What Is Mathematics?

这不是一本教你做题的书，甚至不是一本典型的科普书。它真正的野心，是替被「机械训练」掏空了的数学重新找回意义——让读者透过公式，看见背后人类思维的进取、推理与对完美的追求。书中从数论、射影几何一路走到非欧几何与拓扑，读者的心情也随之起伏：从「竞赛学过，好怀念」到「数学好有趣」，再到「这是什么鬼」，最后自嘲「还是适合上文科」。正是这种层层递进的震撼，让它成为送给中学生和本科生的礼物：它不负责让你通过考试，只负责让你重新爱上数学，并学会跳出形式操作，去触摸数学真正的灵魂。

The late Richard Courant, headed the Department of Mathematics at New York University and was Director of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences—which has subsequently renamed the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. His book Mathematical Physics is familiar to every physicist, and his book Differential and Integral Calculus is acknowledged to be one of the best presentations of the subject written in modern times. Herbert Robbins is New Jersey Professor of Mathematical Statistics at Rutgers University. Ian Stewart is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Warwick, and author of Nature's Numbers and Does God Play Dice?. He also writes the "Mathematical Recreations" column in Scientific American.