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Title: The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan by Robert Kanigel, Robert Kanigel ISBN: 0-671-75061-5 Publisher: Washington Square Press Pub. Date: 01 April, 1991 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.46 (35 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: An excellent book for people who love Science and History
Comment: In each field of science there are many unsung heroes whose stories are all but forgotten. Nevertheless some of these stories are astonishing and in the hands of a good author makes fscinating reading.
One such story is that of Ramanujan, who was to Math what Mozart was to music. His genius was almost mystical. This book deals with his life, how came to the attention of Hardy, went to England and became one of the well known mathematicians of his time.
But this book also deals with the "mystical" aspects of his genius. Strange, almost unbelievable anecdotes of how from the esoteric shadows of the east came an almost uneducated man who, isolated from the scientific world, rediscovered many of the great mathematical theorems that had been dsicovered over centuries in Europe.
The book is written in a superb style. I really enjoyed reading it, and I urge everyone to read it for its sheer entertainment value
Rating: 5
Summary: A touching biography
Comment: Im not too fond of biographies, but I would give this book an exception.
The life of Ramanujan is amazing and one is pushed to only awe the limits of mind. Being an Indian, I can see Robert Kanigel has given a comprehensive treatment to all facets of the life of Ramanujan - his boyhood days in small town of Kumbakonam, his obsession with Maths, his seperation from Mother and his wife, his relationship with Hardy and others, his stay in London, and his final days. Kanigel has really done a wonderful job in depicting the Brahmin house-hold of the early 1900s. One could really imagine Ramanujan with a tuft and a religious symbol on forehead, but his mind calculating 10,000 th decimal of pi.
His purely professional relations with Hardy has also been very deftly depicted. How hard the days must have been! Being a Ramanujan's biography its hard to avoid mathematical formulas - and the author justifiably includes them when necessary. But even if you do not understand them - you can just wonder at the string of symbols joined together to purport some meaning.
The narration is truly captivating. It sends an horripulating feeling to the mind, when Hardy describes the first letter of formulas as "These must be true. If they are not, nobody would have the audacity to invent it."
The final days of Ramanujan are indeed sad and emotional and also beautifuly captured in the book. Typical is the life of geniuses - the world has hard time understanding them. This book is really worth in my library.
Rating: 1
Summary: worthless
Comment: I think the worst book on mathematics or mathematicians I have read. The reader would have some knowledge, perhaps to the 9th grade, but is informed what a coefficient is, that the denominator is 'the number on the bottem'! Functions of interest to Ramanujan are mentioned but never adequately specified. Similarly for theorems. The author seems uncomfortable with mathematics.
The reader comes away with the sense of great things done but no idea of what they were.
This book is a read only for those interested in cataloging the faults of sloppy 'scientific' writing.
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Title: A Mathematician's Apology (Canto Book) by G.H. Hardy ISBN: 0521427061 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 01 April, 1992 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
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Title: The Man Who Loved Only Numbers : The Story of Paul Erdos and the Search for Mathematical Truth by Paul Hoffman ISBN: 0786884061 Publisher: Hyperion Pub. Date: 12 May, 1999 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Journey Through Genius: The Great Theorems of Mathematics by William Dunham ISBN: 014014739X Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 August, 1991 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Prime Obsession: Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics by John Derbyshire ISBN: 0309085497 Publisher: Joseph Henry Press Pub. Date: 23 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: Men of Mathematics (Touchstone Book) by Eric Temple Bell ISBN: 0671628186 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 01 August, 1986 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
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