--- product_id: 8633219 title: "Hilbert Paperback – April 19, 1996" brand: "constance reid" price: "383 kr" currency: DKK in_stock: true reviews_count: 8 url: https://www.desertcart.dk/products/8633219-hilbert-paperback-april-19-1996 store_origin: DK region: Denmark --- # Hilbert Paperback – April 19, 1996 **Brand:** constance reid **Price:** 383 kr **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Hilbert Paperback – April 19, 1996 by constance reid - **How much does it cost?** 383 kr with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.dk](https://www.desertcart.dk/products/8633219-hilbert-paperback-april-19-1996) ## Best For - constance reid enthusiasts ## Why This Product - Trusted constance reid brand quality - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description Full description not available ## Images ![Hilbert Paperback – April 19, 1996 - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61tXDGR4uwL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 out of 5 stars Touches the Heart and the Mind *by C***R on Reviewed in the United States on December 21, 2015* This work touches the heart and informs the mind. Maybe the best biography I have read. Hilbert the fascinating mathematican combined with a marvelous writer. Great!Reid connects three themes to the melody of Hilbert's life - the people, the environment and, most of all, the mathematics. Minkowski, Klein, Hurwitz, Weyl, Courant, Born, Siegel, Noether, Sommerfeld and many more are not just mentioned, but come to life.The ambience of Königsberg, Göttingen and the changing German world are carefully done. Best of all, the mathematical ideas that drove Hilbert play the central role in the story. Outstanding explaination of mathematical issues for non mathematicans.Reid provides excerpts from letters. One example is Minkowski writing to Hilbert after his sisters death: "It seems that through a preoccupation with science, we acquire firmer hold on the vicissitudes of life and meet them with greater calm, but in reality we have done no more than find a way to escape from our sorrows." (55) Many of Minkowski's letters are used, providing insight into Hilbert's friendship and a window into Minkowski's life.The mathematics that consumed Hilbert are explained in an accessible way. Reid focuses on the effect on Hilbert and the community, not on the technical problems. For instance, Weyl's reaction as a young student in Göttingen: "Hilbert's optimism, his spiritual passion, his unshakable faith in the supreme value of science, and his firm confidence in the power of reason. . . . Weyl heard the sweet flute of the Peid Piper seducing so many rats to follow him into the deep river of mathematics." (94) Born remembers his arrival in Göttingen and meeting Hilbert and Minkowski: "The conversation of the two friends was an intellectual fireworks display." (95)Hilbert's efforts to connect mathematics and philosophy is an important part of the book. "Just before the war Bertrand Russell, with A. N. Whitehead, had published his Principia Mathematica. Hilbert was convinced that the combination of mathematics, philosophy and logic represented by Russel should play a greater role in science." (144)Reid reproduces several key speeches of Hilbert. She includes enough help to make them accessible to a general audience. One was his speech at his home town, Königsberg in 1930. "Thus it happens that our present culture, insofar as it is concerned with the intellectual understanding and conquest of nature, rests upon mathematics!" (195) Mathematics as Truth. He concludes: "Comte could not find an unsolvable problem lies in the fact that there is no such thing as an unsolvable problem. . . . His last words into the microphone were firm and strong: 'Wir müssen wissen. Wir werden wissen'. We must know. We will know." (196) Real, deep, complete, overriding faith in mathematical science. Gödel was next.In 1962 Richard Courant gave tribute to Hilbert in Göttingen. "Although mathematics has played an important role for more than two thousand years, it is still subject to changes of fashion and, above all, to departures from tradition. In the present era of the over-active industrialization of science, propaganda, and the explosive manipulation of the social and personal basis of science, I believe we find ourselves in such a period of danger." (220) Five decades have passed. Warning seems accurate.Mathematical formulas play no significant part of this work. However, the philosophical foundation of mathematics, and the connection of mathematics to science and the world does appear. Intriguing and thought provoking! ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.0 out of 5 stars As accessible as 'going deep' is ever likely to be... *by J***. on Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2016* About as well done and accessible a bio of a top-tier mathematician as one is likely to come across. Ms. Reid manages to convey the flavor of the times as well as the personalities of several other notables with whom David Hilbert either taught or counted among his friends. Lots to chew on here for those with advanced math's in their CV -- especially in the lengthy appended obituary which contains more formalisms than does the body of the work. Not light reading by any means ... but seldom labor intensive either. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, sensitive portrait *by A***R on Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2019* A wonderful book and a sensitive portrait of one of the greatest and most versatile mathematicians in history who was also a great human being. The book is as much a paean to the romantic mathematical life as anything else. From his perch in Göttingen, Hilbert took German mathematics to great heights until it was brought crashing down by politics and Nazism. His finest hour came in World War 1 when he and Einstein refused to sign a shameful, jingoistic manifesto claiming Germany as the victim rather than the instigator of aggression; both Einstein and Hilbert were vilified as traitors for this.In 1900 Hilbert set out 23 unsolved problems that would keep mathematicians busy for the next hundred years. He was obsessed with the formalization of all of math and physics, a dream that was shattered in 1931 by Kurt Gödel through his incompleteness theorems. This book again raises the question of how extreme intellectual achievement and extreme militarism can co-exist in the same country. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.dk/products/8633219-hilbert-paperback-april-19-1996](https://www.desertcart.dk/products/8633219-hilbert-paperback-april-19-1996) --- *Product available on Desertcart Denmark* *Store origin: DK* *Last updated: 2026-04-22*