Mathematics without apologies : portrait of a problematic vocation / Michael Harris.

Author
Harris, Michael, 1954- [Browse]
Format
Book
Language
English
Published/​Created
  • Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, [2015]
  • ©2015
Description
xxii, 438 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Details

Subject(s)
Summary note
What do pure mathematicians do, and why do they do it? Looking beyond the conventional answers--for the sake of truth, beauty, and practical applications--this book offers an eclectic panorama of the lives and values and hopes and fears of mathematicians in the twenty-first century, assembling material from a startlingly diverse assortment of scholarly, journalistic, and pop culture sources.
Bibliographic references
Includes bibliographical references (pages 397-421) and indexes.
Contents
Introduction : the veil -- How I acquired charisma -- Not merely good, true, and beautiful -- Megaloprepeia -- An automorphic reading of Thomas Pynchon's Against the day (interrupted by elliptical reflections on Mason & Dixon) -- Further investigations of the mind-body problem -- The habit of clinging to an ultimate ground -- The science of tricks -- A mathematical dream and its interpretation -- No apologies -- Afterword : The veil of Maya.
ISBN
  • 9780691154237 ((hardback) :)
  • 0691154236
LCCN
2014953422
OCLC
900911665
RCP
N - S