I just ordered
The Rainbow of Mathematics
from amazon.com--so that soon I shall be knee-deep in it too.
Best wishes from Annapolis,
Sam Kutler
>Dear Colleagues,
>
>I am knee-deep in Grattan-Guinness' latest book: "The Norton History
>of the Mathematical Sciences: The Rainbow of Mathematics" (First US
>edition 1998).
>
> 1 Pre-viewing the rainbow
> 2 Invisible origins and ancient traditions
> 3 A quiet millennium: from the early Middle Ages into the European
> Renaissance
> 4 The age of trigonometry: Europe, 1540-1660
> 5 The calculus and its consequences, 1660-1750
> 6 Analysis and mechanics at centre stage, 1750-1800
> 7 Institutions and the profession after the French Revolution
> 8 Mathematical analysis and geometries, 1800-1860
> 9 The expanding world of algebras, 1800-1860
> 10 Mechanics and mathematical physics, 1800-1860
> 11 International mathematics, but the rise of Germany
> 12 The rise of set theory: mathematical analysis, 1860-1900
> 13 Algebras and geometries: their relations and axioms, 1860-1900
> 14 An era of stability: mechanics, 1860-1900
> 15 An era of media: mathematical physics, 1860-1900
> 16 The new century, to the Great War and beyond
> 17 Re-viewing the rainbow
>
>According to Ivor G-G, the present book differs significantly from many
>others histories of mathematics in several respects. One of these is the
>following:
>
> "I take _the word 'history'_ to relate to the question
>
> 'What happened in the past?';
>
> by contrast, mathematicians (and scientists in general, and
> even a distressing number of historians) take history to mean
>
> 'How did we get here?'
>
> The difference between these two questions is worth pondering.
> Answers to the second one draw _only_ on those parts of the
> past that have led to our present situation; while a perfectly
> respectable form of research, they can give quite mistaken
> impressions about the aims and purposes of historical figures,
> and the priorities they saw in their own work."
>
>Now... the difference between the two questions mentioned above is worth
>pondering, but should these questions be placed in disjoint baskets? ...
>
>Greetings to all,
>Julio GC