Customer Reviews (1)

Fields of Honor #4, The Soldier'sMedal
A typical Zlotnik accurate but simplistic fictional account of a Vietnam Veteran's escapades.Unlike other works he has written, finishing the book is a saddening instead of uplifting experience. ... Read more

Book Description
Examines the evolution of certain areas of modern mathematics byrecounting the past winners of the international Fields Medal, the - Nobel Prize - of mathematics. Paper. DLC: Mathematics - History - 20th century. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Good bird's-eye view; assumes a lot of background
The book attempts to summarize, in little over a hundred pages, the accomplishments of the Fields Medalists from the institution of the prize to 1994.Anyone familiar with the mathematics of the last century will understand the difficulty the author faced, but will recognize that even partial success is an accomplishment.Partial success is exactly what happened.

After reading this book, one will have a much better understanding of how a good deal of modern mathematics fits together.They will understand how Thurston's conjecture on geometrization of 3-manifolds relates to Serre's work on spectral sequences and Smale's work on the Poincare conjecture, for instance.The book is also laudable for a description of the Fields Medal award process, which (if it were read by the right folks) ought to dispel some nasty rumors about discrimination between sub-disciplines.

One caveat and one weakness should be observed.The caveat is that the text assumes enormous knowledge of pretty much all branches of mathematics.It is profitable reading even if you don't understand much, but be prepared.The weakness is one of perspective.The author gives considerable attention to anything bearing on physics, and not so much to anything else.That aside, the coverage is as full, accessible, and balanced as anyone can expect, and probably more so.Then again, that's a low standard.

Amazingly
As a first-year graduate student, I undersood most topics tangentially at best.Nonetheless, I was able to get a feel for some of the last century's most contributions to all of mathematics.I whole-heartedly recommend this book to anyone with a lot of exposue to various fields of mathematics, even if your knowledge of those fields is limited to the "exposure" level.

Essential for the budding researcher
So what is mathematics anyway?You may think you know, especially if you are a math grad student, but unless you're familiar with the contents of this book, you don't!

This book was a real eye-opener for me.Basically it covers what is considered to be important mathematics by the math community at large by recounting the discoveries/creations of the Fields Medalists.I found it fascinating how the Fields Medalists' work tied together large areas of mathematics together, and how many times this intertwining nature of their work wasn't realized until years later!

This book is rather incomprehensible initially, even if delightfully put together.The first time I read it, I couldn't pronounce some of the words.The second time, I knew what some of those words meant.The third time, I saw how the words I was comfortable with were related with those I weren't.One can read sections over and over again, each time having gained more knowledge of the mathematics involved, and still get a handy pointer on what to learn next.I think that is the greatest thing about the book: one can see the relation of what one is doing to the Grand Plan of mathematics and how the latter developed and is growing even now.

I've only gone over the topology section in some depth, since that is my area, but I've found it useful for pointing me towards what to concentrate on.The bibliography is very useful in that regard; I feel it could be more extensive, but certainly it does an admirable job in listing some of the more useful references.

Dyson's introduction describes this book as a "roadmap".Seen that way, you should get plenty of use out of it over a long period of time, although perhaps not immediately.

Essential mathematical culture for the mathematician
Most professional mathematicians know next to nothing about branches ofmathematics outside their own narrow specialty.If this describes you,then you *must* read this book.This beautiful little book of Monastyrskygives a brilliant exposition of the work of all the Fields medalists up toand including the 1994 winners.It seems impossible in such a small amountof space to assume no more than what the average mathematician can beexpected to know, and yet at the same time to provide enough technicaldetail for the reader to gain an accurate understanding of the content andsignificance of the major theorems of all the medalists.Perhaps this isactually impossible, but Monastyrsky comes as close as is humanly possibleto achieving this goal.This book will broaden your mathematical culturemore than any other single book I know.It was not until I read this bookthat I learned how simply the exotic structures on S^7 may be described, orwhat Margulis got his Fields medal for.

Warning: if you do not have atleast a graduate-level education in mathematics, most of the book will beincomprehensible.Although there are some historical notes and insightsinto people's personalities scattered throughout the book, the intendedaudience is unquestionably the research mathematician who wants to knowmore than just the buzzwords associated with each Fields medalist. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from Science News, published by Thomson Gale on August 26, 2006. The length of the article is 694 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Fields medals: mathematicians win awards for geometry, physics, and probability.(Grigori Perelman honored)
Author: E. Klarreich
Publication: Science News (Magazine/Journal)
Date: August 26, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 170Issue: 9Page: 132(1)

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Book Description
The Symposium on the Current State and Prospects of Mathematics was held in Barcelona from June 13 to June 18, 1991. Seven invited Fields medalists gavetalks on the development of their respective research fields. The contents of all lectures were collected in the volume, together witha transcription of a round table discussion held during the Symposium. Allpapers are expository. Some parts include precise technical statements of recent results, but the greater part consists of narrativetext addressed to a very broad mathematical public. CONTENTS: R. Thom:Leaving Mathematics for Philosophy.- S. Novikov: Role of Integrable Modelsin the Development of Mathematics.- S.-T. Yau: The Current State andProspects of Geometry and Nonlinear Differential Equations.- A. Connes: Noncommutative Geometry.- S. Smale: Theory of Computation.- V.Jones: Knots in Mathematics and Physics.- G. Faltings: Recent Progress in Diophantine Geometry. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from Winnipeg Free Press, published by Thomson Gale on January 17, 2008. The length of the article is 493 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Manitoba will have better shot at medals; Levelling playing field at nationals.(Sports)
Author: Gale Reference Team
Publication: Winnipeg Free Press (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 17, 2008
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Page: c4

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Book Description

... Read more

Customer Reviews (21)

First Graders Review of Prayer for a Child by Rachel Field
In this story, the little girl blesses her food, and then she says some more prayers.She asks Jesus to let no danger frighten her until the morning comes, and then she blesses her toys and shoes and furniture.
The little girl blesses her mom and dad and thanks God for their wonderful care of her.She asks Jesus to keep all the other children safe and free from fear.

I recommend this book to other children because I think it is a good book, and I think they will like it too.It's a whole prayer that I think is nice to say before bed.

Amy- age 6

Beautiful
THis was one of my most favorites books as a child. The illustrations are simply beautifu as is the text. My own children loved it and I am now buying it for my grandchildren. It is a simple but heartfelt prayer that is very appropriate for a very young child (and older one as well) and one that the child can understand what is being said. It just simply is a book to keep and pass down. I have to admit I bought this for myself as it brought back such memories.

Excellent Christening present
This is a classic and beautifully written and illustrated book of prayer, written from a very young child's viewpoint. It is an excellent choice for a gift upon the occasion of a Baptism. It should appeal to both grandparents, and young parents.

Still have mine from 25 years ago.......
My mom saved all my children's book for when I was an adult--this was one of them. Tonight, I just taped the pages back together because they were falling out from so many years. I think it's time to buy a new one--this is classic, beautiful, sweet and yes, a great introduction to prayer. Lovely book--I plan to buy this version and hopefully my daughter can tape those pages back in 20+ years!!!

Great book for young children
Really enjoyed this book. The illustrations are beautiful and the words are so sweet. ... Read more