Prelude to Mathematics

Rating:
Summary: I finally found a modern rival for Sawyer!
Review: I got Sawyer's book used in a book store and for 15 years I have used it's wisdom in my work on non Euclidean geometry, fractals and group theory. I just got " Elliptic Curves" by Mc Kean and Moll. For once a Cambridge book that doesn't eat dust! It is so hard to read papers by Yau that one gives up! Most Modern mathematics is written by people who can't communicate... Sawyer is a guide for writers of mathematics... how to do it well!

Rating:
Summary: I finally found a modern rival for Sawyer!
Review: I got Sawyer's book used in a book store and for 15 years I have used it's wisdom in my work on non Euclidean geometry, fractals and group theory. I just got " Elliptic Curves" by Mc Kean and Moll. For once a Cambridge book that doesn't eat dust! It is so hard to read papers by Yau that one gives up! Most Modern mathematics is written by people who can't communicate... Sawyer is a guide for writers of mathematics... how to do it well!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent introductory book
Review: Please also read Sawyer's Mathematician's Delight. My last review was more appropriate for that book, as it refers to the infinite series example. But this also a superb book. I like M.D. slightly better because of its narrative bent.

Rating:
Summary: I MUST HAVE COME ACROSS THIS YEARS AGO WHEN
Review: the material in it was over my head, but I had forgotten about it. What a treasure!! Mathematician's Delight is more famous, I believe, but this book is filled with wisdom. Sawyer introduces finite geometries and group theory in simple prose. He figures out where Hall and Knight came up with the ideas for some of their exercises in their (famous) HIGHER ALGEBRA text. He introduces the hypergeometric function as a generalization of power series expressions of functions (something I feel I should certainly have heard of before reading about it here.) I can't imagine anyone with an interest in mathematics not finding something in this book to make him or her say "Hmmm..." or even make him or her pick up a pen and do some figuring.
Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: The best introductory math book!
Review: This is the book that really got me interested in mathematics. I had never thought that a math book could be so engrossing. I finished reading it in a couple days and i immediately seeked out the author's other books. And the quality of the other book are of the same level as this one. It is a shame that the author's other books are mostly out of print. What i appreciate most about the book is that the math concepts are always are related to where it came from. The part on series is a small gem, and the book is full of ones like that. Without having met the author, he is in my mind certainly one of the best math teachers ever. (George Polya is another). Thank you, Mr Sawyer.