I Mathematician II Further Introspections on the Mathematical Life (Print)

Twenty-one of the world's most distinguished mathematicians and educators write about their personal experiences with mathematics.

What do mathematicians think of themselves, and what do others think of them? These questions were the theme of a special session at the San Jose MathFest of 2007 and they resonated with a large and diverse group of mathematicians and students. For these are the queries that govern the way that mathematicians live.

A large and diverse group of mathematicians and mathematical people were assembled to offer their view of these matters. The contributions represent a vast array of perspectives on The Psychology of the Mathematician. It is hoped that readers will find the thoughts assembled here to be stimulating and to be cause for further rumination. It is a complex and rewarding world that we live in, and one that can only benefit from some introspection.

This book is composed in three parts:
Part I: Who Are Mathematicians?
Part II: On Becoming a Mathematician
Part III: Why I Became a Mathematician

Preface

Part I: Who Are Mathematicians?
Foreward to Who Are Mathematicians
Mathematics on TV-Now That's Entertainment!
Tom M. Apostol
Mathematical Products
Philip J. Davis
Who ReallyWants to Be a Mathematician?
Pamela Gorkin
Blood Dreams and God's Mathematicians
Cliff Pickover
Bochner's "Formulism" Illustrated
Robert S. Strichartz
Mathematics and Aesthetic Detachment
D. Napoletani, D. C. Struppa
Intelligence, Creativity, and Conformity
Janet C. Tremain
Mathematics and Aesthetics in Kantian Perspectives
Christian Helmut Wenzel

Part II: On Becoming a Mathematician
Foreward to On Becaming a Mathematician
Learning about Learning with Euclid, Book I
Reece Thomas Harris
The Mathematician and Math in the United States
R. James Milgram
What is Applied Mathematics?
H. O. Pollak
A 21st-Century Mathematical Renaissance
Teodora Liliana Rădulescu & Vicenţiu Rădulescu
Bells and Whistles
Marjorie Senechal
Are Pure Mathematicians the Lyric Poets of Science?
Dean Keith Simonton

Part III: Why I Became a Mathematician
Foreward to Why I Became a Mathematician
Mathematical Memories
Marco Abate
Book Larnin,
Joseph A. Cima
Why I Became a Mathematician
Loredana Lanzani
Why I Became a Mathematician
Cathleen Morawetz
Lucky to be a Mathematician
Judy Munshower
Why I Was (But Am No Longer) a Mathematician
Edie Stevenson
Friday's Child
Geraldine Taiani

Edited by
Peter Casazza, University of Missouri-Columbia
Steven G. Krantz, Washington University
Randi D. Ruden, University City, Missouri