Circles Disturbed: The Interplay of Mathematics and Narrative

Apostolos Doxiadis, Barry Mazur, Editors

ISBN 10: 0691149046 / ISBN 13: 9780691149042

Published by Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 2012

About this Item

Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. 2012. Hardcover. First Printing by Line Number. Book is tight, square, and unmarked. Book Condition: Very Good +; small smudge to textblock bottom; small smudge line to FFFP. DJ: Very Good +; light rubbing to panels. Charcoal gray cloth boards and spine with bright gilt lettering to spine. 570 pp 8vo. This book brings together important thinkers in mathematics, history, and philosophy to explore the relationship between mathematics and narrative. This book delves into topics such as the way in which historical and biographical narratives shape our understanding of mathematics and mathematicians, the development of "myths of origins" in mathematics, the structure an importance of mathematical dreams, the role of storytelling in the formation of mathematical intuitions, the ways mathematics helps us organize the way we think about narrative structure, and much more. A clean very presentable copy in a Brodart mylar jacket.

Seller Inventory # 016335

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Circles Disturbed: The Interplay of Mathematics and Narrative
• Publisher: Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ
• Publication Date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0691149046
• ISBN 13: 9780691149042
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Very Good +
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good +
• Seller catalogs:
  • Science
  • Journalism/Writing
  • Literature/Poetry

About this title

Synopsis

Why narrative is essential to mathematics

Circles Disturbed brings together important thinkers in mathematics, history, and philosophy to explore the relationship between mathematics and narrative. The book's title recalls the last words of the great Greek mathematician Archimedes before he was slain by a Roman soldier―"Don't disturb my circles"―words that seem to refer to two radically different concerns: that of the practical person living in the concrete world of reality, and that of the theoretician lost in a world of abstraction. Stories and theorems are, in a sense, the natural languages of these two worlds―stories representing the way we act and interact, and theorems giving us pure thought, distilled from the hustle and bustle of reality. Yet, though the voices of stories and theorems seem totally different, they share profound connections and similarities.

A book unlike any other, Circles Disturbed delves into topics such as the way in which historical and biographical narratives shape our understanding of mathematics and mathematicians, the development of "myths of origins" in mathematics, the structure and importance of mathematical dreams, the role of storytelling in the formation of mathematical intuitions, the ways mathematics helps us organize the way we think about narrative structure, and much more.

In addition to the editors, the contributors are Amir Alexander, David Corfield, Peter Galison, Timothy Gowers, Michael Harris, David Herman, Federica La Nave, G.E.R. Lloyd, Uri Margolin, Colin McLarty, Jan Christoph Meister, Arkady Plotnitsky, and Bernard Teissier.

About the Author

Apostolos Doxiadis is a writer whose books include Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture and Logicomix.
Barry Mazur is the Gerhard Gade University Professor in the Department of Mathematics at Harvard University. His books include Imagining Numbers and Arithmetic Moduli of Elliptic Curves (Princeton).