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This fascinating collection identifies famous figures from the past, whose behaviour suggests they may have had autism, a disorder that was not defined until the mid - 20th century. James looks at the lives of 20 individuals - scientists, artists, politicians and philosophers - examining in detail their interests, successes, indifferences and shortcomings. Among the profiles are those of mathematician and philosopher Bertrand Russell, who wondered in his autobiography how he managed to hurt the people around him quite without meaning to; biologist Alfred Kinsey, who excelled in academia but was ill at ease in social situations; and the writer Patricia Highsmith, who had very definite likes (fountain pens and absence of noise) and dislikes (television and four-course meals). From Albert Einstein to Philip of Spain, these intriguing individuals all showed clear evidence of autistic traits. This book will be of interest to general readers and anyone with a personal or professional interest in autism. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Offers opportunity for personal insight
This book is not what I expected, yet I appreciate its contribution to the literature on this topic.

Twenty biographical accounts are arranged chronologically.Each offers basic facts about the life and accomplishments of the individual, and includes accounts of their behaviors, their own views of their challenges and accomplishments as well as the perceptions of their contemporaries.

Taken together, these twenty biographies offer me insights into human diversity and the importance of accepting ourselves and others for our strengths as well as our idiosyncrasies.As a teacher it helps me both understand and appreciate unique children.

Not another book about famous people who might have had Asperger Syndrome!
I have to say, this genre is getting rather tired, and there is a lot of overlap between all the books on this subject, of which there are many. If you already own one of the other books on this subject, you don't need to buy this one, and if you don't already own a book on this subject, this one is as good as any. What else can I say? It's 20 mini biographies of people the author has researched and considers to show signs of having had Asperger Syndrome. Interesting enough, and probably succeeds in the stated aim of raising the self esteem of people with AS. ... Read more

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Eminent mathematician Ioan James celebrates the extraordinary contribution made by Jewish people in mathematics and physics, from Norbert Wiener to Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein. He tells the life stories of thirty-five men and women, born in the nineteenth century, who were at the forefront of research in their fields.

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This book is ideal for anyone who would like to read about the lives of some of the most remarkable physicists born since the second half of the seventeenth century. Each of the fifty-five physicists profiled have made important contributions to physics, through their ideas and teaching, or in other ways. The biographies are arranged chronologically by the physicists' dates of birth, so that, when read in sequence, they convey how physics developed over time. However, the book emphasizes their varied life stories, not the details of their achievements. Ioan James is Professor at the Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford. He is the author of Remarkable Mathematicians (Cambridge University Press, 2003) and Topological and Uniform Spaces (Springer-Verlag, 1999). ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Only on physicists' lifeand almost none on their achievement!!!
Of course I understand that Ioan James's intention of writing this book is to give us a more " human " aspect about the physicists and not a work on the theory of physics. I fully agree. However he should at least state
at least very briefly about the achievement of the great physicist!! Take for an example, in describing Ampere, he does not even mention about the Ampere's law!!! I think at least in describing various physicists, he should at least state briefly about what contribution of those hysicists. Just on sentence about the equation of the laws would make this book far more interesting! Otherwise, just mention the date of birth, when the phyicist went to univerisity, when he married, when he died etc.I would ask, then what make this physicists worthy of a brief biography and separae them from just an ordinary people????????????????? ... Read more

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Ioan James introduces and profiles sixty mathematicians from the era when mathematics was freed from its classical origins to develop into its modern form. The subjects, all born between 1700 and 1910, come from a wide range of countries, and all made important contributions to mathematics, through their ideas, their teaching, and their influence. James emphasizes their varied life stories, not the details of their mathematical achievements. The book is organized chronologically into ten chapters, each of which contains biographical sketches of six mathematicians. The men and women James has chosen to portray are representative of the history of mathematics, such that their stories, when read in sequence, convey in human terms something of the way in which mathematics developed.Ioan James is a professor at the Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford.He is the author of Topological Topics (Cambridge, 1983), Fibrewise Topology (Cambridge, 1989), Introduction to Uniform Spaces (Cambridge, 1990), Topological and Uniform Spaces (Springer-Verlag New York, 1999), and co-author with Michael C. Crabb of Fibrewise Homotopy Theory (Springer-Verlag New York, 1998). James is the former editor of the London Mathematical Society Lecture Note Series and volume editor of numerous books. He is the organizer of the Oxford Series of Topology symposia and other conferences, and co-chairman of the Task Force for Mathematical Sciences of Campaign for Oxford. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

it's just ok
I read this book a few months ago. I thought it got kind of stale by the end, they way the author presents the information is fine, but I think that after a while the biographies start to run together. The mathematicians start to fall in similar types, like the mathematician who was famous and didn't have many problems who overshadowed a brilliant mathematician who fell into obscurity. You do learn a lot of information about the mathematicians themselves, but I think that the book could have been better with less mathematicians, or more important famous ones (extend the time frame).

Good book
This book is a collection of short biographies of notable mathematicians from Euler to von Neumann.It does a good job of explaining both a mathematicians background and the significance of their contributions to mathematics.Great to read through or as a reference to have on the shelf.

Very good historical account of lives
The only reason that this book doesn't get 5 stars is because of the fact that not enough emphasis is placed on the achievements of the mathematicians in terms of their mathematics.

However, this does not take away from the fact that is is exteremely well researched, laid out and presented. We get a meaningful insight into how these geniuses (genii?) lived and that fact that they were quite ordinary people with the same levels of hardship (and in some cases even more) as the rest of us. Perhaps an improvement could be made on further mathematicians, both past and present.

Still recommended reading.

Learn how mathematicians interacted with each other
When reading about the great ones of mathematics, I always enjoy short biographies rather than long ones. If the biographer is required to fill a large section of a book, then they tend to cover more detail than I really care for. While I do enjoy some details about the personal life of a mathematician, anything more than just a few morsels tends to detract from their accomplishments in mathematics.
James strikes the perfect balance in describing the lives of these great historical figures. Each biographical sketch is less than ten pages and he covers their life from birth to death. One valuable thing that he does is give their complete names, which is often omitted from biographies. In fact, despite all of my reading about the people of mathematics, there were some whose full names I had not known until I read this book.
The emphasis is on the lives of the people, and the general concepts of the mathematics that they created, rather than the specifics. No formulas are used in the explanations. Personal and professional interactions are a large part of the life of nearly all mathematicians, and from these biographies, we learn many of the specifics of how contemporaries reacted to each other. As is always the case, the full range of human foibles are displayed as the lives of the mathematicians unfold.
The lives of these sixty mathematicians are described in chronological order according to their birth years. Given that they all began their mathematically productive lives at different ages, this leads to some degree of overlap in both directions. Nevertheless, it is possible to easily trace the development of the major mathematical ideas as they are nurtured from early germs to towering oaks.
Mathematicians are people who find themselves in a social and political environment that they must cope with and sometimes just survive in. In this book, you will learn about sixty of them who made a major contribution, sometimes starting from a point of privilege, and other times only after great struggle. It is well worth reading for pleasure and can also be used as a resource for a course in mathematical history.

Published in the recreational mathematics e-mail newsletter, reprinted with permission.

Captivating!
Don't miss these captivating tales of the life and the times of mathematicians starting from the period of Tsar Peter the Great of Russia, and right up to recent times, at least up to and including the Cold War. Even if you aren't in math, I think you are likely to be caught up in the drama of the various lives, times, and events. The writing is fast paced and engaging, much like that of Constance Reid's books: "Hilbert", or "Courant"... Over the tumultous historical periods, it has been said that mathematicians have been more likely than others to have been uprooted in the upheavals of history, perhaps because they are concerned with theories and ideas that are more universal. But their lives are still much affected by the times and the events of history: The French Revolution(Galois, Poisson, Fourier...), the Napolionic Wars(Cauchy, Abel...), the period of Bismarck and Nationalism in Europe(Weierstrass, Cantor, Lie...), the Russian Revolution(Alexander, Kolmogorov...), the two World Wars, and the crisis period between WWI and WWII(Banach, Hadamard, Courant, Hilbert...), and the Cold War(von Neumann, Wiener...). The pictures on the cover give you a sample of the profiles in the book: G. Polya, K. Weierstrass, A. N. Kolmogorov, N. Wiener, S. Kovalevskaya, and S.-D. Poisson. Even if you won't get to meet them in person (I was a guest at George Polya's ninetieth birthday!), this book is the next best thing. ... Read more

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Following on from the success of his two previous books, Remarkable Mathematicians and Remarkable Physicists, Ioan James now profiles 38 remarkable biologists from the last 400 years. The emphasis is on their varied life-stories, not on the details of their achievements, but when read in sequence their biographies, which are organised chronologically, convey in human terms something of the way in which biology has developed over the years. Scientific and biological detail is kept to a minimum, inviting any reader interested in biology to follow this easy path through the subject's modern development. ... Read more

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Engineering transformed the world completely between the 17th and 21st centuries. Remarkable Engineers tells the stories of 51 of the key pioneers in this transformation, from the designers and builders of the world's railways, bridges and aeroplanes, to the founders of the modern electronics and communications revolutions. The focus throughout is on their varied life stories, and engineering and scientific detail is kept to a minimum. Engineer profiles are organized chronologically, inviting readers with an interest in engineering to follow the path by which these remarkable engineers utterly changed our lives. ... Read more

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Topology occupies a central position in the mathematics of today. The concept of the fibre bundle provides an appropriate framework for studying differential geometry. There is a large amount of literature on this subject already, so this book fulfils its aim of being a research stimulant and develops theories such as homotopy, equivariant homotopy, fibrewise homotopy and much more. Part 2 does assume a certain familiarity with the basic ideas from Part 1, but is written in such a way that the reader interested mainly in stable theory should be able to begin with Part 2 and refer back to Part 1 as necessary. Details on specific sections can be found in the introductions at the beginning of each part. ... Read more

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What makes mathematicians tick? How do their minds process formulas and concepts that, for most of the rest of the world's population, remain mysterious and beyond comprehension? Is there a connection between mathematical creativity and mental illness?

In The Mind of the Mathematician, internationally famous mathematician Ioan James and accomplished psychiatrist Michael Fitzgerald look at the complex world of mathematics and the mind. Together they explore the behavior and personality traits that tend to fit the profile of a mathematician. They discuss mathematics and the arts, savants, gender and mathematical ability, and the impact of autism, personality disorders, and mood disorders.

These topics, together with a succinct analysis of some of the great mathematical personalities of the past three centuries, combine to form an eclectic and fascinating blend of story and scientific inquiry.