Literate Scientist

Links to these two books can be found on my management blog:

Management Bit and Tip 0×80

The first book (150 pages) explains the main theme of the second (1,300 pages) that establishment shapes our world. I read the first book completely and it had some revelations for me, for example, that establishment supported communism in US after WWII, that McCarthy was a hero, and that Cuban Crisis was created by the demand from grassroots movement. Certainly it is good to know about different views. I started reading the second book and it differs from other history books, for example, written by J. M. Roberts, as it puts some theory and patterns behind the narrative.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ LiterateScientist.com -

This book I found and read 4 years ago was written by Edna Ernestine Kramer. At that time I was looking for a lightweight introduction to parts of modern mathematics that I missed during my university education at the end 80s. Remembered my earlier school encounters with Morris Kline’s book “Mathematics: The Loss of Certainty” I wanted an introduction along the historical lines of 20th century and this book was a pleasant discovery. It is more than 700 pages and was printed in small font so it was the long but very enjoyable read. It covers unusually wide range of mathematical disciplines and their historical development from Babylonian era to games, statistical decision and utility theory, functional analysis, topology, homotopy and homology, Grassmann algebras, and many other 20th century developments.

Here is the brief TOC:

1. From Babylonian Beginnings to Digital Computers
2. Mathematical Method and Main Streams Are Launched
3. Mathematical Reasoning from Eudoxus to Lobachevsky
4. Algebra from Hypathia to Hamilton
5. Equations, Human and Inhuman
6. A Universal Language
7. Forefathers of Modern Mathematics and Their Legacy
8. A Calculus for Heaven and Earth
9. Determinism and Its Creators
10. The Elements of Strategy in War and Peace
11. Probabilistic Models, Great Expectations, and Randomized Strategies
12. General Games and Statistical Decision Theory
13. From Dice to Quantum Theory and Quality Control
14. Realm of Random Variables
15. Demons, Energy, Maxwell, and Gibbs
16. Sweet Manuscript of Youth
17. The Unification of Geometry
18. A Special Group and Its Application
19. Geometry for Universe-Builders
20. Post-Relativity Geometry
21. East Meets West in the Higher Arithmetic
22. The Reformation of Analysis
23. Royal Roads to Functional Analysis
24. Infinite Hierarchy
25. Angelic Geometry
26. The Leonardos of Modern Mathematics
27. Twentieth-Century Vistas - Analysis
28. Twentieth-Century Vistas - Algebra
29. Twentieth-Century Vistas - Logic and Foundations
30. Retrospect and Prospect

The Nature and Growth of Modern Mathematics

- Dmitry Vostokov @ LiterateScientist.com -