Indiscrete Thoughts

4.2/5 ( ratings)

Indiscrete Thoughts gives a glimpse into a world that has seldom been described that of science and technology as seen through the eyes of a mathematician. The era covered by this book, 1950 to 1990, was surely one of the golden ages of science as well as the American university.

Cherished myths are debunked along the way as Gian-Carlo Rota takes pleasure in portraying, warts and all, some of the great scientific personalities of the period Stanislav Ulam , Solomon Lefschetz , William Feller , Jack Schwartz , and many others.

Rota is not afraid of controversy. Some readers may even consider these essays indiscreet. After the publication of the essay "The Pernicious Influence of Mathematics upon Philosophy" the author was blacklisted in analytical philosophy circles. Indiscrete Thoughts should become an instant classic and the subject of debate for decades to come.

"Read Indiscrete Thoughts for its account of the way we were and what we have become; for its sensible advice and its exuberant rhetoric."--The Mathematical Intelligencer

"Learned, thought-provoking, politically incorrect, delighting in paradox, and likely to offend but everywhere readable and entertaining."--The American Mathematical Monthly

"It is about mathematicians, the way they think, and the world in which the live. It is 260 pages of Rota calling it like he sees it... Readers are bound to find his observations amusing if not insightful. Gian-Carlo Rota has written the sort of book that few mathematicians could write. What will appeal immediately to anyone with an interest in research mathematics are the stories he tells about the practice of modern mathematics."--MAA Reviews

"

Language: English

Pages: 280

Format: Hardcover

Publisher: Birkhauser

Release: May 11, 1998

ISBN: 0817638660

ISBN 13: 9780817638665

Indiscrete Thoughts

Gian-Carlo Rota

4.2/5 ( ratings)

Read Download

Language: English

Pages: 280

Format: Hardcover

Publisher: Birkhauser

Release: May 11, 1998

ISBN: 0817638660

ISBN 13: 9780817638665

3/5 ( ratings)

Rate this book!

Write a review?

Subscribe to Read | $0.00

Popular Genres

Subscribe to Read | $0.00

Indiscrete Thoughts

Indiscrete Thoughts

Indiscrete Thoughts

More books from Gian-Carlo Rota

Discrete Thoughts: Essays on Mathematics, Science and Philosophy

Μαθηματικά και Φιλοσοφία – Το χρονικό μιας παρανόησης

Μαθηματικά, φιλοσοφία και τεχνητή νοημοσύνη...Ένας διάλογος με τον Gian-Carlo Rota και τον David Sharp

Science, Computers, and People: From the Tree of Mathematics

Mathematical Theory of Entropy

Bounded Arithmetic, Propositional Logic and Complexity Theory

The Logic of Quantum Mechanics: Volume 15

Control Theory for Partial Differential Equations: Volume 1, Abstract Parabolic Systems: Continuous and Approximation Theories

Product Integration with Application to Differential Equations

The Logic of Quantum Mechanics

Solving Polynomial Equation Systems II: Macaulay's Paradigm and Gr�bner Technology

Essays on the Future: In Honor of Nick Metropolis

Functional Equations in Several Variables

Permanents

Selected Papers of Norman Levinson

Factorization Calculus and Geometric Probability (Encyclopedia of Mathematics and its Applications, Vol. 33)

Hans Lewy Selecta: Volume 1

Ordinary Differential Equations

Selected Papers of Norman Levinson: Volume 2

Probabilità