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King of Infinite Space: Donald Coxeter, the Man Who Saved Geometry | 
 enlarge | Author: Siobhan Roberts
Publisher: Walker & Company
Buy New: $22.36
New (30) Used (33) from $2.04
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 320
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.5
ISBN: 0802714994
Dewey Decimal Number: 510.92
EAN: 9780887842016
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Product Description
Winner of the 2009 Euler Book Prize, awarded by the Mathematical Association of America for an outstanding book about mathematics. The Euler Prize citation reads: "This book by Siobhan Roberts gives an intimate and engaging portrait of one of the most influential mathematicians of the last century. It also provides a mathematical history of those years, including the currents set in motion by Hilbert's 23 problems, the influence of Bourbaki, and the unexpected applications of mathematics to computer science, communications, information, crystallography, medical research, environmental studies, as well as art -- Coxeter's work directly inspired Circle Limit III by M.C. Escher. Above all, it gives a superbly readable account, in personal terms, of the search for beauty that sets mathematics in motion, and of the synergy of individual and group efforts that make it happen. It's an engaging page-turner, even for nonmathematically trained readers, and it will offer them an insider's look at the world of mathematics and the people who create it ... [The book] will also strike a special chord with mathematicians, because it honors the spirit of wonder and openness that Coxeter embodied in his approach to mathematics."
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| Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...
 Bound in a nutshell, for the moment June 5, 2009
Sean O Nuallain (Berkeley, USA and Dublin, Ireland)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
My namesake Brian O Nuallain aka Flann O'Brien/Myles na Gopaleen (we are not related, but share Oct 5 as a birthday) wrote a science fiction comic novel called "the third policeman" in which the footnotes compete for space with the main narrative. In this reverential account of a great geometer, Siobhan (I have reinstated the accent she eschews; it is pronounced Shove-awn) Roberts is so keen to get the details right that the end matter (notes, appendices, indices) occupies Pp 259-399. Indeed, whether to focus on the copious notes or the main narrative is a real issue.
Coxeter first came to my attention in the beautiful "hypergami" work described by the Eisenbergs in my "spatial cognition" collection. Spatial Cognition: Foundations and Applocations : Selected Papers from Mind Iii, Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society of Ireland, 1998 (Advances in Consciousness Research)He had three adversaries; the anti-diagram Bourbaki school
(150-170), anybody who wanted practical applications like Buckminster Fuller (180-181) and , finally, non-classical geometry like Riemann. The book is extremely informative, and should perhaps have received more attention. It is still not too late to combine with the likes of the Eisenbergs to revive this project; pace another reviewer here, another book on this subject may take a long time.
Sean O Nuallain Ph.D. 5u Meitheamh 2009
 Good bed-time read January 15, 2009
Grant Cairns (Melbourne, Australia)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Coxeter was a widely respected mathematician for whom many people had a deep fondness, and this is successfully captured in Roberts' book. The book contains little mathematics, but what it has, is well chosen.
Like many biographies of mathematicians, the books errs a little on the side of excessive hero worship, and as such it gives a somewhat simplistic and distorted view of Coxeter's contributions to mathematics and his status in the mathematical community. In particular, the supposed opposition between Coxeter and Bourbaki really misses the mark; and the portrayal of Jean Dieudonne, a truly inspirational intellectual, is very shabby.
While the book isn't a scholarly work, it is nevertheless very well documented. The book has lots of interesting information, particularly on Coxeter's early years, and his connections with Buckminister Fuller, and Escher. And it contains interesting interviews with numerous mathematicians. Above all, the book is well written and entertaining. Well worth the read.
 Coxeter deserves better... January 2, 2009
Librum (CA, USA)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Let me say at the outset, I was very excited when this book came out. It was awhile before I got around to reading it, and in the interim my expectations grew. Having just finished KoIS, I am sad to say, my expectations were greatly disappointed. SR may have written a fine magazine profile (I haven't read it; I can't say; but I don't doubt she did), but as (evidently) neither a mathematician nor a historian(/biographer) by training, she was not, in my view, up to the task of developing a book length treatment of her subject. The opening chapters of KOIS read as competent if uninspired biography. Coxeter strikes me as perhaps not the most scintillating of biographical subjects. But judging from his massive scholarly output, and the influence he has exerted on several generations of mathematicians and scientists in disparate fields, he is a patently fascinating intellectual subject. Clearly SR knows this too, and tries admirably to convey as much. But to do her subject true justice, she would have needed to delve far more deeply into his scholarship, and the fundamentals of his discipline, than she is able to. I can only hope that Conway or Hofstadter or Dyson or some other deeply knowledgeable -- and sympathetic -- Coxeterian will take up the challenge of writing a real scientific biography of HSM. He richly deserves one.
One additional criticism of KoIS: in its concluding several chapters, KoIS nearly abandons its subject altogether, and roves randomly over topics in the geometry of biochemistry and physics. These are fascinating topics, to be sure, but a) RS treats them only superficially and b) their connection to Coxeter is far from clear. The subtitle of the present book seems to suggest that but for Coxeter advances in biochemical and string theoretical thinking might never have occurred. Really? I don't doubt Coxeter's key role in keeping geometry alive in the mathematics of the 20th century. But he was not THE only geometrist of the era nor THE only geometry-minded mathematician or scientist. SR is practicing an annoying kind of hyperbole here that is all too common in popular-science treatments. These closing chapters, then, read almost entirely as a kind of filler, chock full of interesting details, but of only tangential relation to the topic at hand: Coxeter's life and work.
Having come down on KoIS rather negatively, I do credit SR with taking this project on. She clearly has great affection for Coxeter the geometer and the man, and the density of her endnotes (a bit excessive to be sure) attest the hard work she did in the library and on the phone. She is an engaging writer and will doubtless do fine work in the future. That said, both the biography and the intellectual biography of HSM Coxeter have yet to be written. I look forward eagerly to reading them one day.
 A great book and a great teaching tool! May 16, 2008
E. G. Huelsenbeck
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I am very happy to have received this book as a gift from a former math professor when I began teaching high school geometry last year. Initially during the year, it was difficult to get the students excited; I found that having them read excerpts from this book really helped! The narrative way the book is written allowed students to follow along, and they began to understand some of the joy that can come from mathematics.
I hope this book inspires a new generation of geometers!
A Giant among Giants! February 11, 2008
J. Guild (Toronto,Canada)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
If you enjoy Mathematics and particularly Recreational Mathematics;you'll find this book a real treasure trove. This book touches on so many interests I've had over the years,that I was mesmerized how one thing after another kept popping up.I have been interested in Recreational Mathematics,Puzzles and a wide range of things these pursuits lead to. I have over 500 books in my library connected to these interests in one way or another,but this book really shines in that it covers so much and over such a long period.
Starting off with the author's name. It's pronounced "she-von" and is the Irish form of Joan,a name which was introduced into Ireland by the Anglo-Normans.It has been anglicized as Judith and Julia.
I have also developed an interest in the concept of "connections" and as one goes through the fascinating journey of Coxeter's life ,connections endlessly come up. I started getting interested in puzzles in school during the early 50's and have never ceased to be drawn to them.
It's amazing how one encounters things without really trying.Two years ago ,while Birding at Pointe Peele,another obsession;things were quiet one evening,and I was doing some Sudoku puzzles when a young lad came by. I got him interested,and his uncle also came by. He told me that if I liked puzzles,I should meet his friend who constructs amazing stick and ball models.I took him up on it and met a retired engineer ,like myself,and for a whole afternoon,he showed me a number of models he had constructed.They were fascinating polyhedra,similar to those being held by Coxeter on the cover of this book. One big difference though;he used wooden balls,about 3/4" diam. and sticks about 1/8" diam. to construct his models. He painted the balls different colors to emphasize their positions in the structure. This approach allows the internal structure of the model to be seen. They remind me of the way chemistry uses similar balls and sticks to display molecular structures.This man told me about Coxeter and that he discussed his models with him and how he actually built a computer to determine what stellations of models were or were not possible to construct.At a later visit to his home,he showed me dozens of other models he had constructed and even a machine he had built to drill the holes in the balls. By that time I had turned up "Polyhedron Models" by Magnus Wenninger and my friend told me he also discussed these models with him.He gave me one of his models and it is one of my prized possessions.
Later on I found Wenninger's website,and if you'd like to see his wonderful models,visit it.
So, naturally,when I got Robert,s book,I knew it would be of great interest.
Although I had purchased Rouse Ball's "Mathematical Recreations" in 1960,and had even constructed a Rotating Ring of tetrahedra,I hadn't noticed that Coxeter had done the revision.
I recently read "The Universal Book of Mathematics" by David Darling,(see my review on June 22,2007)and found it a very handy reference as I read this book.
There is so much covered in this book ,one hardly knows where to start in writing a review. It has us meeting so many people in Coxeter's world;Einstein ,Buckminister Fuller,M.C.Escher,Martin Gardner,Paul Erdos,and on and on.You will meet their families ,students,likes and passions. There great minds are the people who have been in the forefront of Mahematics during the 20th Century and all who took over and expanded the horizons of the great Mathematicians who paved the way.
Like ,in the world of music, there are the great composers and great players,but even though most of us can never really enter their worlds or minds,we can thankfully still enjoy and appreciate their work. Such is the same with mathematics.
I was glad to read where M.C.Echer couldn't begin to follow Coxeter when he tried to explain math to him.It just confirms that one does not necessarily have to understand something to enjoy it. Even Coxeter understood that, and felt likewise about many areas of math and science.
If there is anything that this book really brought home to me is that it shows why I have enjoyed my pursuits in Recreational Mathematics and Puzzles so much over the years.
On top of being a wonderful biography on the life of Donald Coxeter and his associates and friends;it is a goldmine of a reference. 63 pages of Endnotes provide endless resource information;coupled with 13 pages of Bibliography and an extremly well compiled Index;makes this a major reference source that I will turn to often.
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