Free Download I Want to be a Mathematician: An Automathography by Paul R. Halmos
English | PDF | 1985 | 428 Pages | ISBN : 0387960783 | 66.6 MB
This is an automathography, a mathematical biography written by its subject. It is definitely not a mathematics book, and, even more definitely, it is not the story of my origins and my life. Sure, I had parents (two), and wives (two, one at a time, the present one for forty years), and cats (eight, two at a time, the present two for three years). I had and have many faults, and, I'm pretty sure, a few virtues. I like Haydn, long walks, Nero Wolfe, and dark beer, and for a few years I tried TM. All that is true, but it's none of your business-that's not what this book is about.
The book is about the career of a professional mathematician from the 1930's to the 1980's. It is presented, more or less, in chronological order, from high school to retirement, but its sections are organized by substance rather than time. It tells about the University of Illinois, the Institute for Advanced Study, and the universities commonly identified as Chicago, Michigan, and Indiana. It expresses prejudices, it tells anecdotes, it gossips about people, and it preaches sermons. It tells about taking prelims, looking for a job, writing a book, travelling, teaching, and editing.
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