A Mathematician's Apology (Canto)

I am a bit of a sucker for esoteric works that stand out beyond their field. One of my favorite books is Eric Gill's Essay on Typography, for example. So I had asked for recommendations in an online forum, and this was one of the ones that was suggested. It was the only one that wasn't from the hard sciences, and it wasn't that long, so I figured I'd give it a shot. Honestly, I barely finished it. If it weren't that I am this particular type of sucker, and also that I had a goal of reading a certain number of books in one year, I probably wouldn't have finished it.

It's not a bad book, it's just not that interesting. I've picked up a few gems of quotes along the way. But that's the majority of the value I've gotten from the book. The rest is probably pretty interesting to anyone with more math under their belt than I have, but it wasn't all that compelling to me. I do appreciate mathematics, and I even really enjoyed the couple of spots where he gets into actual theorems (the infinite supply of prime numbers, and the irrationality of the square root of 2). But throughout the rest of it, he really seemed to be defending himself and his choice of profession, or something. He does admit that, but that admission doesn't do much to make the book any more interesting.

Next time I'm 1/3 the way into a book and I don't think I need to finish it, I'm gonna trust that feeling. Our time on this earth is limited, and I could have been spending it reading something much more interesting.