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Loving and Hating Mathematics: Challenging the Myths of Mathematical Life
An exploration of the hidden human, emotional, and social dimensions of mathematics
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.
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.
432 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2010
8 people are currently reading
117 people want to read
About the author
Reuben Hersh
14 books13 followersReuben Hersh was an American mathematician and academic, best known for his writings on the nature, practice, and social impact of mathematics.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 16, 2011
This book had a hard time deciding what it wanted to be. Part structural critique of mathematics education, part earnest plea for a wider rejection of the notion of the lone, brooding mathematician, I was equally annoyed by the assumptions the authors made about societal preconceptions about math as I was by the frequent grammatical and factual errors.
First, is it really the popular opinion that mathematicians are all creatures of solitude, preferring to work alone than collaborate? Perhaps such notions have been romanticized by Hollywood in contemporary films, but I think most people understand that this is the exception rather than the rule. Yet this book makes the claim over and over again that it wishes to combat such notions of extreme individuality. Maybe my own mathematical bent and interactions with people with a mathematical bent clouds my vision of the actual circumstances. If so, then, at the very least, the authors failed to demonstrate that such a bias does exist.
Additionally, the book appears to have had no editor. At least not an editor that chose to read the book. Several times, the text switched to first person to relate a personal story by one of the authors (a mathematician). Sometimes the text pointed this out with a parenthetical. Sometimes the parenthetical was the author's full name (Reuben Hersh), and sometimes it was just his initials (R.H.). And sometimes there was no indication at all who the first person referred to. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason for which indicator was chosen. Call it nitpicking, but I don't like having to re-read paragraphs because the writing is so confusing. There were also many problems with birth and death dates for some of the mathematicians mentioned, with years being different in some places compared to the first mention. Another annoyance was references to future and previous chapters where the authors assured that more detail would be given (or had already been given). The level of detail to justify such a reference was never satisfying.
The one positive for me was the chapter that focused on Grothendieck. Their description of sheaves provided me with enough intuition to go to the wiki page and finally get a better feel for these. In fact, I wish there had been more descriptions of mathematics and less repetition of the authors' conclusions and suggestions.
Whence two stars.
First, is it really the popular opinion that mathematicians are all creatures of solitude, preferring to work alone than collaborate? Perhaps such notions have been romanticized by Hollywood in contemporary films, but I think most people understand that this is the exception rather than the rule. Yet this book makes the claim over and over again that it wishes to combat such notions of extreme individuality. Maybe my own mathematical bent and interactions with people with a mathematical bent clouds my vision of the actual circumstances. If so, then, at the very least, the authors failed to demonstrate that such a bias does exist.
Additionally, the book appears to have had no editor. At least not an editor that chose to read the book. Several times, the text switched to first person to relate a personal story by one of the authors (a mathematician). Sometimes the text pointed this out with a parenthetical. Sometimes the parenthetical was the author's full name (Reuben Hersh), and sometimes it was just his initials (R.H.). And sometimes there was no indication at all who the first person referred to. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason for which indicator was chosen. Call it nitpicking, but I don't like having to re-read paragraphs because the writing is so confusing. There were also many problems with birth and death dates for some of the mathematicians mentioned, with years being different in some places compared to the first mention. Another annoyance was references to future and previous chapters where the authors assured that more detail would be given (or had already been given). The level of detail to justify such a reference was never satisfying.
The one positive for me was the chapter that focused on Grothendieck. Their description of sheaves provided me with enough intuition to go to the wiki page and finally get a better feel for these. In fact, I wish there had been more descriptions of mathematics and less repetition of the authors' conclusions and suggestions.
Whence two stars.
July 12, 2011
A book about mathematics that was different from any I have ever read. Not really a history of mathematics or just a series of anecdotes (though it had some). The book is more about the culture of the mathematics tribe. How the tribesmen and women work together (or don’t ). Mathematics is thought of as a solitary occupation, but many mathematicians feel a need to bounce ideas off each other. The book talks about partnerships and communities of mathematicians, such as Bourbaki and the communities around Courant and Hilbert.
The book devotes a lot of attention to gender, racial, and age discrimination. I have never seen such a discussion before. The book gives several examples of how, until recently, it was very difficult for women to become mathematicians.
The section of the book on teaching of mathematics was one of the most interesting, because it included the story of Robert Lee Moore of Texas, who was an excellent trainer for research mathematicians. He had an intimidating “sink-or-swim” approach. He only specified theorems, and it was up to his students to prove them, with no help from him. This approach seems to have worked surprisingly well. However, Moore’s memory is stained by his extremely virulent racial prejudice.
A minor point: On page 199, "Takagi survived the bombing and invasion of Japan [in World War II]" ???? Japan was never invaded. Occupied, but not invaded.
The book devotes a lot of attention to gender, racial, and age discrimination. I have never seen such a discussion before. The book gives several examples of how, until recently, it was very difficult for women to become mathematicians.
The section of the book on teaching of mathematics was one of the most interesting, because it included the story of Robert Lee Moore of Texas, who was an excellent trainer for research mathematicians. He had an intimidating “sink-or-swim” approach. He only specified theorems, and it was up to his students to prove them, with no help from him. This approach seems to have worked surprisingly well. However, Moore’s memory is stained by his extremely virulent racial prejudice.
A minor point: On page 199, "Takagi survived the bombing and invasion of Japan [in World War II]" ???? Japan was never invaded. Occupied, but not invaded.
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August 28, 2018Me ha encantado leer esta perspectiva sobre los matemáticos. Hace años yo también creía que dedicarse a las matemáticas era un trabajo solitario, frío, rígido y poco humano. ¡Pero qué gran error!
Los capítulos están bien pensados y resumidos al inicio, y las explicaciones son claras. Si bien algunos ejemplos matemáticos no los entendí, lo que se decía de las personas (los matemáticos) todo fue comprensible y no requiere un máster en álgebra.
Es una lectura muy recomendable, sobretodo a quienes les interese o se dediquen a la docencia.
Los capítulos están bien pensados y resumidos al inicio, y las explicaciones son claras. Si bien algunos ejemplos matemáticos no los entendí, lo que se decía de las personas (los matemáticos) todo fue comprensible y no requiere un máster en álgebra.
Es una lectura muy recomendable, sobretodo a quienes les interese o se dediquen a la docencia.
June 29, 2021
Un recorrido fascinante por el bello mundo de las matemáticas y las vidas de grandes matemáticos: sus frustraciones, pasiones, rivalidades...
August 7, 2019
Más que de matemáticas trata de "matemáticos" (ellos y ellas), conocer sus vidas. Me encantó por su lenguaje sencillo y ágil.
March 25, 2012
The theme of this book is supposed to be emotions and mathematics. The anecdotes and biographical snippets are individually interesting and amusing, and there are some nice longer sections, like the one about the creation and destruction of the famous math departments at Göttingen and Moscow, or prejudices against woman mathematicians. Only certain chapters actually challenge specific myths. Unfortunately, there isn't any clear organization to the book that would give a sense of the big picture or a detailed view of a narrower topic. A lot of the topics are fascinating and underappreciated and I hope there are clearer books about them than this one.
August 4, 2012
Not much. I gave up fairly early on. See Chris's review. I pretty much agree with it.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews