I’m an encyclopedia lover who works on a variety of applied math problems as part of $dayjob at a national lab.
I thought the book might be fun to browse around in, so I purchased it. I knew the companion book (…to Mathematics) had a very good reputation.
It didn’t work for me…long story short is, the articles were written at too high a level of sophistication to serve as an introduction for a curious outsider. It was more of what someone in a nearby field might want to get up to speed on what is known, when their background in “that kind of thing” is already quite strong.
I was surprised for various reasons - I know Higham’s technical work, enjoy his blog, and I have a decent math background. (Of course, he’s the editor, not the author - it’s an enormous book.)
I thought the book might be fun to browse around in, so I purchased it. I knew the companion book (…to Mathematics) had a very good reputation.
It didn’t work for me…long story short is, the articles were written at too high a level of sophistication to serve as an introduction for a curious outsider. It was more of what someone in a nearby field might want to get up to speed on what is known, when their background in “that kind of thing” is already quite strong.
I was surprised for various reasons - I know Higham’s technical work, enjoy his blog, and I have a decent math background. (Of course, he’s the editor, not the author - it’s an enormous book.)
Ah, well. Not every shoe has to fit.