Development of Mathematics

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1. westoncbAug 2013
   I've spent a lot of time looking for books that'd teach some mathematical ideas while keeping the original progression of motivations/concepts in tact.

   I'd first recommend "Men of Mathematics" by E.T. Bell. It's a collection of short biographies on 20 or so Mathematicians, also discussing a few of the most salient points of each's work. It's an enjoyable introduction, useful for getting a broad view of what math is made of and how mathematicians think. Bell was a serious mathematician himself (not of the rank of anyone he's writing about, of course), as well as a sci-fi author apparently :)

   edit: could also try "Mathematics and the Imagination" as an alternate introduction.

   After that would be "What is Mathematics?," by Richard Courant and Herbert Robbins. This one's a bit tougher, and I have to admit I had the experience of being perplexed at the selection of topics, and that it didn't tell me immediately what mathematics is -- but! Without too much time passing, I now appreciate the selection and think it could be read profitably by trusting that the selection is good and trying to answer the question why that's the case while reading.

   At the moment I'm trying my second book from E.T. Bell, The Development of Mathematics, and like it quite a lot so far, though it assumes a little more math knowledge. This one's probably great if you did a mathematics undergrad, or similar, but would like to see the various topics related and given context.

   Another I believe worth checking out, if none of the others fits exactly, is William Kingdon Clifford's "Common Sense of the Exact Sciences." I've only skimmed sections in this one, but it looks extremely promising; and from what I've read about it and about Clifford, I think it could be an important piece of pedagogy along the lines of what Lockhart's into. Not too long and pretty accessible I think.

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2. rugosoDec 2007
   - Godel Esher Bach

   - The Development of Mathematics, by E. T. Bell

   not that i understand mathematics that well, but this book gave me many ideas of how an abstract/complex thing like mathematics can evolve through history, i found that exciting

   - when i was a teenager i liked a couple of books by Martin Gardner

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