Stewart: Letters to a Young Mathematician

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Ian Stewart, Letters to a Young Mathematician. New York : Basic Books, 2006. xii + 210 pages, illustrated.

Stewart's book is in the style of Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet. It is a series of letters written to an imaginary young woman from the time she contemplates studying mathematics in college through her time in graduate school, looking for a career. The letters discuss many questions, such as what one can do with a degree in mathematics -- what career options are there? What is life like as a mathematics professor?

Although the questions and answers in this book probably apply most to someone studying mathematics, I found the book highly interesting and very accessible. Ian Stewart, Mathematics Professor at the University of Warwick in England, writes in an engaging, clear style which makes his book very enjoyable to read.

-- Notes by RSPH