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By Matthew Whitney Reading in the Field of Mathematics |
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How did I get into reading math books for fun? Well, it has to do with why I pursued a mathematics degree at all. My first field was Business, graduating with a degree in Accounting and entering the teaching profession in 1983. Due to many factors the Business department at my school suffered a decline, talk began of possible lay-offs, and I worried that I would soon be out of a job. So, I returned to school to get certification in Mathematics to make myself more employable.
During the process of studying mathematics as a continuing education student during nights and summers, I found myself falling in love with the discipline. I had been a good math student in high school, but it never electrified me. I was more interested in History, at first, and then focused on Business (with the thought of "getting a job" after HS). I did have an excellent Algebra 1 & 2 teacher -- Sister Mary Lavelle at Cathedral HS, but I never thought of math as a career.
That all changed at Westfield State College when I began the Calculus sequence. The material was difficult, but I was "getting it" and I was repeatedly amazed at how seemingly unrelated topics began to be connected in the most fundamental ways. As I continued in the major that sense of wonder was reinforced again and again. Also, I began to gain a great measure of personal satisfaction over large amount of effort I put in but which was rewarded with good grades and words of praise from my professors. This work ultimately led me to being accepted at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in their Master of Science in Natural Sciences for Science and Math HS Teachers program, where I again excelled.
So, one of the reasons I enjoy math as much as I do is that I got better and better at it. Don't most people enjoy the things they happen to be good at?
Meanwhile, the fears regarding my teaching job and the fate of the troubled Business department finally materialized. The department was significantly "down-sized." Many of the faculty were forced into other teaching assignments while I had the great good fortune of being just ready to submit my transcripts to the state and was rewarded with full certification in the Mathematics field. So, in one great leap I moved from being a middle-of-the-pack member of a large department to getting one of more sought after assignments in the school's mathematics department (due to vacancies that opened up due to retirements or transfers to fill a newly created HS).
Math has been the best career move I have ever made! But more important, I discovered that I just simply LOVED studying it, learning more and more. I freely call myself a "born-again math nerd." There is a power and beauty to its formulas and especially its theorems.
I hope you will sample some of the books that I have enjoyed -- and that you will gain a sense of the joy that I experience when you unlock a new treasure of knowledge.
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