What Maths book should I buy?
I have an Amazon gift voucher burning a hole in my (virtual) pockets and I thought I would treat myself to a maths book. The problem is that I have around 200 potential candidates on my wish list – truly an embarrassment of choice. So much choice that I am stupefied by it – I have no idea what I should order.
So dear reader, help me out please. What would you suggest I get?
If you like reading about mathematical analysis of algorithms (e.g. if you enjoy Knuth’s _The Art of Computer Programming_), I recommend _Modern Computer Algebra, 2nd edition_, by Joachim von zur Gathen and Jürgen Gerhard.
mathematics for dummies?
No specific suggestions, but with 200 or so books on your wish list, wouldn’t it be nice if every time you bought a book it also came with the time to read it? I have such an accumulation of technical and non-technical books sitting on my shelf unread that I really have to stop myself from buying more.
The Princeton Companion to Mathematics. I don’t own a copy, but I just skimmed one about half and hour ago, and it is great. Here‘s a writeup about it from Scott Aaronson.
Knuth’s TAOCP is a good suggestion. You might want to just get the second volume, Seminumerical Algorithms, since that’s the most mathematical.
You might like the Princeton Companion to Mathematics. I enjoyed skimming through it, reading some parts carefully. It’s gotten good reviews on math blogs.
legal way: narrow the list down to, say, the top 10 percent favorites and then hand-implement a random number generator to choose from them.
illegal (but more rational) way: piratebay et al. have a great selection of pdfs or chms, also of math books. old as well as new. that’s another way to narrow the list down.
let us know!
Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos by Steven Strogatz
Thanks for all of the tips :)
I already have the Princeton Guide to Mathematics thanks to my esteemed brother (The guy who suggested ‘Mathematics for Dummies’) and I agree that it is a lovely book. Something that is fun to dip in and out of and beautifully produced.
@HS – It has to be legal all the way as far as I am concerned.
@John and Paul – I’ll definitely consider Knuth. His stuff has been on my list for ever.
@hp – I imagine that there will be lots of potential for some Wolfram Demonstrations in that one :)
@thm – I agree, it would be lovely to have the time to read these things properly but in my opinion having a load of unread books on your shelves is the correct state of being. After all what is the point of only being surrounded by books you have already read.
If you are looking for a book that will become a companion (if you actually read it like a student), try
Walter Rudin, Principles of Mathematical Analysis.
If you want something less serious (only because it presumes a working knowledge of each of topic included) but also rigorous, try Saunders Mac Lane and Garrett Birkhoff’s Algebra.
I have a large collection of math books that I acquired before I learned how to even read a math book. Now that I look back, I realize that I correlated my mathematical strengths with the size of my math book collection. This is just as ridiculous as buying a sportscar when your perception of your manhood declines.
@tds Thanks for the tips. If my math book collection was correlated to my ability then I would probably only have one and that would have half the pages missing!
Personally I just like having a lot of books so I can browse and research as the mood takes me. Some people collect plates or stamps, I collect books.