This is a superbly written collection of biographies. Mr. Bell was obviously a great writer--his ability shows in how he brings each mathematician to life, as well as in his witty sense of sarcasm. Each chapter is dedicated mainly to the life and career of the mathematician in question, and to a lesser extent to the substance of his mathematical work.

I decided to give the book four stars instead of five because I felt that it tackled too much in too little space. Not having any mathematical education beyond high school calculus (which I've completely forgotten), I found it very difficult at times to follow the technical discussions, despite Mr. Bell's assurance to the contrary in the Introduction. This is most likely, however, not something that the author could have remedied with a clearer explanation--let's face it, squeezing a mathematical genius's life work into three pages that a non-mathematician can (almost) comprehend is quite a challenge.

Overall, this book is well worth reading for anyone with an interest in mathematics and/or the sciences in general--keeping in mind, of course, that the focus of the book is the lives of great mathematicians and not an in-depth study of their work.

This book is a collection of dozens of (short) biographies of mathematicians ranging from the ancient Greeks to leading 19th century mathematicians, like Cantor or Weierstrass. His writing is charming, to say the least, and he puts forth his personal opinion numerous times throughout the text. While the work contains some mathematics, it is at a level simple enough for most people to understand, and in any case, those parts can be skipped through without too much loss in content.

We learn that mathematicians really are like the rest of the world, not nerds or ivory-tower type academicians. The types of people here span the whole gamut, and as their lives were intertwined with historical events of the time, we learn a bit about general history in this book as well.

Bell's writing is also excellent. He keeps the style varied, and as his material spans almost 2500 years, the book is never boring. My personal favorites were the biographies about Galois and Abel, and as their lives were tragically cut short by lots of unlucky circumstances, Bell writes wonderfully about their lives and how mathematics touched them, and in return was blessed by them. It is perhaps Galois' story which can ring true with younger readers - like many teenagers, he was full of ambition, dreams, and hopes, but, well, he had an incredible gift for mathematics and also a whole lot of bad luck - but you'll have to read the book to see for yourself!

This book is definitely not to be missed. Although the book is long, you'll enjoy every minute of it, and also come away wiser about a group of people not many people in this world know much about.

This book was published in the 1930's and therefore is not up-to-date with contemporary mathematicians.

That's OK though. Most of those who like Mathematics and particularly the writings of Lancelot Hogben and, more recently, Jan Gullberg have probably read later works anyway.

What I liked about this book is that is an easy to read history of the key men and women who developed Mathematics, going as far back as Aristotle and ending in the early part of the 20th century.

It brings out the characters that lived behind these great minds and the book almost reads like a novel, except that we can assume that it was all true. I know many people who find it hard to believe that mathematicians were actually living, breathing human beings, and actually did have other lives when they weren't preoccupied with their abacus.

A great read for math lovers and a great source of inspiration too.

Eric Temple Bell, (1883-1960), was the first person to truly popularize mathematics with his classic 1937 book, "Men of Mathematics". Many mathematicians, including Reid's own sister Julia Robinson, later to become famous as one of the finest early women mathematicians, cite this book as the reason why they turned to a career in mathematics.

But his early life was rather a mystery, and when Albers and Alexanderson, two mathematicians who were attempting to profile Bell, talked to Reid, she became intrigued by the contradictory statements and minimal evidence about where he lived up until the early 1920's. He'd always claimed to be Scottish--but was he born in Aberdeen or Peterhead? He said he'd traveled around the world as a teenager--but never said exactly when or how. He claimed to have been at the University of London, which didn't fit with what else was known about his education. Reid talked to Bell's son Taine, and soon decided that she had a mystery to unravel. Initially she agreed only to write the story of his early life, but eventually wrote a full biography.

The book is told in the present tense, as Reid walks us through her early discoveries. This is a device that works well in the early chapters, when she is talking to folks in Peterhead and San Jose, trying to find clues; but it palls later. By the twenties Bell's career was enough in the public record that it would have been pointless for him to lie about it, and from that point on Reid's occasional interjections in the present tense, as she relates a discovery or inconsistency, are a little jarring.

That's a minor point though. The book is fascinating, both in its portrait of Bell, who was multi-faceted--a distinguished mathematician, a prolific sf author, and a top-flight popular mathematics writer--and in the story of the detective work Reid had to do. Eventually Reid does uncover almost everything one could hope for, though Bell's motivation for lying about his past will probably never be known. It becomes apparent by late in the book that Bell never even told his wife the truth about his first years.

His mathematical career is covered in reasonable detail, with some input from Lincoln Durst, who has spent much time studying Bell's papers. It's clear that Bell was original and influential, though oddly it appears that the gift of smooth exposition so in evidence in his popular work was sometimes missing from his mathematical papers. Apparently there have been many instances when later mathematicians have rediscovered results originally due to Bell, mainly because his papers were often obscure or poorly written.

The only real criticism I have is the lack of a bibliography. Even a list of twenty or so important papers would have sufficed for the mathematics, but for the books I think it is a real omission. Other than that, however, this is a great biography and a fascinating read. Recommended.

Disingenuous about his past and occasionally a rubber sheet geometrist in his writings, Eric Temple Bell was a most complicated person. However, his writings on the history of mathematics are examples of extremely effective prose and are a joy to read. Many people have testified to the fact that his books led them to pursue a career in mathematics. Constance Reid captures all of this, in a book that at times is more of a detective story than a biography. She captures the soul of the man so well that immediately after reading the book, this reviewer went back and reread Bell's book, Men of Mathematics. And that is the highest compliment that a biography can receive.
Exactly where Bell was and what he was doing in his early years had never been conclusively determined and his statements were false and contradictory. With amazing perseverance, Reid manages to answer most of the questions, in a fascinating account of searching the most mundane of records. One is truly astonished at the thoroughness of human record-keeping back into the middle of the nineteenth century. Why Bell chose to make the claims that he did about his past is something that will never be known.
Of course, Bell was also an extremely prolific author of mathematical papers and a writer of science fiction under the pen name of John Taine. It is unfortunate that his talent for fiction crept into his other work. As is mentioned in the book, some of Bell's historical writings were false, and there is little doubt that he knew it. Just another twist in his complicated persona.
A fascinating, thorough account of a legend who deserves the pedestal, this work captures all of the man - the good, the bad and the confusing.

Published in Journal of Recreational Mathematics, reprinted with permission.

I will keep this very brief. I am an electrical engineer and computer scientist, and, after a couple of decades in the "commercial world" , am always amazed at the "unreal effectiveness" of mathematics when applied to this and the real world. Bell's book captures this essence in a timeless tome that must be required reading and regular re-reading for all aspiring. and indeed, practising, mathematicians, engineers and scientists. It is a source of both inspiration and "bringing back to earth" to those that read it. No serious practitioners library should be without it.

Here's a fascinating tale by John Taine, who is actually mathematician Eric Temple Bell. As I read this, back in the Sixties, the book contained two other stories: The Purple Sapphire, and The White Lilly. All these stories are somewhat dated, but quite original pieces, that stand by themselves. The Time Stream follows several travelers, who make use of some rather interesting properties of time - apparently it behaves like water flowing, and thus has eddy currents that can be used to move both forward and back if you know how. The Purple Sapphire is an adventure tale set in the wilderness of Tibet, and assumes there are places on this earth that are remote and mysterious. It's a good yarn, and well spun, if you can set yourself back to those times. The White Lilly is a fairly dated "jekyll-hyde" piece about the good and not-so-good aspects of experimentation with radiation, (something that has been done to death).

Still if you can find them, you'll find them well-written and fun. Well worth trying to find.

Speaking as someone with a degreee in math, plus some graduate work, I found this book frustrating and disappointing. I wanted to fill in some historical perspective to all the math I had learned, but I was little illuminated by this book. While the author clearly knows a lot about math, his writing is vague, poorly organized, and unfocused. He answered few of my questions and does not present a coherent picture of his topic. Rather than this book, I recommend Morris Kline "Mathematical Thought from Ancient to Modern Times", which is infinitely better.

This is the most engaging and entertaining history of mathematics ever written. If you think that math history is dry, then this is the book that will change your mind. This masterpiece traces early evolution through the Greeks and Hindus, but spends most of its time on modern math since 1600 up to about 1940. The mathematical insight is alive and sparkles with clarity and depth. The exposition draws you into the struggle between competing ideas, and is a tribute to man's creativity. If you are the type of person for whom math is beautiful art, then this is the book for you.