Loving and Hating Mathematics: Challenging the Myths of Mathematical Life - Hardcover

Hersh, Reuben; John-Steiner, Vera

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0691142475 ISBN 13: 9780691142470

Verlag: Princeton University Press, 2011

Inhaltsangabe

Mathematics is often thought of as the coldest expression of pure reason. But few subjects provoke hotter emotions--and inspire more love and hatred--than mathematics. And although math is frequently idealized as floating above the messiness of human life, its story is nothing if not human; often, it is all too human. Loving and Hating Mathematics is about the hidden human, emotional, and social forces that shape mathematics and affect the experiences of students and mathematicians. Written in a lively, accessible style, and filled with gripping stories and anecdotes, Loving and Hating Mathematics brings home the intense pleasures and pains of mathematical life. These stories challenge many myths, including the notions that mathematics is a solitary pursuit and a "young man's game," the belief that mathematicians are emotionally different from other people, and even the idea that to be a great mathematician it helps to be a little bit crazy. Reuben Hersh and Vera John-Steiner tell stories of lives in math from their very beginnings through old age, including accounts of teaching and mentoring, friendships and rivalries, love affairs and marriages, and the experiences of women and minorities in a field that has traditionally been unfriendly to both. Included here are also stories of people for whom mathematics has been an immense solace during times of crisis, war, and even imprisonment--as well as of those rare individuals driven to insanity and even murder by an obsession with math. This is a book for anyone who wants to understand why the most rational of human endeavors is at the same time one of the most emotional.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Reuben Hersh is professor emeritus of mathematics at the University of New Mexico and the coauthor of "The Mathematical Experience", which won the National Book Award. He is also the author of "What Is Mathematics, Really?" Vera John-Steiner is professor emerita of linguistics and education at the University of New Mexico. Her books include "Notebooks of the Mind", which won the William James Book Award from the American Psychological Association.

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"This is a perceptive and compassionate book on the joys and terrors that learning mathematics often produces. It is also a rich example of the kinds of insights that come from the collaboration of a mathematician and a psychologist."--Jerome Bruner, author of The Process of Education

"This is a book for everyone who ever loved or hated mathematics. It shows mathematics as it really is: emotional, imaginative, beautiful, terrifying, deeply spiritual, metaphorical, and very political--anything but the dry, computational, right-or-wrong manipulation of symbols that is all too often taught as 'mathematics.'"--George Lakoff, University of California, Berkeley

"A Noah's Ark of mathematicians, their lives, loves, hard times, and madnesses, Loving and Hating Mathematics shows our community with all its warts as well as its triumphs. I especially liked the chapter on much-hated school mathematics, 'Almost All Children Left Behind.'"--David Mumford, former president, International Mathematical Union

"This book reminds me of James Gleick's Chaos. The ideas and stories in Loving and Hating Mathematics are timely, interesting, and sometimes even profound. The authors, writing for nonspecialists, take pains to explain technical ideas in nontechnical language, and the book should interest general readers as well as a large mathematical audience."--Steven G. Krantz, Washington University in St. Louis

"The authors explore a fascinating topic in colorful and compelling ways."--Howard Gardner, Harvard Graduate School of Education

"Loving and Hating Mathematics discusses subjects that are not normally addressed at all--the human, psychological, social, and cultural dimensions of math. The book contains a wealth of stories and anecdotes that together humanize mathematics, support a different way of thinking about its nature, and break down the barriers between math and the wider world. This is an interesting and important book."--William Byers, author of How Mathematicians Think

Aus dem Klappentext

"This is a perceptive and compassionate book on the joys and terrors that learning mathematics often produces. It is also a rich example of the kinds of insights that come from the collaboration of a mathematician and a psychologist."--Jerome Bruner, author of The Process of Education

"This is a book for everyone who ever loved or hated mathematics. It shows mathematics as it really is: emotional, imaginative, beautiful, terrifying, deeply spiritual, metaphorical, and very political--anything but the dry, computational, right-or-wrong manipulation of symbols that is all too often taught as 'mathematics.'"--George Lakoff, University of California, Berkeley

"A Noah's Ark of mathematicians, their lives, loves, hard times, and madnesses,Loving and Hating Mathematics shows our community with all its warts as well as its triumphs. I especially liked the chapter on much-hated school mathematics, 'Almost All Children Left Behind.'"--David Mumford, former president, International Mathematical Union

"This book reminds me of James Gleick's Chaos. The ideas and stories inLoving and Hating Mathematics are timely, interesting, and sometimes even profound. The authors, writing for nonspecialists, take pains to explain technical ideas in nontechnical language, and the book should interest general readers as well as a large mathematical audience."--Steven G. Krantz, Washington University in St. Louis

"The authors explore a fascinating topic in colorful and compelling ways."--Howard Gardner, Harvard Graduate School of Education

"Loving and Hating Mathematics discusses subjects that are not normally addressed at all--the human, psychological, social, and cultural dimensions of math. The book contains a wealth of stories and anecdotes that together humanize mathematics, support a different way of thinking about its nature, and break down the barriers between math and the wider world. This is an interesting and important book."--William Byers, author ofHow Mathematicians Think

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Princeton University Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2011
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0691142475
• ISBN 13: 9780691142470
• Einband: Tapa dura
• Anzahl der Seiten: 432
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar