Product Description

In this book Kline examines the development of mathematics as our most powerful instrument for exploring the physical world. He probes our existing world of mathematics and illuminates its workings as a science enabling us to penetrate the secrets of the world's natural phenomena.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1007403 in Books
• Published on: 1986-11-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Review

"Requires a minimum of technical knowledge and gives an illuminating oversight of the historical developments...with many interesting observations along the way."--Proceedings of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society
"The lively writing makes this suitable supplementary reading for advanced undergraduates from many disciplines. An extensive and often technical bibliography is included for those who want to go further."--Zentralblatter/Abstract Journals

About the Author
Morris Kline is at New York University (Emeritus).

Customer Reviews

Excellent, esp. for non-mathematicians (like me!)
Morris Kline's thesis in this extraordinary book is stated clearly in the final words of his preface, and then presented through a historical survey throughout. Here are the key words, "Contrary to the impression students acquire in school, mathematics is not just a series of techniques. Mathematics tells us what we have never known or even suspected about notable phenomena and in some instances even contradicts perception. It is the essence of our knowledge of the physical world. It not only transcends perception but outclasses it."

As far as I'm concerned, Kline makes his case. And I am one of those who received the erroneous impression in school that he mentions -- of course, I never managed to pay much attention in math classes, but that was only partially my fault.

If you are at all like me, and suspect you might have missed something in your misspent youth, get this book.

A fine introduction, but...
This is a good, basic introduction to the history of math, but its promise of engaging philosophical issues falls short. It's not until Chapter XII that Kline really engages the philsophy of mathematics, but then attempts to cover a lot of ground in a short span, and the distinctions and groupings Kline forms of different thinkers' conceptions of mathematics leads to strange bedfellows; particularly Kline's claim that Wittgenstein is basically a mathematical empiricist and yet believes that mathematics is a human creation. To my mind there's an inherent contradiction there. Most bothersome, however is the almost entire lack of proper footnotes. Some of the most interesting quotes will be difficult (if not impossible) to find b/c Kline only tells us the author of the quote and oftentimes doesn't even include the author in the bibliography! In particular I'm thinking of a fascinating quote from Evariste Galois - Kline gives no indication of where I can find it! Still, I have to give this book a 4 just b/c it's a good introduction that reads rather quickly.

Great "Philosophy of Science" book
This is by far one of the best science books for the layman I have ever read, and I enjoyed reading it. I especially liked the discussions of the cultural context inwhich Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and Newton worked. The break that Copernicus made with common sense AND religous dogma is so great as to boggle the mind even today. And Kepler's determination that the Earth's orbit is an ellipse, again defies belief, since it was done before calculus was invented, or the law of Gravity determined.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good science read.