more in depth materials

Published on February 1, 2013 by Bart Stuck

Well presented and cleanly written

Keith Devlin is well known for his concise treatments on modern mathematics and of his excellent explanations of the history of mathematics. Read more

Published on September 6, 2008 by Z3

Excellent book!

This book helps the lay reader understand the meaning of why we study math. I recommend it to all of my students!

Published on July 5, 2006 by M. Angeline

Start here- what is mathematics?

I am updating this review, original one is below the dotted line.

Keith Devling takes us through a grandiose tour de force on the question wahts is mathematics, by... Read more

Published on June 15, 2006 by Humberto Mejia

This book has a lot of good information along with some excellent illustrations.

It is undoubtedly a very good book for one who is a great lover of mathematics. Read more

Published on May 1, 2005 by S. Peek

A pleasure to read

The book is fun to read ,very informative and very clear.
It doesnt matter if you know some university mathematics or not ,anyhow you will find this book a pleasure to read... Read more

Published on November 25, 2001 by G.B.S