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3.48 AVERAGE
3.48 AVERAGE
Having a degree in English, I tend to be overly critical of nonfiction books like this—ones which should really be judged more on content than on writing. Frenkel's writing isn't bad—it's perfectly clear, engaging, sometimes even funny. But it isn't extraordinary, either; and the memoir bits suffer from their disjointedness—they're told in uninspired chronological order and feel a bit lacking in narrative arc. That said, these are in many ways the most enjoyable parts of the book; they provide a firsthand account of antisemitism in Soviet Union mathematics/academia, which is nearly fascinating enough to merit its own book.
Having a degree in pure math, and being (full disclosure) a former student* of Professor Frenkel, I'm inclined to think of myself as something of an ideal reader of the mathematical parts of this book, or even an overqualified one. However, although Frenkel's voice is full of passion (as it was in class) and he tries his best to simplify complicated concepts to make them accessible to an ill-equipped audience (as he did in class), his efforts are not quite enough. This is partially his fault but mostly the fault of the material itself, which is so abstract, so arcane, that it is difficult for even the smartest people (let alone myself, at best an average student in his class) to even begin to comprehend. So it is doubtful that much of the math he describes goes anywhere but over the heads of the intended lay audience. However, even the most dumbfounded, mathless reader should come away the better for having glimpsed a sense of the abstract nature of advanced mathematics, gaining at least an understanding that what Mathematicians do is worlds away from calculations—it is nothing short of creation, discovery, magic. Take my engineer father, for example—math-savvy as he is, he studied no further than calculus and has no idea how to relate to what I studied in college; Love and Math might help a person like him relate to a person like me. And in that respect, I think, Frenkel succeeds.
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*Math 110 (Linear Algebra), UCB, Spring 2016
Having a degree in pure math, and being (full disclosure) a former student* of Professor Frenkel, I'm inclined to think of myself as something of an ideal reader of the mathematical parts of this book, or even an overqualified one. However, although Frenkel's voice is full of passion (as it was in class) and he tries his best to simplify complicated concepts to make them accessible to an ill-equipped audience (as he did in class), his efforts are not quite enough. This is partially his fault but mostly the fault of the material itself, which is so abstract, so arcane, that it is difficult for even the smartest people (let alone myself, at best an average student in his class) to even begin to comprehend. So it is doubtful that much of the math he describes goes anywhere but over the heads of the intended lay audience. However, even the most dumbfounded, mathless reader should come away the better for having glimpsed a sense of the abstract nature of advanced mathematics, gaining at least an understanding that what Mathematicians do is worlds away from calculations—it is nothing short of creation, discovery, magic. Take my engineer father, for example—math-savvy as he is, he studied no further than calculus and has no idea how to relate to what I studied in college; Love and Math might help a person like him relate to a person like me. And in that respect, I think, Frenkel succeeds.
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*Math 110 (Linear Algebra), UCB, Spring 2016
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Might be a bit of thick readying for a cruise vacation, but that is where I enjoyed this book. The title alone drew my attention right away. Painting math as an art form made total sense to me. The author backs that up throughout the book detailing his life story around growing up in Russia and his path of learning mathematics and quickly his great love of the world of numbers. Frankel’s own life story is interesting as he cuts through policies that prohibit him from entry into the schools that can leverage and grow his unique mathematical skills. He has good help along the way as the world of math scientists that appreciate true genius to further the field of discovery than current political bias. Math is not a compelling reading subject for most people, but I strongly suggest giving this book your attention. No only is the man’s life interesting, he does explain some higher math concepts along the way that were above some of my learning (topped out at calculus) but not hard to follow. In the end, this book was successful is laying out a story of love and math.
challenging
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Its faults are many, but its biggest one is that it lacks a good deal of information vital to the reader's understanding of the subject matter. Its smallest pervasive problem is that it's typeset entirely in Computer Modern, the godawful default typeface used by most LaTeX editors.
It wasn't exactly what I was expecting from the description, but it was still an enjoyable read. It alternates between a memoir and an explanation of math principles.
If you read the blurb of this book you might expect an exposition of some of the beautiful ideas in maths that Edward Frenkel works with and some surprising applications in a fun pop-science type way. That's not really what you're getting here.
It switches between a biography of the author's career and a whirlwind tour of braid groups and more high level algebraic geometry. I think it was over ambitious to expect to present the latter in any approachable way in such a short, informal pace. The most interesting parts of the book instead are when Frenkel describes his time as a Jewish man in the Russian education system and as a recent immigrant in America. This is a tough read but there were a few interesting anecdotes along the way.
It switches between a biography of the author's career and a whirlwind tour of braid groups and more high level algebraic geometry. I think it was over ambitious to expect to present the latter in any approachable way in such a short, informal pace. The most interesting parts of the book instead are when Frenkel describes his time as a Jewish man in the Russian education system and as a recent immigrant in America. This is a tough read but there were a few interesting anecdotes along the way.
I really wanted to like this book-- based on its billing,I was intrigued. Maybe reading it in the summer was the wrong choice. Maybe it was a misleading description of what it was meant to be. Regardless, I could not bring myself to finish it. I'm not one to give up on a book, but after the first few chapters, I found myself uninterested after only a few more pages of reading each time I picked it up.
Maybe another go at a later date will give me the chance to finish it.....
Maybe another go at a later date will give me the chance to finish it.....
I'm not sure what is the purpose of this book. It has too much technical discussion and at the same time enough biographic narratives and stories to get you interested in Frenkel's journey into math, only to be interrupted constantly to actually discuss the mathematics.
I love my scientific journalism and scientific communication. While there's the concern of authors «dumbing down» the science to make it more digestible, going completely in the other direction is not necessarily a smart decision. Here, Frenkel dives deep into discussion of graduate and post-graduate mathematics with a few analogies peppered here and there. His explanations in general are good, but are still hard to follow. This book assumes a good deal of mathematical knowledge from its reader.
It's not a bad book by any means, but I'm not sure is a great one. As mentioned, it is part memoir, part mathematical communication and those aren't always combined in satisfactory ratios for my taste. As the book goes on (particularly from chapter 10 onwards) the biographical narration is interrupted quite rudely and the pacing is al over the place. It's hard for me to recommend this book, but it's also hard for me to say that you should skip it. Just remember that if you do try it, you're in for a book in its own category.
I love my scientific journalism and scientific communication. While there's the concern of authors «dumbing down» the science to make it more digestible, going completely in the other direction is not necessarily a smart decision. Here, Frenkel dives deep into discussion of graduate and post-graduate mathematics with a few analogies peppered here and there. His explanations in general are good, but are still hard to follow. This book assumes a good deal of mathematical knowledge from its reader.
It's not a bad book by any means, but I'm not sure is a great one. As mentioned, it is part memoir, part mathematical communication and those aren't always combined in satisfactory ratios for my taste. As the book goes on (particularly from chapter 10 onwards) the biographical narration is interrupted quite rudely and the pacing is al over the place. It's hard for me to recommend this book, but it's also hard for me to say that you should skip it. Just remember that if you do try it, you're in for a book in its own category.
First, I ALWAYS have issues with mathematicians who claim their books are "accessible to a non mathematician". They most often are not actually, which is the case with this one. As a teacher whose job it is to DAILY explain math to non mathematicians, I know this wouldn't cut it. He breaks down the concepts well enough, but casually uses SO much mathematical vocabulary that anyone without a math degree would either he lost or have to put in a LOT of effort to follow. So there's that.
Second, I'm not really sure what I was actually expecting from this book, but it alternates the authors personal mathematical journey from discrimination as a Jewish youth in Soviet Russia to now with accounts of the actual mathematics he worked on. The alternation made the story seem like it wasn't cohesive, and the math pretty much read like a textbook. If they had been woven together instead of in alternating chapters it may have been better? I was interested in the author's life story but it wasn't enough to keep me reading. I was bored.
(Did not finish)
Second, I'm not really sure what I was actually expecting from this book, but it alternates the authors personal mathematical journey from discrimination as a Jewish youth in Soviet Russia to now with accounts of the actual mathematics he worked on. The alternation made the story seem like it wasn't cohesive, and the math pretty much read like a textbook. If they had been woven together instead of in alternating chapters it may have been better? I was interested in the author's life story but it wasn't enough to keep me reading. I was bored.
(Did not finish)