Letters To A Young Mathematician (2006) - Plot & Excerpts
The hardest thing about describing this book is saying whether it's fiction or non-fiction. It's mostly a series of essays on math, mathematicians, and how the two affect each other. But, it's presented as a series of letters to a fictional young (in the beginning, aspiring) mathematician named Meg. But, the letters are written by the author, a bona fide mathematician, and not a fictional character at all. If he were just delusional, then this book would be solidly in the non-fictional camp. He isn't, though, so it occupies a sort of twilight realm between the two.The letter format is just a device for organizing the material, as they allegedly occur over the course of many years, as Meg goes from high school student to tenured math professor. Stewart's main topic, really, is to discuss what makes a person become a mathematician (and, in other cases, prevents it). What kind of teacher is required? What kind of politics can wreck a graduate math student's career?It is mostly related to an issue little-recognized in our (or perhaps any) society, which is that mathematicians require a particular set of circumstances to have a good chance of developing their talents. To make a comparison, there are far more places where one can develop good skills as a writer, and far more teachers who can help an aspiring writer learn the things they need to learn.Legendary talents like Ramanujan have encouraged the myth of the mathematician as a person who is born with an innate talent, and is more or less a freak of nature. The reality appears to be far more like music or writing talents, where a great creator needs to have not only talent but also relatively early contact with a good (or better yet great) teacher. Currently, that happens more or less only by chance. We cannot expect every school district to have a great math teacher, although if we (as a society) devoted as much attention to it as we did to having great coaches in every school district we might achieve great things.The early chapters are easier to relate to, as most of us studied math in high school and many of us studied it in college. Later chapters, in which Stewart describes things like how to recognize the difference between a genius and a crank (when picking a thesis adviser), are a little more exotic to most of us.Stewart's book is, on the whole, enjoyable. It's easily broken up into bite-sized chunks (I read it on the bus going to and from work), and it is not the sort of page-turner that you will accidentally stay up until 3 am reading. But it's a good way of humanizing a field that too often is portrayed as so rational and abstract that the people who practice in it don't see people any more.
Probably nothing drastically new here for many young mathematicians, but still includes some good stories and useful tips, and it's always interesting to hear how an established professional got into their field in the first place.Stewart makes an interesting point that, unlike many other fields, you don't just happen to fall into math - it has to be something you're really into (although it may take a lot of lucky coincidences to let you realize that you're good at math and into it as well).There's also a good illustrative story useful especially for mathematicians, about how committees work. The committee had to choose between 2 options, and the mathematician in the group realized at once that one of the choices was much much better, so immediately he explained why. His reasons were clear and logical and nobody disagreed. But since the other committee members hadn't had a chance to have their say yet, the discussion continued. He stayed out of it, knowing he'd already made the most important point... but when it came to the vote, everybody had forgotten his point in the face of all the other rambling, and they voted for the other (worse) option instead. So... Logic is crucial but timing is important too!I also liked some of the comments he made about teaching - I don't know if I'd agree with all of it but it'd be worth returning to if I have a teaching position in the future. I especially like where he talks about how important it is to internalize lower-level ideas in math, not just recall their definitions or simplest expressions. For example, multiplying 5x4 is like taking four sets of five items each: 5+5+5+5. But you have to have some practice with the concept and internalize it before you can multiply 555x444, because it's not really sensible to do 555+555+... that many times. And once you've internalized it and reached a higher-level understanding, there's much more you can do with it than when you were still thinking in concrete terms of adding small sets of items.
What do You think about Letters To A Young Mathematician (2006)?
Being no mathematician myself (and certainly lacking in talent), I don't think I have ever been this engrossed in reading a book about math. I basically devoured it. In fact, I believe anyone can devour it: there are no exotic symbols or scary formulas to put one off; the focus is on the humanistic side rather than the technical side; the book reads almost like a story as the imagined "Meg" (to which the book is supposed to be addressed) grows from a curious youngster to an established mathematician. On top of all that, Professor Ian Stewart (author) provides quite a bit of interesting inside information about the field, and doesn't forget to use humour to engage the reader. This little book really is a page turner.
—Holmes
Bu kitabı okumadan önce matematiğin kapsamlı bir bilim olduğunu biliyordum. Ama okuduktan sonra anladım ki kapsamlı demek az olur. Matematik bizim hayatımızın bir bütünü. Onsuz bir dünya düşünülemez. Kitap matematiğin hayatımızda olan yerini öyle güzel açıklamış ki bize söyleyecek söz bırakmamış. Matematiği sevmeyen insanların bu kitabı okumaları gerek. Çünkü hayatımızda bu kadar yer edinmiş bir şeyi sevmemek onlar için büyük kayıp. Kitaba bir arkadaşımın tavsiyesiyle başladım ve diğer bütün arkadaşlarıma öneririm. Umarım bir gün herkes matematiğin değerini bu kadar iyi anlar ve anlatır.
—Seher demirci
OK,I was out of my element here.My math teacher lend me the book and though it's recommended to high school students but I think if you're a high school student should really like maths and you read books about them then you should read this.I as mostly romance reader couldn't exactly follow the idea of the book because it's plotless.Stewart just talks about maths all by himself.It might had helped if Meg's letters were also inside the book since sometime he answered things to her that I did not knew she had asked.If you like maths you will find this book interesting.If you want to read about maths but you're a newbie I would suggest to start with another book before you read this.
—Sofia Lazaridou
