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books tagged “mathematics”
books tagged “mathematics”
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The Annotated Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensionsby Ian Stewart, Edwin Abbott AbbottISBN 0738205419 (0-7382-0541-9)
Hardcover, Perseus Books Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Annotated Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions'Book summary:The product of an agreeably dotty cleric named Edwin Abbott Abbott and first published in 1884, Flatland distills all that the Victorian era knew of higher mathematics--and then some--into a witty, complex novel of ideas.
Ian Stewart, the author of the equally witty sequel, Flatterland--which adds to Abbott's store of science the key discoveries made since--does a superb job of explaining the original book's enigmas, allusions, ironies, implausibilities, and what Douglas Hofstadter would call "metamagical themas." Among other things, Stewart comments on Abbott's comments on such things as the nature/nurture controversy, the fourth dimension and beyond, the role of multidimensional spaces in economic systems, infinite series and perfect squares, celestial mechanics, and other matters close to the hearts of cosmologists and science buffs alike.
Stewart's notes make an entertaining and learned addition to an already classic bit of writing--one that has never been out of print since its first publication. For both devoted Abbott fans and newcomers to his work, this is the edition to have. --Gregory McNamee [via]
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Beautiful Mind: A Biography of John Forbes Nash, Jr., Winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, 1994by Sylvia NasarISBN 0684853701 (0-684-85370-1)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Beautiful Mind: A Biography of John Forbes Nash, Jr., Winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, 1994'Book summary:Stories of famously eccentric Princetonians abound--such as that of chemist Hubert Alyea, the model for The Absent-Minded Professor, or Ralph Nader, said to have had his own key to the library as an undergraduate. Or the "Phantom of Fine Hall," a figure many students had seen shuffling around the corridors of the math and physics building wearing purple sneakers and writing numerology treatises on the blackboards. The Phantom was John Nash, one of the most brilliant mathematicians of his generation, who had spiraled into schizophrenia in the 1950s. His most important work had been in game theory, which by the 1980s was underpinning a large part of economics. When the Nobel Prize committee began debating a prize for game theory, Nash's name inevitably came up--only to be dismissed, since the prize clearly could not go to a madman. But in 1994 Nash, in remission from schizophrenia, shared the Nobel Prize in economics for work done some 45 years previously.
Economist and journalist Sylvia Nasar has written a biography of Nash that looks at all sides of his life. She gives an intelligent, understandable exposition of his mathematical ideas and a picture of schizophrenia that is evocative but decidedly unromantic. Her story of the machinations behind Nash's Nobel is fascinating and one of very few such accounts available in print (the CIA could learn a thing or two from the Nobel committees). This highly recommended book is indeed "a story about the mystery of the human mind, in three acts: genius, madness, reawakening." --Mary Ellen Curtin [via]
More editions of Beautiful Mind: A Biography of John Forbes Nash, Jr., Winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, 1994:
- Beautiful Mind: A Biography of John Forbes Nash, Jr., Winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, 1994: ISBN 0743226372 (0-7432-2637-2)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster - A Beautiful Mind: A Biography of John Forbes Nash, Jr., Winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics, 1994: ISBN 0684819066 (0-684-81906-6)
Hardcover, Simon & Schuster - Beautiful Mind: A Biography of John Forbes Nash, Jr., Winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, 1994: ISBN 0571197183 (0-571-19718-3)
Hardcover, Faber and Faber - Beautiful Mind: A Biography of John Forbes Nash, Jr., Winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, 1994: ISBN 0684853701 (0-684-85370-1)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster
- Beautiful Mind: A Biography of John Forbes Nash, Jr., Winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, 1994: ISBN 0743226372 (0-7432-2637-2)
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A Beautiful Mind: The Life of Mathematical Genius and Nobel Laureate John Nashby Sylvia NasarISBN 0743224574 (0-7432-2457-4)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Beautiful Mind: The Life of Mathematical Genius and Nobel Laureate John Nash'Book summary:Stories of famously eccentric Princetonians abound--such as that of chemist Hubert Alyea, the model for The Absent-Minded Professor, or Ralph Nader, said to have had his own key to the library as an undergraduate. Or the "Phantom of Fine Hall," a figure many students had seen shuffling around the corridors of the math and physics building wearing purple sneakers and writing numerology treatises on the blackboards. The Phantom was John Nash, one of the most brilliant mathematicians of his generation, who had spiraled into schizophrenia in the 1950s. His most important work had been in game theory, which by the 1980s was underpinning a large part of economics. When the Nobel Prize committee began debating a prize for game theory, Nash's name inevitably came up--only to be dismissed, since the prize clearly could not go to a madman. But in 1994 Nash, in remission from schizophrenia, shared the Nobel Prize in economics for work done some 45 years previously.
Economist and journalist Sylvia Nasar has written a biography of Nash that looks at all sides of his life. She gives an intelligent, understandable exposition of his mathematical ideas and a picture of schizophrenia that is evocative but decidedly unromantic. Her story of the machinations behind Nash's Nobel is fascinating and one of very few such accounts available in print (the CIA could learn a thing or two from the Nobel committees). This highly recommended book is indeed "a story about the mystery of the human mind, in three acts: genius, madness, reawakening." --Mary Ellen Curtin [via]
More editions of A Beautiful Mind: The Life of Mathematical Genius and Nobel Laureate John Nash:
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Chaosby James GleickISBN 0140092501 (0-14-009250-1)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Chaos'Book summary:Few writers distinguish themselves by their ability to write about complicated, even obscure topics clearly and engagingly. James Gleick, a former science writer for the New York Times, resides in this exclusive category. In Chaos, he takes on the job of depicting the first years of the study of chaos--the seemingly random patterns that characterize many natural phenomena.
This is not a purely technical book. Instead, it focuses as much on the scientists studying chaos as on the chaos itself. In the pages of Gleick's book, the reader meets dozens of extraordinary and eccentric people. For instance, Mitchell Feigenbaum, who constructed and regulated his life by a 26-hour clock and watched his waking hours come in and out of phase with those of his coworkers at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
As for chaos itself, Gleick does an outstanding job of explaining the thought processes and investigative techniques that researchers bring to bear on chaos problems. Rather than attempt to explain Julia sets, Lorenz attractors, and the Mandelbrot Set with gigantically complicated equations, Chaos relies on sketches, photographs, and Gleick's wonderful descriptive prose. [via]
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The Code Book for Young Peopleby Simon SinghISBN 0385730624 (0-385-73062-4)
Softcover, Random House Children's Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Code Book for Young People'Book summary:Calling upon accounts of political intrigue and tales of life and death, author Simon Singh tells history's most fascinating story of deception and cunning: the science of cryptography--the encoding and decoding of private information. Based on The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography, this version has been abridged and slightly simplified for a younger audience. None of the appeal for curious problem-solving minds has been lost, though. From Julius Caesar to the 10th-century Arabs; from Mary Queen of Scots to "Alice and Bob"; from the Germans' Enigma machine to the Navajo code talkers in World War II, Singh traces the use of code to protect--and betray--secrecy. Moving right into the present, he describes how the Information Age has provided a whole new set of challenges for cryptographers. How private are your e-mail communications? How secure is sending your credit card information over the Internet? And how much secrecy will the government tolerate? Complex but highly accessible, The Code Book will make readers see the past--and the future--in a whole new light. (Ages 14 and older) [via]
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The Code Book : The Evolution of Secrecy from Mary, Queen of Scots to Quantum Cryptographyby Simon SinghISBN 0385495315 (0-385-49531-5)
Hardcover, Doubleday Publishing
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Code Book : The Evolution of Secrecy from Mary, Queen of Scots to Quantum Cryptography'Book summary:People love secrets, and ever since the first word was written, humans have written coded messages to each other. In The Code Book, Simon Singh, author of the bestselling Fermat's Enigma, offers a peek into the world of cryptography and codes, from ancient texts through computer encryption. Singh's compelling history is woven through with stories of how codes and ciphers have played a vital role in warfare, politics, and royal intrigue. The major theme of The Code Book is what Singh calls "the ongoing evolutionary battle between codemakers and codebreakers," never more clear than in the chapters devoted to World War II. Cryptography came of age during that conflict, as secret communications became critical to either side's success.
Confronted with the prospect of defeat, the Allied cryptanalysts had worked night and day to penetrate German ciphers. It would appear that fear was the main driving force, and that adversity is one of the foundations of successful codebreaking.
In the information age, the fear that drives cryptographic improvements is both capitalistic and libertarian--corporations need encryption to ensure that their secrets don't fall into the hands of competitors and regulators, and ordinary people need encryption to keep their everyday communications private in a free society. Similarly, the battles for greater decryption power come from said competitors and governments wary of insurrection. The Code Book is an excellent primer for those wishing to understand how the human need for privacy has manifested itself through cryptography. Singh's accessible style and clear explanations of complex algorithms cut through the arcane mathematical details without oversimplifying. Can't get enough crypto? Try solving the Cipher Challenge in the back of the book--$15,000 goes to the first person to crack the code! --Therese Littleton [via]
More editions of The Code Book : The Evolution of Secrecy from Mary, Queen of Scots to Quantum Cryptography:
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The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptographyby Simon SinghISBN 0385495323 (0-385-49532-3)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography'Book summary:People love secrets. Ever since the first word was written, humans have sent coded messages to each other. In The Code Book, Simon Singh, author of the bestselling Fermat's Enigma, offers a peek into the world of cryptography and codes, from ancient texts through computer encryption. Singh's compelling history is woven through with stories of how codes and ciphers have played a vital role in warfare, politics, and royal intrigue. The major theme of The Code Book is what Singh calls "the ongoing evolutionary battle between codemakers and codebreakers," never more clear than in the chapters devoted to World War II. Cryptography came of age during that conflict, as secret communications became critical to both sides' success.
Confronted with the prospect of defeat, the Allied cryptanalysts had worked night and day to penetrate German ciphers. It would appear that fear was the main driving force, and that adversity is one of the foundations of successful codebreaking.
In the information age, the fear that drives cryptographic improvements is both capitalistic and libertarian--corporations need encryption to ensure that their secrets don't fall into the hands of competitors and regulators, and ordinary people need encryption to keep their everyday communications private in a free society. Similarly, the battles for greater decryption power come from said competitors and governments wary of insurrection.
The Code Book is an excellent primer for those wishing to understand how the human need for privacy has manifested itself through cryptography. Singh's accessible style and clear explanations of complex algorithms cut through the arcane mathematical details without oversimplifying. --Therese Littleton [via]
More editions of The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography:
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E: The Story of a Numberby Eli MaorISBN 0691058547 (0-691-05854-7)
Softcover, Princeton Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'E: The Story of a Number'Book summary:Until about 1975, logarithms were every scientist's best friend. They were the basis of the slide rule that was the totemic wand of the trade, listed in huge books consulted in every library. Then hand-held calculators arrived, and within a few years slide rules were museum pieces.
But e remains, the center of the natural logarithmic function and of calculus. Eli Maor's book is the only more or less popular account of the history of this universal constant. Maor gives human faces to fundamental mathematics, as in his fantasia of a meeting between Johann Bernoulli and J.S. Bach. e: The Story of a Number would be an excellent choice for a high school or college student of trigonometry or calculus. --Mary Ellen Curtin [via]
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Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinityby David Foster WallaceISBN 0393326292 (0-393-32629-2)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Everything And More: A Compact History Of Infinity'Book summary:Before discussing the merits of David Foster Wallace's Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinity, it is essential to define what the book is not. This volume in the "Great Discoveries" series is not a history of the personalities and social conditions that led to the "discovery" of infinity. Nor is it a narrative fixated on the cultish fear of--and obsession with--the infinite that has seemingly driven mathematicians insane over the centuries. Rather, Everything and More is a surprisingly rigorous march through the 2000 plus years of mathematical research that began with Aristotle; continued through Galileo, Isaac Newton, G.W. Leibniz, Karl Weierstrass, and J.W.R. Dedekind; and culminated in Georg Cantor and his Set Theory. The task Wallace (author of the bestseller Infinite Jest and other fiction) has set himself is enormously challenging: without radically compromising the complexity of the philosophy, metaphysics, or mathematics that underlies the evolving concept of infinity, present the material to a lay audience in a manner that is entertaining. To propel his narrative, Wallace even develops a style that mirrors the mathematical language he probes. One difficulty in his focus on concepts and not a strict human chronology, though, is that his structure is dependent on frequent digressions (especially early on). Patience is required. Wallace demands that his reader walk through the equations, study the graphs and charts, and relearn college-level concepts to follow along on the exploration. Indeed, after one wrenching dip into Zenos paradoxes, Wallace spouts at his imagined complaining audience: "Deal." But the book should be deemed a success. If one grants him the attention he requires, Wallace has made the trip richly rewarding. --Patrick OKelley [via]
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Fermat's Enigmaby Simon SinghISBN 0385493622 (0-385-49362-2)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Fermat's Enigma'Book summary:When Andrew Wiles of Princeton University announced a solution of Fermat's last theorem in 1993 it electrified the world of mathematics. After a flaw was discovered in the proof, Wiles had to work for another year--he had already labored in solitude for seven years--to establish that he had solved the 350-year-old problem. Simon Singh's book is a lively, comprehensible explanation of Wiles's work and of the star-, trauma-, and wacko-studded history of Fermat's last theorem. Fermat's Enigma contains some problems that offer a taste for the math, but it also includes limericks to give a feeling for the goofy side of mathematicians. [via]
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Fermat's Enigma: The Quest to Solve the World's Greatest Mathematical Problemby Simon SinghISBN 0802713319 (0-8027-1331-9)
Hardcover, Walker & Company
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Fermat's Enigma: The Quest to Solve the World's Greatest Mathematical Problem'Book summary:When Andrew Wiles of Princeton University announced a solution of Fermat's last theorem in 1993 it electrified the world of mathematics. After a flaw was discovered in the proof, Wiles had to work for another year--he had already labored in solitude for seven years--to establish that he had solved the 350-year-old problem. Simon Singh's book is a lively, comprehensible explanation of Wiles's work and of the star-, trauma-, and wacko-studded history of Fermat's last theorem. Fermat's Enigma contains some problems that offer a taste for the math, but it also includes limericks to give a feeling for the goofy side of mathematicians. [via]
More editions of Fermat's Enigma: The Quest to Solve the World's Greatest Mathematical Problem:
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Fermat's Last Theorem: The Story of a Riddle That Confounded the World's Greatest Minds for 358 Yearsby Simon SinghISBN 1857026691 (1-85702-669-1)
Hardcover, Fourth Estate
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Fermat's Last Theorem: The Story of a Riddle That Confounded the World's Greatest Minds for 358 Years'Book summary:In 1963, a schoolboy browsing in his local library stumbled across a great mathematical problem: Fermat's Last Theorem, a puzzle that every child can now understand, but which has baffled mathematicians for over 300 years. Aged just ten, Andrew Wiles dreamed he would crack it. Many people had tried before Wiles and failed, including an 18th-century philanderer who was killed in a duel. An 18th-century Frenchwoman made a major breakthrough in solving the riddle, but she had to attend maths lectures at the Ecole Polytechnique disguised as a man. This is the story of the puzzle that has confounded mathematicians since the 17th century. The solution of the Theorem is one of the most important mathematical developments of the 20th century. [via]
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Flatlandby Edwin Abbott AbbottISBN 1406503436 (1-4065-0343-6)
Softcover, Dodo Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Flatland'Book summary:Flatland is one of the very few novels about math and philosophy that can appeal to almost any layperson. Published in 1880, this short fantasy takes us to a completely flat world of two physical dimensions where all the inhabitants are geometric shapes, and who think the planar world of length and width that they know is all there is. But one inhabitant discovers the existence of a third physical dimension, enabling him to finally grasp the concept of a fourth dimension. Watching our Flatland narrator, we begin to get an idea of the limitations of our own assumptions about reality, and we start to learn how to think about the confusing problem of higher dimensions. The book is also quite a funny satire on society and class distinctions of Victorian England. [via]
More editions of Flatland:
- Flatland: ISBN 0064635732 (0-06-463573-2)
Softcover, Barnes & Noble - Flatland: ISBN 014043531X (0-14-043531-X)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA - Flatland: ISBN 0192805983 (0-19-280598-3)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr - Flatland: ISBN 0451529766 (0-451-52976-6)
Softcover, Signet Classic - Flatland: ISBN 048627263X (0-486-27263-X)
Softcover, Dover Pubns - Flatland: ISBN 0691025258 (0-691-02525-8)
Softcover, Princeton Univ Pr - Flatland: ISBN 0691123667 (0-691-12366-7)
Softcover, Princeton Univ Pr - Flatland: ISBN 0899665764 (0-89966-576-4)
Hardcover, Buccaneer Books - Flatland: ISBN 0064632105 (0-06-463210-5)
Softcover, Barnes & Noble Imports - Flatland: ISBN 0140076158 (0-14-007615-8)
Softcover, Penguin USA - Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions: ISBN 0451518411 (0-451-51841-1)
Softcover, Signet Classic - Flatland: ISBN 0451522907 (0-451-52290-7)
Softcover, New Amer Library Classics - Flatland: ISBN 0760755876 (0-7607-5587-6)
Softcover, Barnes & Noble Books - Flatland: ISBN 0064800059 (0-06-480005-9)
Hardcover, Barnes & Noble Imports - Flatland: ISBN 0389015318 (0-389-01531-8)
Hardcover, Dover Pubns - Flatland: ISBN 1406503436 (1-4065-0343-6)
Softcover, Dodo Pr
- Flatland: ISBN 0064635732 (0-06-463573-2)
Flatland : A Romance of Many Dimensionsby Edwin A. AbbotISBN 1419120026 (1-4191-2002-6)
Softcover, Kessinger Pub Co
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Flatland: A Romance Of Many Dimensions'Book summary:Flatland is one of the very few novels about math and philosophy that can appeal to almost any layperson. Published in 1880, this short fantasy takes us to a completely flat world of two physical dimensions where all the inhabitants are geometric shapes, and who think the planar world of length and width that they know is all there is. But one inhabitant discovers the existence of a third physical dimension, enabling him to finally grasp the concept of a fourth dimension. Watching our Flatland narrator, we begin to get an idea of the limitations of our own assumptions about reality, and we start to learn how to think about the confusing problem of higher dimensions. The book is also quite a funny satire on society and class distinctions of Victorian England. [via]
More editions of Flatland : A Romance of Many Dimensions:
- Flatland : A Romance of Many Dimensions: ISBN 1851680861 (1-85168-086-1)
Softcover, Oneworld Publications - Flatland : A Romance of Many Dimensions: ISBN 1570624380 (1-57062-438-0)
Softcover, Shambhala Publications, Incorporated - Flatland: A Romance Of Many Dimensions: ISBN 1419120026 (1-4191-2002-6)
Softcover, Kessinger Pub Co
- Flatland : A Romance of Many Dimensions: ISBN 1851680861 (1-85168-086-1)
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Flatlandby A. SquareISBN 1883938775 (1-883938-77-5)
Softcover, Dry Bones Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Flatland'More editions of Flatland:
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Flatland: A Journey of Many Dimensionsby Edwin A. Abbott, Dionys BurgerISBN 0062732765 (0-06-273276-5)
Softcover, Harper Resource
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Flatland: A Journey of Many Dimensions'Book summary:Unless you're a mathematician, the chances of you reading any novels about geometry are probably slender. But if you read only two in your life, these are the ones. Taken together, they form a couple of accessible and charming explanations of geometry and physics for the curious non-mathematician. Flatland, which is also available under separate cover, was published in 1880 and imagines a two-dimensional world inhabited by sentient geometric shapes who think their planar world is all there is. But one Flatlander, a Square, discovers the existence of a third dimension and the limits of his world's assumptions about reality and comes to understand the confusing problem of higher dimensions. The book is also quite a funny satire on society and class distinctions of Victorian England. The further mathematical fantasy, Sphereland, published 60 years later, revisits the world of Flatland in time to explore the mind-bending theories created by Albert Einstein, whose work so completely altered the scientific understanding of space, time, and matter. Among Einstein's many challenges to common sense were the ideas of curved space, an expanding universe and the fact that light does not travel in a straight line. Without use of the mathematical formulae that bar most non-scientists from an understanding of Einstein's theories, Sphereland gives lay readers ways to start comprehending these confusing but fundamental questions of our reality. [via]
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From One to Zero: A Universal History of Numbersby Georges IfrahISBN 0670373958 (0-670-37395-8)
Hardcover, Daedalus Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'From One to Zero: A Universal History of Numbers'More editions of From One to Zero: A Universal History of Numbers:
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Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braidby Douglas R. HofstadterISBN 0465026567 (0-465-02656-7)
Softcover, Basic Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid'Book summary:As stated in the Scientific American, "Every few decades an unknown author brings out a boof of such depth, clarity range, wit beauty and originality that it is recognized at once as a major literary event - this is such a work." [via]
More editions of Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid:
- Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid: ISBN 0394745027 (0-394-74502-7)
Softcover, Vintage Books - Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid: ISBN 0394756827 (0-394-75682-7)
Softcover, Knopf Publishing Group - Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid: ISBN 0465026850 (0-465-02685-0)
Hardcover, Perseus Books Group - Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid: ISBN 0465026567 (0-465-02656-7)
Softcover, Basic Books
- Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid: ISBN 0394745027 (0-394-74502-7)
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The Golden Ratio: The Story of Phi, the World's Most Astonishing Numberby Mario LivioISBN 0767908163 (0-7679-0816-3)
Softcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Golden Ratio: The Story of Phi, the World's Most Astonishing Number'Book summary:Throughout history, thinkers from mathematicians to theologians have pondered the mysterious relationship between numbers and the nature of reality. In this fascinating book, Mario Livio tells the tale of a number at the heart of that mystery: phi, or 1.6180339887...This curious mathematical relationship, widely known as "The Golden Ratio," was discovered by Euclid more than two thousand years ago because of its crucial role in the construction of the pentagram, to which magical properties had been attributed. Since then it has shown a propensity to appear in the most astonishing variety of places, from mollusk shells, sunflower florets, and rose petals to the shape of the galaxy. Psychological studies have investigated whether the Golden Ratio is the most aesthetically pleasing proportion extant, and it has been asserted that the creators of the Pyramids and the Parthenon employed it. It is believed to feature in works of art from Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa to Salvador Dali's The Sacrament of the Last Supper, and poets and composers have used it in their works. It has even been found to be connected to the behavior of the stock market!
The Golden Ratio is a captivating journey through art and architecture, botany and biology, physics and mathematics. It tells the human story of numerous phi-fixated individuals, including the followers of Pythagoras who believed that this proportion revealed the hand of God; astronomer Johannes Kepler, who saw phi as the greatest treasure of geometry; such Renaissance thinkers as mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci of Pisa; and such masters of the modern world as Goethe, Cezanne, Bartok, and physicist Roger Penrose. Wherever his quest for the meaning of phi takes him, Mario Livio reveals the world as a place where order, beauty, and eternal mystery will always coexist. [via]More editions of The Golden Ratio: The Story of Phi, the World's Most Astonishing Number:
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History of Piby Peter BeckmannISBN 0312381859 (0-312-38185-9)
Softcover, St Martins Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'History of Pi'Book summary:The history of pi, says the author, though a small part of the history of mathematics, is nevertheless a mirror of the history of man. Petr Beckmann holds up this mirror, giving the background of the times when pi made progress -- and also when it did not, because science was being stifled by militarism or religious fanaticism.[via]More editions of History of Pi:
- A History of PI: ISBN 0880294183 (0-88029-418-3)
Hardcover, Marboro Books - A History of [pi] (Pi): ISBN 0911762078 (0-911762-07-8)
Hardcover, Golem Press - A History of [pi] (Pi): ISBN 0911762124 (0-911762-12-4)
Hardcover, Golem Press - History of Pi: ISBN 0911762183 (0-911762-18-3)
Hardcover, Golem Pr - History of Pi: ISBN 0312381859 (0-312-38185-9)
Softcover, St Martins Pr
- A History of PI: ISBN 0880294183 (0-88029-418-3)
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How to Solve It: A New Aspect of Mathematical Methodby George Polya, John Horton ConwayISBN 069111966X (0-691-11966-X)
Softcover, Princeton Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'How to Solve It: A New Aspect of Mathematical Method'Book summary:A perennial bestseller by eminent mathematician G. Polya, How to Solve It will show anyone in any field how to think straight.
In lucid and appealing prose, Polya reveals how the mathematical method of demonstrating a proof or finding an unknown can be of help in attacking any problem that can be "reasoned" out--from building a bridge to winning a game of anagrams. Generations of readers have relished Polya's deft--indeed, brilliant--instructions on stripping away irrelevancies and going straight to the heart of the problem.
More editions of How to Solve It: A New Aspect of Mathematical Method:
- How to Solve It; A New Aspect of Mathematical Method: ISBN 0691023565 (0-691-02356-5)
Softcover, Princeton Univ Pr - How to Solve It: A New Aspect of Mathematical Method: ISBN 0691080976 (0-691-08097-6)
Hardcover, Princeton Univ Pr - How to Solve It: A New Aspect of Mathematical Method: ISBN 069111966X (0-691-11966-X)
Softcover, Princeton Univ Pr
- How to Solve It; A New Aspect of Mathematical Method: ISBN 0691023565 (0-691-02356-5)
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Innumeracyby John Allen PaulosISBN 0809058405 (0-8090-5840-5)
Softcover, Farrar Straus & Giroux
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Innumeracy'Book summary:This is the book that made "innumeracy" a household word, at least in some households. Paulos admits that "at least part of the motivation for any book is anger, and this book is no exception. I'm distressed by a society which depends so completely on mathematics and science and yet seems to indifferent to the innumeracy and scientific illiteracy of so many of its citizens."
But that is not all that drives him. The difference between our pretensions and reality is absurd and humorous, and the numerate can see this better than those who don't speak math. "I think there's something of the divine in these feelings of our absurdity, and they should be cherished, not avoided."
Paulos is not entirely successful at balancing anger and absurdity, but he tries. His diatribes against astrology, bad math education, Freud, and willful ignorance are leavened with jokes, mathematical or the sort (he claims) favored by the numerate.
It remains to be seen if Innumeracy will indeed be able, as Hofstadter hoped, to "help launch a revolution in math education that would do for innumeracy what Sabin and Salk did for polio"--but many of the improvements Paulos suggested have come to pass within 10 years. Only time will tell if the generation raised on these new principles is more resistant to innumeracy--and need only worry about being incomputable. --Mary Ellen Curtin [via]
More editions of Innumeracy:
- Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences: ISBN 0809074478 (0-8090-7447-8)
Hardcover, Farrar, Straus & Giroux - Innumeracy : Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Social Consequences: ISBN 0679726012 (0-679-72601-2)
Softcover, Knopf Publishing Group - Innumeracy: ISBN 0809058405 (0-8090-5840-5)
Softcover, Farrar Straus & Giroux
- Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences: ISBN 0809074478 (0-8090-7447-8)
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The Joy of Piby David BlatnerISBN 0802775624 (0-8027-7562-4)
Softcover, Walker & Company
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Joy of Pi'Book summary:No number has captured the attention and imagination of people throughout the ages as much as the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. Pior ? as it is symbolically knownis infinite and, in The Joy of pi, it proves to be infinitely intriguing. With incisive historical insight and a refreshing sense of humor, David Blatner explores the many facets of pi and humankind's fascination with itfrom the ancient Egyptians and Archimedes to Leonardo da Vinci and the modern-day Chudnovsky brothers, who have calculated pi to eight billion digits with a homemade supercomputer.[via]
The Joy of Pi is a book of many parts. Breezy narratives recount the history of pi and the quirky stories of those obsessed with it. Sidebars document fascinating pi trivia (including a segment from the 0. J. Simpson trial). Dozens of snippets and factoids reveal pi's remarkable impact over the centuries. Mnemonic devices teach how to memorize pi to many hundreds of digits (or more, if you're so inclined). Pi-inspired cartoons, poems, limericks, and jokes offer delightfully "square" pi humor. And, to satisfy even the most exacting of number jocks, the first one million digits of pi appear throughout the book.
A tribute to all things pi, The Joy of pi is sure to foster a newfound affection and respect for the big number with the funny little symbol. -
The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdos and the Search for Mathematical Truthby Paul HoffmanISBN 0786884061 (0-7868-8406-1)
Softcover, Hyperion Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdos and the Search for Mathematical Truth'Book summary:Paul Erdös was an amazing and prolific mathematician whose life as a world-wandering numerical nomad was legendary. He published almost 1500 scholarly papers before his death in 1996, and he probably thought more about math problems than anyone in history. Like a traveling salesman offering his thoughts as wares, Erdös would show up on the doorstep of one mathematician or another and announce, "My brain is open." After working through a problem, he'd move on to the next place, the next solution.
Hoffman's book, like Sylvia Nasar's biography of John Nash, A Beautiful Mind, reveals a genius's life that transcended the merely quirky. But Erdös's brand of madness was joyful, unlike Nash's despairing schizophrenia. Erdös never tried to dilute his obsessive passion for numbers with ordinary emotional interactions, thus avoiding hurting the people around him, as Nash did. Oliver Sacks writes of Erdös: "A mathematical genius of the first order, Paul Erdös was totally obsessed with his subject--he thought and wrote mathematics for nineteen hours a day until the day he died. He traveled constantly, living out of a plastic bag, and had no interest in food, sex, companionship, art--all that is usually indispensable to a human life."
The Man Who Loved Only Numbers is easy to love, despite his strangeness. It's hard not to have affection for someone who referred to children as "epsilons," from the Greek letter used to represent small quantities in mathematics; a man whose epitaph for himself read, "Finally I am becoming stupider no more"; and whose only really necessary tool to do his work was a quiet and open mind. Hoffman, who followed and spoke with Erdös over the last 10 years of his life, introduces us to an undeniably odd, yet pure and joyful, man who loved numbers more than he loved God--whom he referred to as SF, for Supreme Fascist. He was often misunderstood, and he certainly annoyed people sometimes, but Paul Erdös is no doubt missed. --Therese Littleton [via]
More editions of The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdos and the Search for Mathematical Truth:
- The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdos and the Search for Mathematical Truth: ISBN 0786863625 (0-7868-6362-5)
Hardcover, Hyperion Books - The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdos and the Search for Mathematical Truth: ISBN 0786884061 (0-7868-8406-1)
Softcover, Hyperion Books
- The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdos and the Search for Mathematical Truth: ISBN 0786863625 (0-7868-6362-5)
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The Mathematical Experienceby Philip J. Davis, Reuben Hersh, Elena MarchisottoISBN 0817637397 (0-8176-3739-7)
Hardcover, Birkhauser
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Mathematical Experience'Book summary:We tend to think of mathematics as uniquely rigorous, and of mathematicians as supremely smart. In his introduction to The Mathematical Experience, Gian-Carlo Rota notes that instead, "a mathematician's work is mostly a tangle of guesswork, analogy, wishful thinking and frustration, and proof ... is more often than not a way of making sure that our minds are not playing tricks." Philip Davis and Reuben Hersh discuss everything from the nature of proof to the Euclid myth, and mathematical aesthetics to non-Cantorian set theory. They make a convincing case for the idea that mathematics is not about eternal reality, but comprises "true facts about imaginary objects" and belongs among the human sciences. [via]
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A Mathematician Reads the Newspaperby John Allen PaulosISBN 038548254X (0-385-48254-X)
Softcover, Anchor Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper'Book summary:In this book the author of Innumeracy : Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences reveals the hidden mathematical angles in countless media stories. His real life perspective on the statistics we rely on and how they can mislead is for anyone interested in gaining a more accurate view of their world. The book is written with a humorous and knowledgeable style that makes it great reading. [via]
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A Mathematician's Apologyby G. H. HardyISBN 0521427061 (0-521-42706-1)
Softcover, Cambridge Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Mathematician's Apology'Book summary:A Mathematician's Apology is a profoundly sad book, the memoir of a man who has reached the end of his ambition, who can no longer effectively practice the art that has consumed him since he was a boy. But at the same time, it is a joyful celebration of the subject--and a stern lecture to those who would sully it by dilettantism or attempts to make it merely useful. "The mathematician's patterns," G.H. Hardy declares, "like the painter's or the poet's, must be beautiful; the ideas, like the colours or the words, must fit together in a harmonious way. Beauty is the first test: there is no permanent place in the world for ugly mathematics."
Hardy was, in his own words, "for a short time the fifth best pure mathematician in the world" and knew full well that "no mathematician should ever allow himself to forget that mathematics, more than any other art or science, is a young man's game." In a long biographical foreword to Apology, C.P. Snow (now best known for The Two Cultures) offers invaluable background and a context for his friend's occasionally brusque tone: "His life remained the life of a brilliant young man until he was old; so did his spirit: his games, his interests, kept the lightness of a young don's. And, like many men who keep a young man's interests into their sixties, his last years were the darker for it." Reading Snow's recollections of Hardy's Cambridge University years only makes Apology more poignant. Hardy was popular, a terrific conversationalist, and a notoriously good cricket player.
When summer came, it was taken for granted that we should meet at the cricket ground.... He used to walk round the cinderpath with a long, loping, clumping-footed stride (he was a slight spare man, physically active even in his late fifties, still playing real tennis), head down, hair, tie, sweaters, papers all flowing, a figure that caught everyone's eyes. "There goes a Greek poet, I'll be bound," once said some cheerful farmer as Hardy passed the score-board.
G.H. Hardy's elegant 1940 memoir has provided generations of mathematicians with pithy quotes and examples for their office walls, and plenty of inspiration to either be great or find something else to do. He is a worthy mentor, a man who understood deeply and profoundly the rewards and losses of true devotion. --Therese Littleton [via]
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Men of Mathematicsby Eric Temple BellISBN 0671628186 (0-671-62818-6)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Men of Mathematics'Book summary:Here is the classic, much-read introduction to the craft and history of mathematics by E.T. Bell, a leading figure in mathematics in America for half a century. Men of Mathematics accessibly explains the major mathematics, from the geometry of the Greeks through Newton's calculus and on to the laws of probability, symbolic logic, and the fourth dimension. In addition, the book goes beyond pure mathematics to present a series of engrossing biographies of the great mathematicians -- an extraordinary number of whom lived bizarre or unusual lives. Finally, Men of Mathematics is also a history of ideas, tracing the majestic development of mathematical thought from ancient times to the twentieth century. This enduring work's clear, often humorous way of dealing with complex ideas makes it an ideal book for the non-mathematician. [via]
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Metamagical Themas: Questing for the Essence of Mind and Patternby Douglas R. HofstadterISBN 0465045669 (0-465-04566-9)
Softcover, Perseus Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Metamagical Themas: Questing for the Essence of Mind and Pattern'Book summary:An interlocked collection of literary, scientific, and artistic studies. [via]
More editions of Metamagical Themas: Questing for the Essence of Mind and Pattern:
- Metamagical Themas: Questing for the Essence of Mind and Pattern: ISBN 0465045405 (0-465-04540-5)
Hardcover, Perseus Books Group - Metamagical Themas: Questing for the Essence of Mind and Pattern: ISBN 0553342797 (0-553-34279-7)
Softcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group - Metamagical Themas: Questing for the Essence of Mind and Pattern: ISBN 0553346830 (0-553-34683-0)
Softcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group - Metamagical Themas: Questing for the Essence of Mind and Pattern: ISBN 0465045669 (0-465-04566-9)
Softcover, Perseus Books
- Metamagical Themas: Questing for the Essence of Mind and Pattern: ISBN 0465045405 (0-465-04540-5)
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The Music of the Primes: Searching to Solve the Greatest Mystery in Mathematicsby Marcus Du SautoyISBN 0060935588 (0-06-093558-8)
Softcover, Harpercollins
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Music of the Primes: Searching to Solve the Greatest Mystery in Mathematics'Book summary:Prime numbers are the atoms of arithmetic, the building blocks for all other numbers. In school, we are taught that a prime is one that cannot be divided evenly by any other number except one and itself. What we are not taught is that primes represent the most tantalizing mystery in the pursuit of human knowledge. How can one predict when the next prime number will occur? Is there a formula that could generate primes? Where is the pattern behind these elusive numbers? These questions have formed a riddle that has confounded mathematicians since the ancient Greeks. The answer would revolutionize the world of math, and much more.
Nearly 150 years ago, a German mathematician named Bernard Riemann came as close as anyone has ever come to solving this problem. In 1859 he presented a paper on the subject of prime numbers to the Berlin Academy. At the heart of his presentation was an idea -- a hypothesis -- that seemed to reveal a magical harmony between primes and other numbers. It was an idea that Riemann argued was very likely to be true. But after his death, his housekeeper burned all of his personal papers, and to this day, no one knows whether he ever found the proof.
By now, the Riemann Hypothesis has become the number one obsession for the world's leading mathematicians. Considered to be even more difficult and more important than Fermat's Last Theorem, Riemann's solution would serve as a periodic table in charting the entire mathematical universe. But it has implications that go far beyondmath. It is of tremendous importance in business, since prime numbers are the linchpin for security in banking and e-commerce. It is also the idea that brings together vastly different areas of science, with critical ramifications for Quantum Mechanics, Chaos Theory, and the future of computing. Pioneers in each of these fields are racing to crack the code, and a prize of one million dollars has been offered to the winner.
In this remarkable book, Marcus du Sautoy tells a story of eccentric and brilliant men, and of the unquenchable thirst for knowledge that has driven some to madness and others to glory. Illuminating, authoritative, and extremely engaging, The Music of the Primes provides the extraordinary history behind the holy grail of mathematics and the ongoing quest to capture it.
[via]More editions of The Music of the Primes: Searching to Solve the Greatest Mystery in Mathematics:
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Nature's Numbers: The Unreal Reality of Mathematical Imaginationby Ian StewartISBN 0465072739 (0-465-07273-9)
Hardcover, Perseus Books Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Nature's Numbers: The Unreal Reality of Mathematical Imagination'Book summary:The well-known author of the "Mathematical Recreations" column in Scientific American explains the key concepts in math and their implications, pointing out that although mathematics is totally unreal--an entirely mental construct--it is the best tool available for describing and understanding the real world. Illustrations. [via]
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Nature's Numbers: The Unreal Reality of Mathematicsby Ian StewartISBN 0465072747 (0-465-07274-7)
Softcover, Basic Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Nature's Numbers: The Unreal Reality of Mathematics'Book summary:"It appears to us that the universe is structured in a deeply mathematical way. Falling bodies fall with predictable accelerations. Eclipses can be accurately forecast centuries in advance. Nuclear power plants generate electricity according to well-known formulas. But those examples are the tip of the iceberg. In Nature's Numbers, Ian Stewart presents many more, each charming in its own way.. Stewart admirably captures compelling and accessible mathematical ideas along with the pleasure of thinking of them. He writes with clarity and precision. Those who enjoy this sort of thing will love this book." - Los Angeles Times [via]
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The Nothing That Is: A Natural History of Zeroby Robert Kaplan, Ellen KaplanISBN 0195142373 (0-19-514237-3)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Nothing That Is: A Natural History of Zero'Book summary:The publisher says The Nothing That Is is "in the tradition" of Dava Sobel's bestselling Longitude, presumably because it is both lyrically written and underillustrated. It's more accurate to describe it as in the tradition of something old enough to have a tradition: the cabinet of curios, a natural history in the old sense.
Robert Kaplan is a mathematics teacher, and he organizes his cabinet around--nothing. How did we come to have a symbol for zero? Who used it first? Usually the invention (or discovery) of zero is given as occurring in India in about the year 600 CE. Kaplan gives much more shrift to Sumerian, Babylonian, and Greek experiments with abacuses, counting boards, positional notation, and abstract thought. He acknowledges that his approach will be controversial:
Haven't all our dots funneled back to India? Were zero and the variable not truly born here, twin offspring of sunya and what seems the singularly Indian understanding of vacancy as receptive? But like an hour-glass, the funnel opens out again and the dots stream down to ancient Greece.
Kaplan's meditations on zero are not confined to its origin. He muses on the "zero of self," on infinitesimals, on the Mayan zero, and on the nothingness of suicide. Throughout, he shows "a sensuous delight in syllables," a love of words as well as numbers, that makes the book a feast for both halves of the brain. --Mary Ellen Curtin [via]
More editions of The Nothing That Is: A Natural History of Zero:
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Prime Obsession: Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematicsby John DerbyshireISBN 0452285259 (0-452-28525-9)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Prime Obsession: Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics'Book summary:Bernhard Riemann was an underdog of sorts, a malnourished son of a parson who grew up to be the author of one of mathematics' greatest problems. In Prime Obsession, John Derbyshire deals brilliantly with both Riemann's life and that problem: proof of the conjecture, "All non-trivial zeros of the zeta function have real part one-half." Though the statement itself parses as nonsense to anyone but a mathematician, Derbyshire walks readers through the decades of reasoning that led to the Riemann Hypothesis in such a way as to clear it up perfectly. Riemann himself never proved the statement, and it remains unsolved to this day. Prime Obsession offers alternating chapters of step-by-step math and a history of 19th-century European intellectual life, letting readers take a breather between chunks of well-written information. Derbyshire's style is accessible but not dumbed-down, thorough but not heavy-handed. This is among the best popular treatments of an obscure mathematical idea, inviting readers to explore the theory without insisting on page after page of formulae.
In 2000, the Clay Mathematics Institute offered a one-million-dollar prize to anyone who could prove the Riemann Hypothesis, but luminaries like David Hilbert, G.H. Hardy, Alan Turing, André Weil, and Freeman Dyson have all tried before. Will the Riemann Hypothesis ever be proved? "One day we shall know," writes Derbyshire, and he makes the effort seem very worthwhile. --Therese Littleton [via]More editions of Prime Obsession: Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics:
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The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universeby Roger PenroseISBN 0679776311 (0-679-77631-1)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe'Book summary:From one of our greatest living scientists, a magnificent book that provides, for the serious lay reader, the most comprehensive and sophisticated account we have yet had of the physical universe and the essentials of its underlying mathematical theory.
Since the earliest efforts of the ancient Greeks to find order amid the chaos around us, there has been continual accelerated progress toward understanding the laws that govern our universe. And the particularly important advances made by means of the revolutionary theories of relativity and quantum mechanics have deeply altered our vision of the cosmos and provided us with models of unprecedented accuracy.
What Roger Penrose so brilliantly accomplishes in this book is threefold. First, he gives us an overall narrative description of our present understanding of the universe and its physical behaviorsfrom the unseeable, minuscule movement of the subatomic particle to the journeys of the planets and the stars in the vastness of time and space.
Second, he evokes the extraordinary beauty that lies in the mysterious and profound relationships between these physical behaviors and the subtle mathematical ideas that explain and interpret them.
Third, Penrose comes to the arresting conclusionas he explores the compatibility of the two grand classic theories of modern physicsthat Einsteins general theory of relativity stands firm while quantum theory, as presently constituted, still needs refashioning.
Along the way, he talks about a wealth of issues, controversies, and phenomena; about the roles of various kinds of numbers in physics, ideas of calculus and modern geometry, visions of infinity, the big bang, black holes, the profound challenge of the second law of thermodynamics, string and M theory, loop quantum gravity, twistors, and educated guesses about science in the near future. In The Road to Reality he has given us a work of enormous scope, intention, and achievementa complete and essential work of science [via]More editions of The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe:
- The Road To Reality: A Complete Guide To The Laws Of The Universe: ISBN 0679454438 (0-679-45443-8)
Hardcover, Random House Inc - The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe: ISBN 0224044478 (0-224-04447-8)
Hardcover, Jonathan Cape - The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe: ISBN 0679776311 (0-679-77631-1)
Softcover, Random House Inc
- The Road To Reality: A Complete Guide To The Laws Of The Universe: ISBN 0679454438 (0-679-45443-8)
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A Tour of the Calculusby David BerlinskiISBN 0679747885 (0-679-74788-5)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Tour of the Calculus'Book summary:In its largest aspect, the calculus functions as a celestial measuring tape, able to order the infinite expanse of the universe. Time and space are given names, points, and limits; seemingly intractable problems of motion, growth, and form are reduced to answerable questions. Calculus was humanity's first attempt to represent the world and perhaps its greatest meditation on the theme of continuity. Charts and graphs throughout. [via]
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Universal History of Numbersby Georges IfrahISBN 1860467385 (1-86046-738-5)
Softcover, Trafalgar Square
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Universal History of Numbers'Book summary:The title doesn't lie. Mathematician Georges Ifrah's masterpiece, The Universal History of Numbers, is a wonderfully comprehensive overview of numbers and counting spanning all the inhabited continents as far back in time as records will allow us to look. Beyond the ancient Babylonians, Sumerians, and Indians, Ifrah takes us farther south into Africa to examine an early decimal counting system and into ancient Mexico to reconstruct what we can of the Mayan calendar and numerical system. The 27 chapters are chiefly organized by culture, though there are some cross-cultural overviews of topics like letters and numbers.
The author's aim was grand: "to provide in simple and accessible terms the full and complete answer to all and any questions ... about the history of numbers and counting, from prehistory to the age of computers." This led him to wander the world for 10 years, studying and learning; this scholastic pilgrim has returned with amazing stories to tell. Toward the end of the book, Ifrah makes the book truly universal by refuting alien-intervention theories of cultural origins--surely our benefactors would have given us an efficient decimal counting system, zero and all, before helping us build pyramids and such. Such charming ideas, combined with such rigorously researched facts, make The Universal History of Numbers a uniquely important and fascinating volume. --Rob Lightner [via]
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Universal History of Numbers: From Prehistory to the Invention of the Computerby Georges Ifrah, David BellosISBN 186046324X (1-86046-324-X)
Softcover, Harvill Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Universal History of Numbers: From Prehistory to the Invention of the Computer'Book summary:For those of you who have read Georges Ifrah's first book, The Universal History of Numbers: From Prehistory to the Invention of the Computer, this is the third of a two-volume set! Just to clarify this, the first volume is being split into two and, together with this new third volume, republished as a trilogy. For those of you who have not read the first book, volume III begins with what could have been a very useful "Chronological Summary" and a "Recapitulation" of the ideas expressed in the first book. Unfortunately, without a preface or introduction, the unwary reader is immediately confronted with a very condensed version of the first book. Indeed, Ifrah's detailed study of number systems, when reduced to a series of illustrated plates, gives the impression that the history of numbers is little more than a history of typography. Yet another "Chronological Summary" from Calculation to Calculus follows, thereby reinforcing the feeling that the book is a collection of notes waiting to be crafted into a strong narrative. The translator, the unsung hero in many publications, has done sterling work in adding copious notes and helpful cross-references. The initial feeling remains, however, that this is a collection of jewels without a crown.
Having said that, the scope of the book is enormous, tracing the history of calculators and computers, from mechanical to electronic devices through both analogue and digital incarnations. There are some familiar faces, such as Pascal, Babbage, von Neumann and Turing, as well as many others who have so far escaped the spotlight. As a reference work it has a good index and an extensive bibliography. The author acknowledges regret at the lack of illustrations but gives references to such sources. In the search for universality and completeness it has, however, forsaken a strong guiding theme. The most engaging sections are where the mathematics, history and technology come together, bound by personal ambitions, whether intellectual or financial. In such sections Ifrah pauses from being a cataloguer to indulge in some story telling. It is here that the nuts and bolts of technology come to life. For teachers, students and researchers, this will prove to be a very useful starting point into a fascinating area of human innovation. But one would venture that this is a work destined for the library shelves rather than the bedside table. --Richard Mankiewicz [via]
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Universal History of Numbers: From Prehistory to the Invention of the Computerby David Bellos, Georges Ifrah, E. F. Harding, Ian Monk, Sophie WoodISBN 0471375683 (0-471-37568-3)
Hardcover, John Wiley & Sons Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Universal History of Numbers: From Prehistory to the Invention of the Computer'Book summary:The title doesn't lie. Mathematician Georges Ifrah's masterpiece, The Universal History of Numbers, is a wonderfully comprehensive overview of numbers and counting spanning all the inhabited continents as far back in time as records will allow us to look. Beyond the ancient Babylonians, Sumerians, and Indians, Ifrah takes us farther south into Africa to examine an early decimal counting system and into ancient Mexico to reconstruct what we can of the Mayan calendar and numerical system. The 27 chapters are chiefly organized by culture, though there are some cross-cultural overviews of topics like letters and numbers.
The author's aim was grand: "to provide in simple and accessible terms the full and complete answer to all and any questions ... about the history of numbers and counting, from prehistory to the age of computers." This led him to wander the world for 10 years, studying and learning; this scholastic pilgrim has returned with amazing stories to tell. Toward the end of the book, Ifrah makes the book truly universal by refuting alien-intervention theories of cultural origins--surely our benefactors would have given us an efficient decimal counting system, zero and all, before helping us build pyramids and such. Such charming ideas, combined with such rigorously researched facts, make The Universal History of Numbers a uniquely important and fascinating volume. --Rob Lightner [via]
More editions of Universal History of Numbers: From Prehistory to the Invention of the Computer:
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The World of Mathematicsby James Roy NewmanISBN 1556151489 (1-55615-148-9)
Softcover, Microsoft Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The World of Mathematics'Book summary:Save 17% when you order the complete set! A monumental 4-volume reference, 15 years in the making, The World of Mathematics was specially designed to make mathematics more accessible to the inexperienced. It comprises non-technical essays on every aspect of the vast subject, including articles by scores of eminent mathematicians and other thinkers.[via]More editions of The World of Mathematics:
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The World of Mathematics: A Small Library of the Literature of Mathematics from Ah-Mose the Scribe to Albert Einsteinby James Roy NewmanISBN 1556151497 (1-55615-149-7)
Hardcover, Tempus
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The World of Mathematics: A Small Library of the Literature of Mathematics from Ah-Mose the Scribe to Albert Einstein'Book summary:The objective of this anthology is to introduce intelligent laypersons to the scope, power, significance and beauty of mathematics. It comprises a four-volume set with the selection of articles arranged within topic groupings. [via]
More editions of The World of Mathematics: A Small Library of the Literature of Mathematics from Ah-Mose the Scribe to Albert Einstein:
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Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Ideaby Charles Seife, Matt ZimetISBN 0140296476 (0-14-029647-6)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea'Book summary:The seemingly impossible Zen task--writing a book about nothing--has a loophole: people have been chatting, learning, and even fighting about nothing for millennia. Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea, by noted science writer Charles Seife, starts with the story of a modern battleship stopped dead in the water by a loose zero, then rewinds back to several hundred years BCE. Some empty-headed genius improved the traditional Eastern counting methods immeasurably by adding zero as a placeholder, which allowed the genesis of our still-used decimal system. It's all been uphill from there, but Seife is enthusiastic about his subject; his synthesis of math, history, and anthropology seduces the reader into a new fascination with the most troubling number.
Why did the Church reject the use of zero? How did mystics of all stripes get bent out of shape over it? Is it true that science as we know it depends on this mysterious round digit? Zero opens up these questions and lets us explore the answers and their ramifications for our oh-so-modern lives. Seife has fun with his format, too, starting with chapter 0 and finishing with an appendix titled "Make Your Own Wormhole Time Machine." (Warning: don't get your hopes up too much.) There are enough graphs and equations to scare off serious numerophobes, but the real story is in the interactions between artists, scientists, mathematicians, religious and political leaders, and the rest of us--it seems we really do have nothing in common. --Rob Lightner [via]
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Gdel, Escher, Bachby D.R. HofstadterISBN 8472234592 (84-7223-459-2)
Softcover, Tusquets Editor
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Gdel, Escher, Bach'Book summary:¿Puede un sistema comprenderse a sí mismo ? Si esta pregunta se refiere a la mente humana, entonces nos encontramos ante una cuestión clave del pensamiento científico. Y de la filosofía. Y del arte. Investigar este misterio es una aventura que recorre la matemática, la física, la biología, la psicología y, muy especialmente, el lenguaje. Douglas R. Hofstadter, joven y ya célebre científico, nos abre la puerta del enigma con la belleza y la alegría creadora de su estilo. Sorprendentes paralelismos ocultos entre los grabados de Escher y la música de Bach nos remiten a las paradojas clásicas de los antiguos griegos y a un teorema de la lógica matemática moderna que ha estremecido el pensamiento del siglo XX : el de Kurt Gödel. Todo lenguaje, todo sistema formal, todo programa de ordenador, todo proceso de pensamiento, llegan, tarde o temprano, a la situación límite de la autorreferencia : de querer expresarse sobre sí mismos. Surge entonces la emoción del infinito, como dos espejos enfrentados y obligados a reflejarse mutua e indefinidamente. Gödel, Escher, Bach: un Eterno y Grácil Bucle, es una obra de arte escrita por un sabio. Versa sobre los misterios del pensamiento e incluye, ella misma, sus propios misterios. / Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, this book applies Godel's seminal contribution to modern Twenty years after it topped the bestseller charts, Douglas R. Hofstadter's Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid is still something of a marvel. Besides being a profound and entertaining meditation on human thought and creativity, this book looks at the surprising points of contact between the music of Bach, the artwork of Escher, and the mathematics of Gödel.mathematics to the study of the human mind and the development of artificial intelligence. [via]
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Una Mente Prodigiosa / A Beautiful Mindby Sylvia Nasar, Ricard Martinez MuntadaISBN 8497934393 (84-9793-439-3)
Softcover, Debolsillo
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Una Mente Prodigiosa / A Beautiful Mind'More editions of Una Mente Prodigiosa / A Beautiful Mind:
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