Customer Reviews
Hardy's Apology - By: conan fitz elis, 23 Jul 2008 
I bought Hardy's biography almost 50 years ago, just before going up to university to read Maths. The gentle almost humourous tone of the book convinced me that the life of a mathematician was a potential source of pleasure. In fact I later moved to read Philosophy, for my interests grew to centre on Logic & Mathematical Foundations, but my current work on Infinity still finds me using Hardy's "Pure Mathematics", & I still occasionally read his "Apology" for the pure pleasure that this outstanding book provides.
Disappointing - By: Kevin Roche, 26 Mar 2008 
I'm not sure I read the same book as the other reviewers. I'm fascinated by mathematics & have, for a long time, been meaning to read this book. Finally I have, & I have to say I was somewhat disappointed. C.P. Snow's foreword was an interesting potted biography of one of Britain's greatest 20th century mathematicians; but, the "apology" itself is overshadowed by its own introduction.
The first nine chapters are a clear indication - if any was needed - that intellectual brilliance is no talisman against small-mindedness. Maybe I'm being unfair butin those nine short chapters Hardy manages to denigrate most of humanity - "most people can do nothing at all well" - by which he means, nothing that he personally considers worthy. I'm not convinced we should readily accept the social opinions of a man who was born to privilege & spent his entire lifein rarefied cloisters shielded from what the "most"in question would consider reality. A man who thought we should not go to war with Germany because of the caliber of its mathematicians & scientists. (?) There are many reasons why we shouldn't be at war with Iraq, for example, but that the region is the cradle of civilisation is not one of them.
From chapter ten onwards the book makes a change of direction & deals with the actual subject of mathematics & being a mathematician. This latter section of the book is a much more interesting (less infuriating) read but I still felt he dealt rather ineptly with the attempt to differentiate between "common & garden" mathematics & the truly profound & beautiful creative mathematics that he so clearly loves.
When you compare this book to say Marcus du Sautoy's "Music of the Primes" or Simon Singh's "Fermat's Last Theorem", both books which truly promote the essential character of mathematics, "A Mathematician's Apology" seems very pale.
Read it. Seriously. - By: Promethean Fate, 04 Feb 2008 This book is a facinating insight into the mind of one of the century's greatest mathematians. However, Hardy's ideas go far beyond this into the purpose of human endevourin general.
The best part of this book is the foreword by C.P Snow. This amounts to a lucid, if brief, biography of Hardy from a man who is brilliantin his own right.
If you have any kind of interestin the realities of mathematics, or the workings of genius, then this book is the place to start.
Two Books in One - By: J. E. Finch, 27 Dec 2005 
This is a delightful read. The foreword by C.P. Snow takes up approximately one-third of the book, & is effectively a short biography of Hardy. It follows his life from late Victorian public school, to Trinity at Cambridge, then to New College Oxford, & then back to Cambridge. His initial decision to go to Cambridge came after reading “A Fellow of Trinity” by “Alan St Aubyn” – this is apparently not one of the world’s greatest works of literature, but I just have to read it now to see what wasin it that could inspire him so strongly!
CP Snow paints a delightful picture of the life of an honest, eccentric, & intellectually gifted man – a life revolving around academiain general, mathematics, cricket, radical ideas & some superb eccentricities. Hardy was suspicious of all things mechanical – “If you fancy yourself at the telephone, there is onein the other room”. This book is worth reading for the foreword alone.
Hardy’s work then follows, writtenin a series of short, pithy chapters, a bit too long to be called aphorisms, but each almost stands alonein placing an argument, craftedin step-by-step fashion, as you would expect of a mathematician. Now, maybe my interpretation of Hardy’s words is different to others, but for me, although he concentrates on the rights or wrongs of devoting one’s life to pure mathematics, discussing how “worthwhile” mathematics is as a profession, I think you can read this as an argument on the merits or otherwise of any human endeavour. He basically concludes that it is far better to exercise to the full whatever talent one has, than do undistinguished workin other fields. There’s more depth to it than that of course, all very readable, & an interesting set of views for those faced with an awkward crossroadsin life!
a reviewer's apology - By: Palle E T Jorgensen, 24 Oct 2005 I believe that the two biggest compliments a math author can get are first to have Graham Greene write: "the best account of what it was like to be a creative artist". And the second is to see his/her book open with an engaging Foreword by C. P. Snow. This little book by G.H. Hardy is deserving of both! And it is for good reasons that it has been reprinted many times over!
More than sixty-six years ago G. H. Hardy so eloquently apologized to the World for mathematics. You might say that no apology is needed, but many of my calculus students beg to disagree!
Back thenin the shadow of one World War, &in the approach to a second, Hardy, a pacifist, & the Platonic puritan he was clearly hadin mind pure mathematics. -- (And at the time, some parts of applied math had been usedin an unpopular war.)
Now reflecting on this many years later, I couldn't help wonder ifin the mean time the winds could have changed; wondering whether perhaps now a math author who trespasses into engineering topics & other applied domains might not be expected to apologize; --- at least if he/she hasin mind math students as his primary audience. Aside from this, Hardy's lovely little book has over the years become a paradigm for math apologies, & any apologetic mathematician ought to at least mention Hardyin her credits.
Review by Palle Jorgensen, October 2005.
