Features
- Cover Type: Paperback with 608 pages
- Published by: Modern Library; New Ed edition October 2, 2001
- Written in: English
- ISBN 10 Number: 0375758488
- ISBN 13 Number: 978-0375758485
-
Book Dimensions:
8.5 x 5.5 x 1.8 inches
- Weighs: 1.6 pounds
Book Description
More than any other writer of the twentieth century, Henri Poincaré brought the elegant, but often complicated, ideas about science and mathematics to the general reader. A genius who throughout his life solved complex mathematical calculations in his head, and a writer gifted with an inimitable style, Poincaré rose to the challenge of interpreting the philosophy of science to scientists and nonscientists alike. His lucid and welcoming prose made him the Carl Sagan of his time. This volume collects his three most important books:
Science and Hypothesis (1903);
The Value of Science (1905); and
Science and Method (1908).
From the Inside Flap
More than any other writer of the twentieth century, Henri Poincaré brought the elegant, but often complicated, ideas about science and mathematics to the general reader. A genius who throughout his life solved complex mathematical calculations in his head, and a writer gifted with an inimitable style, Poincaré rose to the challenge of interpreting the philosophy of science to scientists and nonscientists alike. His lucid and welcoming prose made him the Carl Sagan of his time. This volume collects his three most important books:
Science and Hypothesis (1903);
The Value of Science (1905); and
Science and Method (1908).
Reader Reviews
Some historical figures are known to all cultured persons. Leo Tolstoy, Johannes Brahms, Vincent Van Gogh -- these are names of which most of us would be embarrassed to be ignorant. On the other hand, few of us would think to add the name of Jules Henri Poincare to this list; and yet, if we did, it would tower over all the rest. For Poincare was a mathematician of the very highest rank, an astonishingly fertile creative genius whose prescient insight and technical mastery utterly transformed the art to which he devoted his life. Among his predecessors in the three-thousand-year history of mathematics, only Archimedes, Newton, Euler, and Gauss can be said to have equalled or exceeded him. By any standard, Poincare was one of the truly great. If for no other reason than this, THE VALUE OF SCIENCE is well worth reading. It is, after all, quite rare to find a book that collects the thoughts of one of the very few genuinely profound intellects in human history. But what makes THE VALUE OF SCIENCE truly wonderful is that it is not merely worth reading: it is, in fact, a joy to read. For in addition to his uncanny mathematical gifts, Poincare had the knack of expressing himself beautifully in writing. Even in translation, his prose has an admirable lucidity and grace, and his aphoristic style often makes him highly quotable. When he speaks of mathematical creation, as he does in a celebrated essay of that name, he offers general readers a fascinating glimpse into the depths of his own extraordinary mind at the peak of its imaginative frenzy; his (scrupulously non-technical) account of one of his greatest mathematical discoveries supplies an unforgettable intellectual thrill, a sort of electric shock for the soul. For anyone interested in the psychology of creation, this is simply irresistible stuff. A final brief caveat: although Poincare was clearly the greatest mathematician of his time, he was not the greatest physicist. A curious wrong-headedness kept him from beating Albert Einstein to the creation of special relativity, and general relativity eventually proved Poincare wrong in some of his opinions on the relation between physics and geometry. So when Poincare speaks of physics, bear in mind that some of his positions no longer seem really tenable. But this is no reason not to read every word of THE VALUE OF SCIENCE. It's a marvelous book, and its author was a marvelous man. Get to know them both. You'll be glad you did.
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