Product Description

At the time her nine year old son was diagnosed with a brain tumour, Joan Richards was deeply involved in writing a book about the life and work of the 19th-century mathematician Augustus De Morgan. Immersed in this abstract, logical world of science, Richards was forced by her son's sudden illness to confront a different kind of reality, the irrational world of a serious family illness and its consequences. A memoir, "Angles of Reflection" portrays a woman deeply enmeshed in two male dominated worlds, 19th-century mathematics and 20th-century research academics struggling to integrate the competing demands of family and career without sacrificing one to the other. As the strain of caring for her sick child mounts, Richards' view of De Morgan broadens to include his family in ways that both illuminate his work and force her to re-evaluate her own career and relationships. In the process, she gives new meaning to the term "applied mathematics" by drawing life lessons from De Morgan's logic, Newton's absolute space and time, and Leibnitz's relative visions of reality.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3379051 in Books
• Published on: 2001-05-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

Review
"Poignant ... as gripping as a whodunit."--"The New York Times Book Review"
"Extremely well written ... It reads like a medical mystery and horror story all in one [and] will keep you reading right to the end."--"The Providence Sunday Journal"
"A compelling story ... Richards brings spirituality to mathematics and physics as she ponders the demands of motherhood and a career."--"Booklist"
"An exceptionally articulate study of how we deal with what we cannot control."--"Publishers Weekly"

About the Author
JOAN RICHARDS is an Associate Professor of the History of Mathematics at Brown University.