bookshelf

MATHEMATICAL MOUNTAINTOPS

Name: MATHEMATICAL MOUNTAINTOPS
Author: John Casti
ISBN: 0-19-514171-7

THE FIVE MOST FAMOUS PROBLEMS OF ALL TIME

by John Casti ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 15, 2001

Excellent insights into the current shape of mathematics for those who don’t mind following a few equations.

bookshelf

The title says it in a nutshell: five famous math problems and how they were solved.

“Famous” is a relative term, of course. Fermat’s Last Theorem and the Four-Color Problem are almost certainly familiar to those who scan the science section of their local newspapers; those who took college math have probably run across Cantor’s continuum hypothesis. The other two seem clear enough once stated, but few other than mathematicians are likely to be aware of their importance. In fact, the Kepler conjecture, on the optimal packing of spherical objects in three-dimensional space, often seems trivial to those with practical experience in stacking cantaloupes without having to explain their methods in the rigorous terms serious math requires. But math professor Casti (The Cambridge Quintet, 1998) does a solid job of presenting the problems for a mathematically unsophisticated audience. He sets each problem in the context of mathematical history and offers glimpses of the personalities that were key to their formulation. Casti also makes an effort to show the wider implications of the problems—the fact, for example, that Diophantine equations are not only the basis for Fermat’s Theorem, but of general importance throughout mathematics. The Four-Color Problem, superficially of interest only to mapmakers, led to the creation of entire new fields of mathematical inquiry. Even Fermat’s conjecture, which many mathematicians apparently considered a theoretical dead end, has opened up inquiries into the larger problems of which it was a special case, and its successful (and widely reported) solution by Andrew Wiles in 1993 has inspired the creation of prize funds for the solution of other mathematical “mountaintops.”

Excellent insights into the current shape of mathematics for those who don’t mind following a few equations.

Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2001

ISBN: 0-19-514171-7

Page Count: 224

Publisher: Oxford Univ.

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2001

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

bookshelf

NUTCRACKER

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

bookshelf

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

bookshelf

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

bookshelf

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.