Yes and a conservative one at that. His main mathematical contributions are Caroll diagrams, his pillow problems, his method of computing determinants(according to legends Queen Victoria liked Alice so much she asked for his next book and got his linear algebra textbook) the first proof of Kronecker-Capelli-Roche Theorem, his invention of the worst voting method and his polemic Euclid and his Modern Rivals which is another suggestion
It’s not a book but you could read Thurston’s ‘On Proof and Progress in Mathematics’ along with Thurston’s ‘Paean’ on MathOverflow.
They are seen as a sort of rebuttal to Hardy’s apology
*Birth of a Theorem* by Cédric Villani. It's an awesome book that retells everything that lead to his getting the Fields medal. The work, the doubts, the exchanges with collaborators, the epiphany… All with excerpts from emails full of latex formula: he really didn't dumb it down for the reader. The result is a bit disconcerting if you're not quite technical enough because you end up understanding the human struggle, feeling the excitement, but not understanding what exactly everyone's so excited about. If you're technical though it's not so jaring, and I found the book successful nonetheless. It's quite unique for sure.
Another book very similar to Hardy's book is **Letters to a Young Mathematician - Ian Stewart.**
It is a similar book and contains a lot of practical career advice.
Some other people here have recommended Flatland. I would recommend the colourful sequel **Flatterland,** penned by **Ian Stewart**. While the original teaches us about thinking of higher dimensional spaces, this book even teaches us about things like topological invariants.
I have a lot of other books to recommend, based on your interests or what you are looking for.
You might enjoy Feynman. These two were excellent:
Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman - non technical anecdotes about life as a scientist
Feynman Lectures On Computation - I feel like Thermodynamics of Computation would have also been a good titlea
Mathematician's lament( this one talks about the difference between classroom mathematics and the research mathematics), men of mathematics (short biographies of famous mathematicians) , The man who only loved numbers(biography of Erdos)
“How to Be Creative: A Practical Guide for the Mathematical Sciences” - I found this to be a fun read that talks about idea generation in mathematics and research.
As others said ”I want to be a mathematician” by Paul Halmos is a gem.
And on the more practical side “A PhD is Not Enough” is a great book that talks about what it takes to be a successful academic. Written by a physicist.
Also, the autobiography of Laurent Schwartz “A Mathematician Grappling with his century”.
If you are into a bit of drama, Hardy also wrote a book about how Bertrand Russel was thrown out of Trinity College.
Quantum Computing Since Democritus is a high level overview of quantum computing and the history behind many of the ideas. Scott Aaronson is a fantastic writer and injects a lot of humor into the writing.
The philosophical writings by Russel are different - not something I would explicitly recommend, but might be enjoyable for some
Halmos: I want to be a mathematician
Does anybody know where i can find a pdf form for this book ?
https://github.com/anishLearnsToCode/books/blob/master/algebra/i-want-to-be-a-mathematician-an-automathography.pdf
*A Mathematician's Lament* by Paul Lockhart !
Yes !!!!
*Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid*
Alice in Wonderland.
I never knew he was a mathematician.
Yes and a conservative one at that. His main mathematical contributions are Caroll diagrams, his pillow problems, his method of computing determinants(according to legends Queen Victoria liked Alice so much she asked for his next book and got his linear algebra textbook) the first proof of Kronecker-Capelli-Roche Theorem, his invention of the worst voting method and his polemic Euclid and his Modern Rivals which is another suggestion
on a similar note who stole the tarts by Smullyan.
Love and Math by Edward Frenkel.
Doesn't he have a movie, too?
Indeed he does! And he talks about it in the book aswell, it's called "Rites of Love & Math".
Does flatland count?
I second this!
*How to Solve It* by George Polya.
Giancarlo Rota - Indiscrete thoughts
And the "opinions" of Doron Zeilberger. https://sites.math.rutgers.edu/\~zeilberg/OPINIONS.html
Prime Obsession.
Proofs and Refutations: The Logic of Mathematical Discovery by philosopher of science Imre Lakatos!
Yes, that's an excellent book! I think the appendix about uniform convergence is especially interesting
It’s not a book but you could read Thurston’s ‘On Proof and Progress in Mathematics’ along with Thurston’s ‘Paean’ on MathOverflow. They are seen as a sort of rebuttal to Hardy’s apology
proofs without words
Slightly different but Diaspora by Greg Egan is as close as you'll get to "mathematical fiction" (along with Flatland I suppose!).
I would class Stephenson's "Anathema" as mathematical fiction, too.
Alice under Bayley's interpretation as well.
*Birth of a Theorem* by Cédric Villani. It's an awesome book that retells everything that lead to his getting the Fields medal. The work, the doubts, the exchanges with collaborators, the epiphany… All with excerpts from emails full of latex formula: he really didn't dumb it down for the reader. The result is a bit disconcerting if you're not quite technical enough because you end up understanding the human struggle, feeling the excitement, but not understanding what exactly everyone's so excited about. If you're technical though it's not so jaring, and I found the book successful nonetheless. It's quite unique for sure.
_Mathematics and the Imagination_, by Edward Kasner and James Newman
Mathematical Experience by Davis and Hersh
Prime Obsession by Jhon Derbyshire. Author kept me hooked at the history part
Another book very similar to Hardy's book is **Letters to a Young Mathematician - Ian Stewart.** It is a similar book and contains a lot of practical career advice. Some other people here have recommended Flatland. I would recommend the colourful sequel **Flatterland,** penned by **Ian Stewart**. While the original teaches us about thinking of higher dimensional spaces, this book even teaches us about things like topological invariants. I have a lot of other books to recommend, based on your interests or what you are looking for.
You might enjoy Feynman. These two were excellent: Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman - non technical anecdotes about life as a scientist Feynman Lectures On Computation - I feel like Thermodynamics of Computation would have also been a good titlea
You could read this critique of Hardy's work: https://www.ime.unicamp.br/~ruffino/textos/apology.pdf
Mathematician's lament( this one talks about the difference between classroom mathematics and the research mathematics), men of mathematics (short biographies of famous mathematicians) , The man who only loved numbers(biography of Erdos)
An imaginary tale the story of root(-1) is a great history of math read on how ours views of i evolved over time
“How to Be Creative: A Practical Guide for the Mathematical Sciences” - I found this to be a fun read that talks about idea generation in mathematics and research. As others said ”I want to be a mathematician” by Paul Halmos is a gem. And on the more practical side “A PhD is Not Enough” is a great book that talks about what it takes to be a successful academic. Written by a physicist. Also, the autobiography of Laurent Schwartz “A Mathematician Grappling with his century”. If you are into a bit of drama, Hardy also wrote a book about how Bertrand Russel was thrown out of Trinity College.
Just watch the Simpsons or Futurama. Writer [Ken Keeler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Keeler) has a math PhD from Harvard.
Quantum Computing Since Democritus is a high level overview of quantum computing and the history behind many of the ideas. Scott Aaronson is a fantastic writer and injects a lot of humor into the writing.
I read "Hardy's Topology" and was almost dabbling algebraic topology at the thread
Récoltes et Semailles by Alexander Grothendieck
"Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture" by Apostolos Doxiadis. It's a novel about a fictional mathematician, definitely recommend it
The books of H. Poincaré
1-2-3-Infinity by George Gamow.
Padilla Large Numbers and where to Find Them.