A Mathematician's Apology - G. H. Hardy

A Mathematician's Apology is the famous essay by British mathematician G. H. Hardy. It concerns the aesthetics of mathematics with some personal content and gives the layman an insight into the mind of a working mathematician. It is an attempt to justify and explain, pure mathematics. One of the main themes of the book is the beauty that mathematics possesses, which Hardy compares to painting and poetry.

G. H. Hardy (7 Feb 1877 - 1 Dec 1947) was an eccentric British mathematician who worked extensively in mathematical analysis and analytical number theory alongside J.E Littlewood. He is perhaps even better known for his adoption and mentoring of the self-taught Indian mathematical genius, Srinivasa Ramanujan. Hardy wanted his work to be referred to as pure mathematics rather than applied mathematics. In his view, mathematics was not something to be used in social destruction and to fulfill political purposes.