Euler: The Master of Us All
Quick Informations
Where to buy it: AMS
Author: William Dunham
Release date: March 4, 1999
Language: English
Personal Progress: Read completely.
Review
Description
This book is perfect for learning more about one of the most legendary mathematician of all time. However, it is important to keep in mind that this book is not a biography since it focuses mostly on his work and not his life. Before reading this book, I was already convinced that Euler was a master, but now I believe that no one deserves this title more than him. The most striking part about this book is to learn how much of modern notation and modern way of doing mathematics is due to Euler.
Prerequisites
The only prerequisite for this book is some basic calculus and basic algebra, everything else is re-explained. Since this is a historical book on Euler, one should not expect rigorous analysis or abstract algebra to be mentioned in this book.
Content
The book is not chronological, instead, it is divided in eight chapters each representing a field of mathematics that existed during Euler's time. Each chapter presents Euler's most celebrated results in the associated field of mathematics. This structure emphasizes the fact that this book is not a biography but a collection of Euler's best results recontextualized.
Further Readings
If you read and like this book, then you would probably like any other book written by the same author such as The Calculus Gallery and A Journey Through Genius. Moreover, if you want to learn more about Euler's solution to the Basel Problem and how it lead to some of the most important modern problems in mathematics, you can read the first chapter of my paper Motivating L-functions which can be found in the Papers section of this website.