Overview

Full Product Details

9780226199955

Table of Contents

Reviews

The deity of Leibniz and Maupertuis can only make action stationary; to us remains the challenge to make the world as good as possible.... We can neither evade such problems nor address them without science. Ekeland's admirable account gives us the tools to consider these important questions in greater depth. - Peter Pesic, Times Literary Supplement A vivid picture of human history and destiny.... Ekeland moves easily from mathematics to physics, biology, ethics, and philosophy. - Freeman Dyson, New York Review of Books [Ekeland's] explanations are clear and elegant... and his prose is fluid, exhilarating, and suspenseful. I tried to put this book down after chapter 4 but couldn't. It was as if some compelling force of nature had a purpose, an opposing directive in the best of all possible worlds. - Joseph Mazur, Nature

Author Information

Ivar Ekeland is professor of mathematics and economics at the University of British Columbia and director of the Pacific Institute for Mathematical Sciences. He is the author of several books, including Mathematics and the Unexpected and The Broken Dice, both published by the University of Chicago Press.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available