Reviews for Calculus Wars: Newton, Leibniz, and the Greatest Mathematical Clash of All Time

The average rating for Calculus Wars: Newton, Leibniz, and the Greatest Mathematical Clash of All Time based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-05-19 00:00:00 Johanna Schwartzkopf The content of this book, insofar as it actually talked about the invention of calculus, cultivated, for me, a profound respect for the genius of both Newton and Leibniz, respectively. Still, this is a very sloppy book which would've benefited from some simple editing. I checked it out from the local library and was relieved to find that the person who checked it out before me actually went through with a blue pen and corrected the majority of Bardi's grammatical errors (the Bibliographical Essay, especially, was riddled with them... such that it was distracting). The book also seemed to lack focus and drifted among a vast array of topics which seemed irrelevant to the essential conflict which Bardi purported to be writing about--the dispute between Leibniz and Newton over the invention rights of calculus. The result was a book which seemed to drag on and on, repeating much of the same information from earlier chapters. Perhaps obscure anecdotes from history aren't always meant to yield commentaries of almost two-hundred and fifty pages in length...

Review # 2 was written on 2008-11-18 00:00:00 Alisia Kley I found this book fascinating and funny. But I couldn't really explain the dry humor. But 2 grown men hiding Calculus from each other and accusing each other of stealing it...priceless. As far as my students are concerned, they both could have kept it to themselves.