Comments on: Serge Lang and his books http://www.arsmathematica.net/archives/2005/09/28/serge-lang-and-his-books/ Dedicated to the mathematical arts. Sun, 12 Feb 2012 14:00:01 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: vlorbik http://www.arsmathematica.net/archives/2005/09/28/serge-lang-and-his-books/#comment-144 vlorbik Wed, 12 Oct 2005 22:06:56 +0000 http://www.arsmathematica.net/?p=138#comment-144 i also found lang's _algebra_ useless as a first-year student. but forget the blue million *math* books: lang was a national treasure for his amazingly persistent debunkings of bureaucratic b.s. (in and out of the academy -- but especially "in"). here's my review of _challenges_: http://members.aol.com/vlorbik/tenpage/lang.html i also found lang’s _algebra_ useless as a first-year student.

but forget the blue million *math* books: lang was a national treasure
for his amazingly persistent debunkings of bureaucratic b.s.
(in and out of the academy — but especially “in”).

here’s my review of _challenges_:
http://members.aol.com/vlorbik/tenpage/lang.html

]]> By: michael http://www.arsmathematica.net/archives/2005/09/28/serge-lang-and-his-books/#comment-140 michael Fri, 30 Sep 2005 16:52:04 +0000 http://www.arsmathematica.net/?p=138#comment-140 I hate this book with a passion. The purpose of a textbook is the imparting of knowledge. If you learned mathematics in a vacuum (or even perhaps in the vaccum milieu of Lang books) then fine, but if you already know some math (and what everyone else calls things) then this book useless. (Hey thanks Serge, your index is pointless) I hate this book with a passion. The purpose of a textbook is the imparting of knowledge. If you learned mathematics in a vacuum (or even perhaps in the vaccum milieu of Lang books) then fine, but if you already know some math (and what everyone else calls things) then this book useless. (Hey thanks Serge, your index is pointless)

]]> By: Megan http://www.arsmathematica.net/archives/2005/09/28/serge-lang-and-his-books/#comment-139 Megan Fri, 30 Sep 2005 05:48:52 +0000 http://www.arsmathematica.net/?p=138#comment-139 I seem to recall an orange book by Lang entitled Algebra. The book was a little tattered, the binding falling apart and the pages a little loose. I also remember complaining quite a bit about this book. Lang had a tendency to rename things like integral domain. In fact, I half-joked he tried to rename multiplication. For that reason, I hated Lang's books. I am sad that he died though. I seem to recall an orange book by Lang entitled Algebra. The book was a little tattered, the binding falling apart and the pages a little loose. I also remember complaining quite a bit about this book. Lang had a tendency to rename things like integral domain. In fact, I half-joked he tried to rename multiplication. For that reason, I hated Lang’s books. I am sad that he died though.

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