Great Feuds in Mathematics: Ten of the Liveliest Disputes Ever
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.15 (892 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0471648779 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 256 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2014-09-16 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
It is delicious stuff here.""-The New York Times""Stimulating.""-Journal of the American Medical Association. And when it comes to describing the battle, Hal Hellman is a master.""-New ScientistGreat Feuds in Science""Unusual insight into the development of science I was excited by this book and enthusiastically recommend it to general as well as scientific audiences.""-American Scientist""Hellman has assembled a series of entertaining tales many fine examples of heady invective without parallel in our time.""-NatureGreat Feuds in Medicine""This engaging book documents the reactions in ten of the most heated controversies and rivalries in medical history. The disputes detailed are fascinating. Praise for Hal HellmanGreat Feuds in Mathematics""Those who think that mathematicians are cold, mechanical proving machines will do well to read Hellman's book on conflicts in mathematics. The main characters are as excitable and touchy as the next man. But Hellman's stories also show how scientific fights bring out sharper formulations and better arguments.""-Professor Dirk van Dalen, Philosophy Department, Utrecht UniversityGreat Feuds in Technology""There's nothing l
* ""…genuinely insightful…accurate…rapid and fluent…"" (London MathematicalSociety, January 2007)
George Poirier said Fascinating Disputes But Beware The Challenging Arguments. This is an excellent book. The prose is clear and engaging and, despite the title, there are very few equations such that those who are equation-phobic have little to fear. However, many of the disputes center on nineteenth to twentieth century front-line research in pure mathematics - areas such as set theory, concepts of infinity, etc. These early ideas were prone to heated discussion and, in many cases, led to feuds. In order to allow th. "David Foster Wallace's Righteous Twin" according to Christopher Grant. Wallace's seriously flawed Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinity (Great Discoveries) made me wary of buying another pop math book by a non-mathematician, so I put off buying _Great Feuds_ for some time, but eventually I gave in, and I'm glad I did. Hellman's cautious approach contrasts nicely with Wallace's bombast, and, unlike Wallace, Hellman gets almost all of the details right, with a notable exception being his claim that . F. Klein said Readable Math. After seeing Mr. Hellman on CBS Sunday Morning News recently, I picked up his newest book, Great Feuds in Mathematics. A most enjoyable book. Although I am not a mathematician I was able to read "around" the few equations and enjoy the insight he brought to the math and its place in history. A good read.