Re: Ten all-time most influential math books


Dave L. Renfro wrote:
I came across the following article recently, and
I thought it would be interesting to ask how others
think this list of ten most important math books
has withstood the 83-year passage of time since
its publication.

<snip>


This list of ten important books is well distributed
among the great fields of mathematics, as well as
in time and in nationality. It ranges over twenty-two
centuries. In it are represented two Greeks, two (or one)
Italians (depending upon whether Lagrange is considered
Italian or French), one Scotchman, two (or three) Frenchmen,
an Englishman, a Hungarian and an Irishman -- a very
cosmopolitan group.

I think, that with the exception of Euclid's Elements
the list is absurd. Especially absurd is the failure to
include Gauss' Disquisitiones.

Also, while it is debatable whether Knuth's TAOCP is a math
book, it is hard to choose a 20th century text that has been
more widely used and applied.

99.9% + of all the math books ever written were witten
in the 20th Century. It is totally absurd to think that a
'top 10' list would not include any of them. A top 10 list
should have the majority of its books from the 20th Century.

Not a single good book on calculus, differential equations,
modern algebra, etc. etc. was listed

.

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