A Long Forgotten Classic

There are books that we read, more often in childhood than later in life, that change the course of our lives forever. 'Men of Mathematics' was one of those books for me. I ran across it in Junior High School, probably around the age of 14 or so. I was really fascinated by mathematics, but totally turned off by the way it was taught at school. I would be bored to tears in class during the day while the teacher explained for the umpteenth time how to do percentages, or the proper names for the numerator and denominator. Then, in the evening after dinner, I would go to my room and devour books on algebra, trig, and solid geometry. The puzzles and mental challenges that those texts presented me with were in a totally different world from the dry, dusty classroom I suffered through during the day.

One book, "Men of Mathematics" by E.T. Bell, originally published in the 1930's, opened my eyes to this fantastic mathematical world of wonders. Suddenly all the mechanical formulas and proofs we were supposed to memorize by rote came alive as Bell recounted the biographies and real experiences of the real life mathematicians that originally developed them to solve real world problems.

How did I happen to recall this wonderful book at this point in my life? Well, I happened to be reading the biography of John Nash, "A Beautiful Mind" and was amazed when his biographer mentioned that Nash's life course was set hard over on mathematics once he read Bell's book....

Amazon.com: Men of Mathematics
- posted by tempusmaster @ 11:24 PM