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e: THE STORY OF A NUMBER

Name: e: THE STORY OF A NUMBER
Author: Eli Maor
ISBN: 0-691-03390-0

by Eli Maor ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1994

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This book that dares to use ``e'' in its title is not for mathematicians only. Adults with open minds and students just beginning to make their way through algebra and trigonometry will find much that is easily digestible and even palatable in this lively presentation of the mathematical revolution that took place between the age of Newton and the late 19th century. Maor (Math/Northeastern Illinois) begins with logarithms, the work of John Napier, a well-born Scot and fervent anti-Papist inventor who spent 20 years working out the first log tables. The author then introduces ``e'' in a thoroughly practical fashion: The number (2.718...) is the limit of a special case of the formula for compound interest. With that as a teaser, Maor goes on to demonstrate how e crops up in marvelous ways in calculus and in beautiful graphs that link it with other memorable numbers. Indeed, one of the most celebrated equations in mathematics states that e raised to the pi times i power = -1 (i= the square root of -1). This is all nicely wrought, with diagrams and informal developments of equations in the text. (Appendices supply formal treatments.) But to the bare bones of the math Maor adds descriptions of the major innovators, their quirks, and their quarrels, ranging from Newton and Leibniz fighting over the invention of calculus to the not-so-petty jealousies among the Bernoullis, from the brilliance of Leonhard Euler (who first named e) to the eccentric Georg Cantor, who established orders of infinity and demonstrated that e and pi were only two of an infinite collection of transcendental numbers. It's worth reading the book just to find out exactly what that last phrase means. Pithy, punchy, and surprisingly accessible.

Pub Date: May 1, 1994

ISBN: 0-691-03390-0

Page Count: 215

Publisher: Princeton Univ.

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1994

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.