A Mathematician’s Apology (豆瓣)

作者: G. H. Hardy / C. P. Snow (Foreword)
出版社: Cambridge University Press
出版年: Reprint edition (January 31, 1992)
页数: 153 pages
定价: $17.99
装帧: Paperback
ISBN: 9780521427067

8.9

(66人评价)

59.1%

25.8%

13.6%

0.0%

1.5%

想读在读读过

评价:

内容简介 · · · · · ·

　　A Mathematician's Apology is a profoundly sad book, the memoir of a man who has reached the end of his ambition, who can no longer effectively practice the art that has consumed him since he was a boy. But at the same time, it is a joyful celebration of the subject--and a stern lecture to those who would sully it by dilettantism or attempts to make it merely useful. "The mathem... (展开全部) 　　A Mathematician's Apology is a profoundly sad book, the memoir of a man who has reached the end of his ambition, who can no longer effectively practice the art that has consumed him since he was a boy. But at the same time, it is a joyful celebration of the subject--and a stern lecture to those who would sully it by dilettantism or attempts to make it merely useful. "The mathematician's patterns," G.H. Hardy declares, "like the painter's or the poet's, must be beautiful; the ideas, like the colours or the words, must fit together in a harmonious way. Beauty is the first test: there is no permanent place in the world for ugly mathematics."
　　 Hardy was, in his own words, "for a short time the fifth best pure mathematician in the world" and knew full well that "no mathematician should ever allow himself to forget that mathematics, more than any other art or science, is a young man's game." In a long biographical foreword to Apology, C.P. Snow (now best known for The Two Cultures) offers invaluable background and a context for his friend's occasionally brusque tone: "His life remained the life of a brilliant young man until he was old; so did his spirit: his games, his interests, kept the lightness of a young don's. And, like many men who keep a young man's interests into their sixties, his last years were the darker for it." Reading Snow's recollections of Hardy's Cambridge University years only makes Apology more poignant. Hardy was popular, a terrific conversationalist, and a notoriously good cricket player.
　　 When summer came, it was taken for granted that we should meet at the cricket ground.... He used to walk round the cinderpath with a long, loping, clumping-footed stride (he was a slight spare man, physically active even in his late fifties, still playing real tennis), head down, hair, tie, sweaters, papers all flowing, a figure that caught everyone's eyes. "There goes a Greek poet, I'll be bound," once said some cheerful farmer as Hardy passed the score-board.
　　 G.H. Hardy's elegant 1940 memoir has provided generations of mathematicians with pithy quotes and examples for their office walls, and plenty of inspiration to either be great or find something else to do. He is a worthy mentor, a man who understood deeply and profoundly the rewards and losses of true devotion. --Therese Littleton　　

作者简介 · · · · · ·

　　A Mathematician's Apology is a profoundly sad book, the memoir of a man who has reached the end of his ambition, who can no longer effectively practice the art that has consumed him since he was a boy. But at the same time, it is a joyful celebration of the subject--and a stern lecture to those who would sully it by dilettantism or attempts to make it merely useful. "The mathem... (展开全部) 　　A Mathematician's Apology is a profoundly sad book, the memoir of a man who has reached the end of his ambition, who can no longer effectively practice the art that has consumed him since he was a boy. But at the same time, it is a joyful celebration of the subject--and a stern lecture to those who would sully it by dilettantism or attempts to make it merely useful. "The mathematician's patterns," G.H. Hardy declares, "like the painter's or the poet's, must be beautiful; the ideas, like the colours or the words, must fit together in a harmonious way. Beauty is the first test: there is no permanent place in the world for ugly mathematics."
　　
　　Hardy was, in his own words, "for a short time the fifth best pure mathematician in the world" and knew full well that "no mathematician should ever allow himself to forget that mathematics, more than any other art or science, is a young man's game." In a long biographical foreword to Apology, C.P. Snow (now best known for The Two Cultures) offers invaluable background and a context for his friend's occasionally brusque tone: "His life remained the life of a brilliant young man until he was old; so did his spirit: his games, his interests, kept the lightness of a young don's. And, like many men who keep a young man's interests into their sixties, his last years were the darker for it." Reading Snow's recollections of Hardy's Cambridge University years only makes Apology more poignant. Hardy was popular, a terrific conversationalist, and a notoriously good cricket player.
　　
　　 When summer came, it was taken for granted that we should meet at the cricket ground.... He used to walk round the cinderpath with a long, loping, clumping-footed stride (he was a slight spare man, physically active even in his late fifties, still playing real tennis), head down, hair, tie, sweaters, papers all flowing, a figure that caught everyone's eyes. "There goes a Greek poet, I'll be bound," once said some cheerful farmer as Hardy passed the score-board.
　　
　　G.H. Hardy's elegant 1940 memoir has provided generations of mathematicians with pithy quotes and examples for their office walls, and plenty of inspiration to either be great or find something else to do. He is a worthy mentor, a man who understood deeply and profoundly the rewards and losses of true devotion. --Therese Littleton

豆瓣成员常用的标签(共29个) · · · · · ·

数学(37) 传记(12) mathematics(9) Hardy(7) G.H.Hardy(4) 思考(3) 哲学(3) 思维(2)

喜欢读"A Mathematician’s Apology"的人也喜欢 · · · · · ·

: Letters to a Young Mathematician (...

: 数学分析原理

: 古今数学思想（一）

: Structure and Interpretation of Com...

: 数学：确定性的丧失

: 费马大定理

: 哥德尔、艾舍尔、巴赫

: The Selfish Gene

: 从一到无穷大

: The Elements of Style, Fourth Editi...

读书笔记 · · · · · · (共1篇)
我来写笔记

按有用程度 按页码先后 最新笔记

第102页

蛇

一个错误 The number of primes less than 1,000,000,000 is 50,847,478: 小于10^9的质数个数应为50,847,534 50,8477,478第一次出现在 Meissel 的 "Berechnung der Menge von Primzahlen, welche innerhalb der ersten Milliarde naturlicher Zahlen vorkommen." （1885）参考：http://www.mathpages.com/home/kmath049.htm http://mathworld.wolfram.com/BertelsensNumber.html （这个网页指出了第.. (更多)

一个错误
The number of primes less than 1,000,000,000 is 50,847,478:
小于10^9的质数个数应为50,847,534
50,8477,478第一次出现在 Meissel 的 "Berechnung der Menge von Primzahlen, welche innerhalb der ersten Milliarde naturlicher Zahlen vorkommen." （1885）
参考：http://www.mathpages.com/home/kmath049.htm http://mathworld.wolfram.com/BertelsensNumber.html （这个网页指出了第一个网页的一个错误）
有谁会写程序的帮忙验算一下。 (收起)

2011-03-16 10:58:02 回应

收藏
推荐