The Mathematics Circle series, Hunan Science and Technology Press, June 2007 ([U.S.] H. W. Eves: Mathematics Circle 1, Mathematics Circle 2, Mathematics Circle 3, translated by Li Yong, 32.5 yuan + 38.5 yuan + 38.5 yuan; [British] Marcus du Sautoy: The Music of the Primes, translated by Sun Weikun, 36 yuan; [U.S.] Edward Berger, Michael Starbird: Mathematical Jamboree, translated by Tang Lu and Fu Xue, 28 yuan)
I happened to be in a state of mental excitement when I saw this series, and after casually flipping through a few pages of Mathematics Circle 2, I bought it. Now I feel somewhat regretful—this really is a distinctive kind of math storybook, especially the three Mathematics Circle volumes, which are composed of thousands of short pieces, some only a few hundred words or even a few dozen words long, including anecdotes about mathematicians and the history of mathematics, the origins and meanings of mathematical symbols and theorems, and a large number of mathematical maxims and jokes. At the time I leafed through a few passages and found them interesting. But when I read it carefully at home, I felt that the stories collected in this book were too many and too miscellaneous; of course there are quite a few that are wonderful and interesting, but at times it also makes one feel weary… By the way, I also flipped through the other two books, Mathematical Jamboree and The Music of the Primes, and had no particular feeling about them—not bad, but not especially good either~
July 29, 2007
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- ?
2007-08-16 10:56:59 Anonymous 220.171.224.248
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- Leisurely Person
2007-08-19 20:20:22 Anonymous 220.198.115.125
I also saw these five books today and bought them all. Some of the names in them are wrong. Just take Hardy’s student, for example—the name is wrong.
Translated from the Chinese original with AI assistance. The original text is authoritative.
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