The Weaver Reads reviewed Math Without Numbers by Milo Beckman
Goodreads Review of Math Without Numbers
4 stars
This book leans toward the simple, and it left me wanting more for it, but it’s still a well done attempt at pulling those resistant to mathematics to its beauty and elegance. The chapter breaks down into four major sections: essentially topology, analysis, algebra, and applied mathematics, with an interlude that questions the foundations of mathematics as a discipline. The most interesting section was certainly on algebra, as this is where the most complexity (of the book, not the field) lay.
The whole project is profoundly platonic, and I’m not entirely convinced by the “foundations” section, but it is true that mathematics does seem to WORK, and I’m sure that’s worth something.
The book concludes with an argument that the universe is made of math, via the standard model. It could be! But it also seems so narrowly human to conclude that.
What do I know? I’m just a layman …
This book leans toward the simple, and it left me wanting more for it, but it’s still a well done attempt at pulling those resistant to mathematics to its beauty and elegance. The chapter breaks down into four major sections: essentially topology, analysis, algebra, and applied mathematics, with an interlude that questions the foundations of mathematics as a discipline. The most interesting section was certainly on algebra, as this is where the most complexity (of the book, not the field) lay.
The whole project is profoundly platonic, and I’m not entirely convinced by the “foundations” section, but it is true that mathematics does seem to WORK, and I’m sure that’s worth something.
The book concludes with an argument that the universe is made of math, via the standard model. It could be! But it also seems so narrowly human to conclude that.
What do I know? I’m just a layman who became curious about math through sci fi and philosophy.
