Journey through Genius: The Great Theorems of Mathematics

I read this book while I was in the hospital recovering from surgery. It held my morphined attention. 'Nuff said? Probably not.

I'm coming to consider truly substantive "popular" scientific exposition to be a high art, indeed: many attempt it & few are successful. This book is one of the rare successes. It does not dumb down, but it speaks warmly and invitingly to the reader.

A total treat & one to keep. I want to re-read it in a more lucid state.

This is a brilliant intellectual journey through some of the great theorems of mathematics. The author writes very clearly and evocatively--then, there is the math. I am not a mathematician, and I frequently get lost in the rows after rows of numbers that go into the proofs of each theorem. Still, through Dunham's excellent explanations, I am able at least to grasp the gist of what is being said and to understand the intellectual achievement involved. I learned a lot reading this book about the beauty of mathematics and how geniuses--because that is the apt word here--have unraveled some of its mysteries over the centuries. This is not a long book, and while the math can be dense, and the ideas themselves may verge on giving you a show more headache as you struggle to understand them, the journey through genius (great title) is actually a very pleasant one for anyone with a bit of curiosity about a subject they may feel they don't understand well enough. This book will certainly increase your understanding of mathematics a bit--but it will increase your understanding and appreciation of mathematicians a LOT. show less

I first read this in my 20s and I still find it engaging, thrilling at times, really. (For those of us that can find proofs thrilling.) This is a great book for a math enthusiast. The chapters are chronological and, basically, focus on key innovators:

* Euclid
* Archimedes
* Heron
* Cardano, in a jump from antiquity the The Renaissance
* Newton
* The Bernoullis
* Euler
* Cantor

(I read the pbk.)

Easily the best expostion on mathematics I've ever read. No, it's not all-inclusive; Dunham picks out some of the salient sojourns in mathematics and describes them and their beauty beautifully. Great.

Got me interested in some things I wasn't familiar with before. A good balance between between math and background info, and the proofs are easy to follow in most chapters.

It felt great reading this book because it took me back to my school days where we learned these concepts/theorems along with their proofs.

The book brings history and mathematics together which was an interesting read. I specifically liked reading about how Archimedes proved the area of a circle and how Limits were introduced as a result of finding the area of irregular shapes.

This book is recommended for anyone who has even the slightest interest in Mathematics.

A delightful tour of some of the intellectual highlights or mathematics. Not as focussed as the author's even better "Calculus gallery", but gives a wider range, though the book stops with Cantor's investigations into infinity. The stories in this book have been told many times, but they are told well here.