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scottshepard's review
2.0
First 1/3: 4 starts
Later 2/3: 2 stars
I guess that averages out to a 2 & 2/3 star rating, although it feels like I slugged through the boring parts for so long that I'm rounding down.
The biggest point against Men of Mathematics is that is truly the Men of Mathematics. And it really should have been White European Men of Mathematics. While it is true that most of modern mathematics was discovered by European men *cough* imperialism *cough*, there were some people of color and women who some important work. Like Ada Lovelace, the first computer scientist. Or Emmy Noether, a landmark abstract algebraist whose theories underpin all of modern physics. Or, you know, the Arabs who invented Algebra. Or the Indians who invented zero. It’s not as if there was a time period to focus on, the book opens on ancient Greece and then skips straight to Descartes.
I guess this book is a product of its times. It was written in 1937. Ideas like including women on the merit of their accomplishments weren’t invented yet.
Aside from the imperialist and sexist attitude of the author, it was quite enjoyable! For some of it at least. The book is structured as a series of mini biographies of famous mathematicians. There are 23 chapters (intro + 22 mathematicians) from Zeno to Descartes to Gauss to Eisenstein to…if you’re bored already this book is not for you. My main issue is that if you are not already familiar with the characters and their accomplishments, the writing will not make you interested. I know this because I was already familiar with the characters in the 1/3 of the chapters I liked and unfamiliar with the 2/3 of the characters in the chapters I didn’t.
I learned some neat tidbits, and some pretty cool math, but mostly I get to say I read the damn thing and have it look impressive on my shelf. Men of Mathematics, where you have to be white, male, and french or german, and a genius as 22 to get a few pages jotted down about you. Oh and you’ll probably die poor and sick and young anyway.
Later 2/3: 2 stars
I guess that averages out to a 2 & 2/3 star rating, although it feels like I slugged through the boring parts for so long that I'm rounding down.
The biggest point against Men of Mathematics is that is truly the Men of Mathematics. And it really should have been White European Men of Mathematics. While it is true that most of modern mathematics was discovered by European men *cough* imperialism *cough*, there were some people of color and women who some important work. Like Ada Lovelace, the first computer scientist. Or Emmy Noether, a landmark abstract algebraist whose theories underpin all of modern physics. Or, you know, the Arabs who invented Algebra. Or the Indians who invented zero. It’s not as if there was a time period to focus on, the book opens on ancient Greece and then skips straight to Descartes.
I guess this book is a product of its times. It was written in 1937. Ideas like including women on the merit of their accomplishments weren’t invented yet.
Aside from the imperialist and sexist attitude of the author, it was quite enjoyable! For some of it at least. The book is structured as a series of mini biographies of famous mathematicians. There are 23 chapters (intro + 22 mathematicians) from Zeno to Descartes to Gauss to Eisenstein to…if you’re bored already this book is not for you. My main issue is that if you are not already familiar with the characters and their accomplishments, the writing will not make you interested. I know this because I was already familiar with the characters in the 1/3 of the chapters I liked and unfamiliar with the 2/3 of the characters in the chapters I didn’t.
I learned some neat tidbits, and some pretty cool math, but mostly I get to say I read the damn thing and have it look impressive on my shelf. Men of Mathematics, where you have to be white, male, and french or german, and a genius as 22 to get a few pages jotted down about you. Oh and you’ll probably die poor and sick and young anyway.
ercm's review
3.0
This book took me a long time to read. I found that I could only read one chapter a day. Even I skipped over most of the parts that delved into the mathematical theory, I just wanted to hear about the lives of the men themselves. This book is obviously outdated, but it is clear that the author really loves his subject - although someitmes I think he embellishes the truth to make things more exciting.
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