Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #507849 in Books
• Published on: 1990-09-27
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 464 pages

Customer Reviews

Should be read by every maths student (for fun).
Back in the early 90's when I was an almost-penniless mathematics student I was standing in front of a bookshelf in my local bookstore and had to choose between this and Gödel, Escher, Bach. I chose this book and I still don't regret it. [I have also subsequently bought GEB :-)]
Driven by their obvious love of the subject, the authors do a credible job of tackling just what it is about mathematics that makes mathematicians love it so much, often to the bafflement of the rest of the world. A particular personal favourite is the series of four conversations between an "ideal mathematician" and, respectively, a University Public Information Officer, a philosophy student, a positive philosopher and a sceptical classicist.
I would recommend this book to students of mathematics at any level beyond the elementary, especially those with an interest in the foundations of their subject. The authors do however acknowledge that some parts of the book will seem alien to the layman.

A Must Read for the Curious
Around my early to mid teens, finding the mathematics I was being taught easy but also puzzling I started to have philosophical questions that were just not properly addressed. I later hoped (naively I now know) my Science/Engineering degree would answer those questions. It didn't. I had wanted to dig deeper into what mathematics is but instead was taught increasingly obscure and complex "results" that were useful to my discipline. Had I known it at the time this book would have answered my questions (often answering them with more questions, true). It appears to give an excellent framework to the consideration of any uneasiness you might feel with mathematics especially if you find/found school levels maths easy.

If after reading this you still feel uneasy then you know you need to proceed further into philosophy.

A great book.