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A review by andycyca
Love and Math: The Heart of Hidden Reality by Edward Frenkel
2.0
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.