Negative Positive
Title: Simple, accessible, and insightful
Review: "Dialogues on Mathematics" contains three dialogues involving characters such as Socrates and Archimedes (separately). They're written in classic style, and at first I thought they may be translations from Plato or something.I've only read a third of the book, so I'll restrict my comment to that. Hippocrates asks Socrates if mathematics is worth studying, thus initiating a genuinely Socratic dialogue on the nature of mathematics and its relationship to the real world.Even as a long-time consumer of mathematical thought (and now a mathematics teacher) there was plenty of substance in the dialogue for me: nice analogies and a sense of conviction of the importance of mathematics.I picked this book up at a university book sale for $6. At the time, it seemed expensive compared to the other offerings, especially as it's only 100 pages. I now offer this brief review to encourage anyone who reads it that this book is well worth obtaining if you have the chance.
Is the review positive or negative? 