Men of Mathematics (Touchstone Book)

This collection of biographies of selectively culled great men of mathematics, written in 1936, originally published in 1937, is a delight to read and will remain so for any cultured person interested in the forms which the pursuit of higher mathematics has taken through the millennia. What struck me most resoundingly about the book - along with Bell's verve, élan and page-turning wit - was the level of culture expected of the general reader in 1937. Compared with modern "popular" books on mathematics, in which the general reader is treated as if s/he were a cultural dolt - which just possibly s/he, comparatively, is - the general reader of 1937 was expected (by Professor Bell, in any event) to be familiar with a slew of ancient and modern writers of all stripes as well as a great deal of non-mathematical history. These allusions were a delight for this particular reader and put matters in a context with which I was familiar.As to Bell's supposed miscues about particular instances in the lives of these men, I think we can afford to be latitudinarian as regards them. None of these errata which have so excited some of the other reviewers is of much moment when viewing the life of a particular mathematician in toto. Bell is writing a series of narrative biographies, not a dissertation.If you were considered an undergraduate or adolescent swot in maths, the book will likely simply amaze you at what creative mathematics, as opposed to a knack for or delight in problem solving, consists of at its highest level. You will discover that you've only tasted shallow draughts of what Bell - along with Petronius and Alexander Pope - refers to as the Pierian Spring.To give the prospective reader the flavour of Bell's pixie prose, I can't help but end by recounting Bell's comment on Napoleon's banqueting - during his ill-starred Egyptian expedition - with the famous mathematicians with whom he liked to consort on his flagship, l'Orient, where such questions as "Are the planets inhabited?" were entertained. "This suggests," Bell wryly notes, "that even at this comparatively early stage of his career Napoleon's ambitions outran Alexander's."Don't miss this entertaining, informative book aimed at the cultured, general reader (assuming, of course, that these two adjectives do not form an oxymoron in 2010).

The title of this book just does not do it justice. It is so much more than a collective biography, though it certainly is that. What you get here is nothing less than a history of mathematics in the Western world. Let me explain.Mathematics are a pure science. They are a primeval language unto themselves, slowly and deliberately discovered by these great minds. A history of those great minds and their intellectual endeavors is necessarily a history of the science. And as with any pure art or science, its discoverers, dabblers and practitioners are a strange and fascinating lot, every bit as interesting as a Mozart or a Picasso.My only gripe is minor. This book is limited to the Western (i.e. European) contribution to the subject, and purposefully ignores the substantial Arabic and Asian components. A book that claims to be comprehensive (which this one does not) would have to include those regions.You're sure to be entertained by this fine intellectual history of the King of the Sciences, or the Science of Kings.

This is an excellent, comprehensive overview of the work of many of history's greatest minds. Even a well-informed student of this material will find new information and new names. A particularly interesting literary device used throughout is presenting pairs of competing contemporaries vying for a common objective. Even as a fan of this sort of biography, I found much new and insightful in its pages. No single book of which I am aware presents this wide an array of mathematicians.This book is an old work from the 30's and uses a prose style that mercifully has fallen into disuse. The sentences are often LONG and complicated, obscuring already complex explanations. The worst part however, is that "back then" typesetting of mathematics was difficult and expensive. Therefore many presentations which could be clarified with a few lines of symbolic math are instead presented as narrative. I had to read the book with a pad and pencil in hand to write out the results in familiar form.

Excellent book. Perfect delivery.

I bought this book because it is said that it served as inspiration for a young John Nash to start his career as a mathematician. And I was not disappointed.As a sign of the times it was written in the style is stodgy, but content, prose, and organization are excellent. It tells stories of some 4 dozen or so influential men (and a few women) of mathematics.. It is both an inspiration and a reference of interesting problems (many old ones and some current). Highly recommended for the mathematically inclined. This book can be read as biographies (ignoring many mathematical details) or with more interest the math itself.

I really enjoyed the stores of the relationships between the mathematicians, since several were alive at the same periods in history. I loaned my original copy out, and never got it back, so I just bought another.