"The Romans were a great race, but they were cursed with the sterility which waits upon practicality. They did not improve upon the knowledge of their forefathers, and all their advances were confined to the minor technical details of engineering. They were not dreamers enough to arrive at new points of view, which could give a more fundamental control over the forces of nature. No Roman lost his life [as did Archimedes] because he was absorbed in the contemplation of a mathematical diagram."
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An Introduction to Mathematics
An Introduction to Mathematics, by Alfred North Whitehead and published in 1911, was intended for a general lay audience. The book touches upon the nature, unity and internal structure of mathematics and its applications toward describing and understanding natural phenamena. It foreshadows some points of Whitehead's later work in philosophy and metaphysics.
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