A Mathematician’s Apology – GH Carr

The author was apparently a genius, by his own estimation "for a short time the fifth best pure mathematician in the world”. This wryly self-deprecating assessment gives a good sense of Carr’s charming manner, which won me over completely, aided greatly by C.P. Snow’s lengthy biographical introduction.

It was published in 1940, possibly the last time that “real” (i.e. very advanced) maths could be defended as harmlessly useless. Within a few years the Enigma code breakers helped win the war (think Alan Turing) and the computer age began to stir (think, er, Alan Turing).

Alan Turing, eh? What a guy.