The Sensual (Quadratic) Form (Carus Mathematical Monographs)

Rating:
Summary: If it's written by John Horton Conway, buy it.
Review: The book doesn't need a review. It's written by John Horton Conway. Enough said. But if you insist on a review, the book (actually a series of three lectures) is a radical new "look" at quadratic forms through visual topographs. The lectures progress with even more ways of sensing quadratic forms (eg "hearing the shape of a drum"), and that's where the title comes from. "The Sensual Form" -- get it? It will change the way you look at QFs. If you need more information on Conway, he's the inventor of the mathematical game "life" and the author of the sublimest, rockingest math books on the planet, dude: Winning Ways, Numbers and Games, etc. He's one of the rarest of birds -- a contributor to the highest echelons of mathematical knowledge who's also great at putting it into readable, learnable text.

Rating:
Summary: If it's written by John Horton Conway, buy it.
Review: The book doesn't need a review. It's written by John Horton Conway. Enough said. But if you insist on a review, the book (actually a series of three lectures) is a radical new "look" at quadratic forms through visual topographs. The lectures progress with even more ways of sensing quadratic forms (eg "hearing the shape of a drum"), and that's where the title comes from. "The Sensual Form" -- get it? It will change the way you look at QFs. If you need more information on Conway, he's the inventor of the mathematical game "life" and the author of the sublimest, rockingest math books on the planet, dude: Winning Ways, Numbers and Games, etc. He's one of the rarest of birds -- a contributor to the highest echelons of mathematical knowledge who's also great at putting it into readable, learnable text.