William P. Byers

William Paul Byers (born 1943) is a Canadian mathematician and philosopher; professor emeritus in mathematics and statistics at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

He completed a BSc ('64), and an MSc ('65) from McGill University, and obtained his PhD ('69) from the University of California, Berkeley. His dissertation, Anosov Flows, was supervised by Stephen Smale.[1]

His area of interests include dynamical systems and the philosophy of mathematics.

Books

Byers is the author of three books on mathematics:

• How Mathematicians Think: Using Ambiguity, Contradiction, and Paradox to Create Mathematics (Princeton University Press, 2007)[2]
• The Blind Spot: Science and the Crisis of Uncertainty (Princeton University Press, 2011)[3]
• Deep Thinking: What Mathematics Can Teach Us About the Mind (World Scientific, 2015)[4]

See also

• List of people from Montreal

References

1. William P. Byers at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
2. Reviews of How Mathematicians Think:
   • Grattan-Guinness, Ivor, zbMATH, Zbl 1123.00003CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
   • Rogovchenko, Svitlana P., zbMATH, Zbl 1191.00009CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
   • Chaitin, Gregory (July 25, 2007), "Review", New Scientist
   • Hersh, Reuben (December 2007), "Review" (PDF), Notices of the American Mathematical Society, 54 (11): 1496–1499
   • Kennard, Lee (April 2008), Math Horizons, 15 (4): 24–25, doi:10.1080/10724117.2008.11974771, JSTOR 25678755, S2CID 125265631CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
   • Wolff, Ken (May 2008), The Mathematics Teacher, 101 (9): 696, JSTOR 20876252CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
   • Baylis, John (March 2009), The Mathematical Gazette, 93 (526): 170–173, doi:10.1017/S0025557200184463, JSTOR 40378699CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
   • Keyfitz, Barbara Lee (Winter 2009), University of Toronto Quarterly, 78 (1): 141–143, doi:10.1353/utq.0.0372, S2CID 120506445CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
3. Reviews of The Blind Spot:
   • "Review", Quill & Quire, Ontario Arts Council
   • "Nonfiction book review", Publishers Weekly
   • Jubin, Brenda (April 2011), "Review", Seeking Alpha
   • "Review", Kirkus Reviews, May 2011
   • Taylor, Paul (April 2012), "Review", Mathematics Today, Institute of Mathematics & its Applications
   • Sears, Ruthmae (October 2012), The Mathematics Teacher, 106 (3): 238, doi:10.5951/mathteacher.106.3.0238, JSTOR 10.5951/mathteacher.106.3.0238CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
   • Edwards, Matthew (February 2013), "Review", The Actuary
4. Review of Deep Thinking:
   • Bultheel, Adhemar (February 2015), "Review", EMS Reviews, European Mathematical Society

External links

• Roberts, Russ (May 16, 2011). "Byers on The Blind Spot, Science, and Uncertainty". EconTalk. Library of Economics and Liberty.