Michael Harris, Mathematics without apologies: portrait of a problematic vocation, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 2015, xxii+438, ISBN: 978-0-691-15423-7/hbk; 978-1-400-85202-4/ebook.

Abstract

This is an unusual book written by an eminent professional mathematicians, a well known expert in number theory and algebraic geometry. It re ects author's opinions on mathematics, both pure and applied, and on mathematicians, as seen from the inside of the caste and from outside as well. The author combines his own experience as a mathematician with that obtained from various domains of the human knowledge - philosophy (Plato, Archimedes, Omar Khayam, hindustan philosophy, Witgenstein, Pascal, Russel Kant, Nietsche, etc), literature (a lot of quotations for Goethe's Faust and from Shakespeare), history, religion (the case of Pavel Florensky), cinematography and even pop music.