3 ms·

Bourbaki – A Secret Society of Mathematicians

54 points by tzury 1y ago

TZubiri 1y ago
The link seems broken, points to books.google.com for me
itsthecourier 1y ago
https://www.google.com.do/books/edition/Bourbaki/-CXn6y_1nJ8C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=bourbaki&pg=PA56&printsec=frontcover https://www.google.com.do/books/edition/Bourbaki/-CXn6y_1nJ8... this one?
- tzury 1y ago
  https://books.google.ae/books?id=-CXn6y_1nJ8C&pg=PA18&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false https://books.google.ae/books?id=-CXn6y_1nJ8C&pg=PA18&redir_... yes, this is the original link I submitted. not sure why it was modified.
Zambyte 1y ago
If you want a very deep rabbit hole to go down, look into the connections between the Bourbaki group and Twenty One Pilots lore :)
- futura_heavy 1y ago
  He goes by Nico, fwiw.
bikenaga 1y ago
The book by Mashaal and a book by Aczel (which I enjoyed) were reviewed by Michael Atiyah (1966 Fields Medalist): "Bourbaki, A Secret Society of Mathematicians" (Maurice Mashaal) and "The Artist and the Mathematician" (Amir Aczel) - Notices of the American Mathematical Society, v. 54, no. 9, October, 2007 - https://www.ams.org/notices/200709/tx070901150p.pdf https://www.ams.org/notices/200709/tx070901150p.pdf There have been numerous articles about Bourbaki, including some by former Bourbaki members: "The Work of Bourbaki During the Last Thirty Years" - Jean Dieudonne - Notices of the American Mathematical Society, v. 29, no. 7, November, 1982 - https://www.ams.org/journals/notices/198211/198211FullIssue.pdf https://www.ams.org/journals/notices/198211/198211FullIssue.... "Twenty-Five Years with Nicolas Bourbaki, 1949–1973" - Armand Borel - Notices of the American Mathematical Society, v. 45, no. 3, March, 1998 - https://www.ams.org//journals/notices/199803/borel.pdf https://www.ams.org//journals/notices/199803/borel.pdf Edit: fixed typo
fritzo 1y ago
"secret society" -> "anonymous publishing group"
- Guthur 1y ago
  Potato -> Po Ta To
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
  - seanhunter 1y ago
    There's a really huge difference. Membership of the group is not secret nor are the proceedings of their conferences etc. They have a twitter handle for goodness sake - that's not what you do if you actually want your society to be secret. The thing they do is publish work by all members under a single pseudonym.
tzury 1y ago
this is the link I posted. not sure why it got modified https://books.google.ae/books?id=-CXn6y_1nJ8C&pg=PA18&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false https://books.google.ae/books?id=-CXn6y_1nJ8C&pg=PA18&redir_...
kzz102 1y ago
It's interesting that while Bourbaki had a large influence on modern mathematics, very few people read their books (at least among the people I know). In a sense, their project of producing a definitive exposition for a large part of mathematics has failed. I wonder whether it's because different branches of mathematics have their unique personalities, and therefore the attempt to provide a unified point of view are bound to fail.
- madcaptenor 1y ago
  Also mathematicians tend to not read "the classics" of the field. Do the people you know read other math books from the same time period?
  - throwaway81523 1y ago
    Yes, Whitaker & Watson (analysis), Hardy and Wright (number theory), Dieudonne (analysis and he was literally a Bourbaki member), heck, Euclid's Elements; Gauss Disquisitiones, etc. Bourbaki is more of a monument. Writing it was necessary, but for readers it suffices to know that it is there ;).
    - Davidzheng 1y ago
      while it's certainly not read by most mathematicians, Bourbaki (especially set theory & general topology) are still quite often read by mathematicians in training I believe.
      - throwaway81523 1y ago
        The set theory book is, at best, very outdated. No idea about topology.
        euiq 1y ago
        General Topology is valuable, especially for the filter perspective; so are some of the Algebra volumes.
siliconunit 1y ago
imagine having to rigorously prove that blood is really essential for the survival of a human being before every surgery, thanks Bourbaki. /s
kirubakaran 1y ago
We had our own: https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=nickb https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=nickb https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=nickb%20bourbaki&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...
throwaway81523 1y ago
Book is from 2006, title should note this. Publication page: https://bookstore.ams.org/bourbaki https://bookstore.ams.org/bourbaki

54 points by tzury 1y ago

The link seems broken, points to books.google.com for me

https://www.google.com.do/books/edition/Bourbaki/-CXn6y_1nJ8C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=bourbaki&pg=PA56&printsec=frontcover https://www.google.com.do/books/edition/Bourbaki/-CXn6y_1nJ8... this one?

tzury 1y ago
https://books.google.ae/books?id=-CXn6y_1nJ8C&pg=PA18&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false https://books.google.ae/books?id=-CXn6y_1nJ8C&pg=PA18&redir_... yes, this is the original link I submitted. not sure why it was modified.

Zambyte 1y ago

If you want a very deep rabbit hole to go down, look into the connections between the Bourbaki group and Twenty One Pilots lore :)

futura_heavy 1y ago
He goes by Nico, fwiw.

bikenaga 1y ago

The book by Mashaal and a book by Aczel (which I enjoyed) were reviewed by Michael Atiyah (1966 Fields Medalist): "Bourbaki, A Secret Society of Mathematicians" (Maurice Mashaal) and "The Artist and the Mathematician" (Amir Aczel) - Notices of the American Mathematical Society, v. 54, no. 9, October, 2007 - https://www.ams.org/notices/200709/tx070901150p.pdf https://www.ams.org/notices/200709/tx070901150p.pdf There have been numerous articles about Bourbaki, including some by former Bourbaki members: "The Work of Bourbaki During the Last Thirty Years" - Jean Dieudonne - Notices of the American Mathematical Society, v. 29, no. 7, November, 1982 - https://www.ams.org/journals/notices/198211/198211FullIssue.pdf https://www.ams.org/journals/notices/198211/198211FullIssue.... "Twenty-Five Years with Nicolas Bourbaki, 1949–1973" - Armand Borel - Notices of the American Mathematical Society, v. 45, no. 3, March, 1998 - https://www.ams.org//journals/notices/199803/borel.pdf https://www.ams.org//journals/notices/199803/borel.pdf Edit: fixed typo

fritzo 1y ago

"secret society" -> "anonymous publishing group"

Guthur 1y ago
Potato -> Po Ta To
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
- seanhunter 1y ago
  There's a really huge difference. Membership of the group is not secret nor are the proceedings of their conferences etc. They have a twitter handle for goodness sake - that's not what you do if you actually want your society to be secret. The thing they do is publish work by all members under a single pseudonym.

tzury 1y ago

this is the link I posted. not sure why it got modified https://books.google.ae/books?id=-CXn6y_1nJ8C&pg=PA18&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false https://books.google.ae/books?id=-CXn6y_1nJ8C&pg=PA18&redir_...

kzz102 1y ago

It's interesting that while Bourbaki had a large influence on modern mathematics, very few people read their books (at least among the people I know). In a sense, their project of producing a definitive exposition for a large part of mathematics has failed. I wonder whether it's because different branches of mathematics have their unique personalities, and therefore the attempt to provide a unified point of view are bound to fail.

madcaptenor 1y ago
Also mathematicians tend to not read "the classics" of the field. Do the people you know read other math books from the same time period?
- throwaway81523 1y ago
  Yes, Whitaker & Watson (analysis), Hardy and Wright (number theory), Dieudonne (analysis and he was literally a Bourbaki member), heck, Euclid's Elements; Gauss Disquisitiones, etc. Bourbaki is more of a monument. Writing it was necessary, but for readers it suffices to know that it is there ;).
  - Davidzheng 1y ago
    while it's certainly not read by most mathematicians, Bourbaki (especially set theory & general topology) are still quite often read by mathematicians in training I believe.
    - throwaway81523 1y ago
      The set theory book is, at best, very outdated. No idea about topology.
      - euiq 1y ago
        General Topology is valuable, especially for the filter perspective; so are some of the Algebra volumes.

siliconunit 1y ago

imagine having to rigorously prove that blood is really essential for the survival of a human being before every surgery, thanks Bourbaki. /s

kirubakaran 1y ago

We had our own: https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=nickb https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=nickb https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=nickb%20bourbaki&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...

throwaway81523 1y ago

Book is from 2006, title should note this. Publication page: https://bookstore.ams.org/bourbaki https://bookstore.ams.org/bourbaki