Joy of Abstraction: An Exploration of Math, Category Theory, and Life

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This I think is probably my first review on Amazon and I've purchased a lot of books over the years. I never really was good at math, but since I'm studying web development and design I thought I'd take a gander at Cheng's book just to get at the notion of abstraction. I have to say not even half way through this work, I'm thoroughly enjoying this, even taking a stab at some of the exercises, like the lattice of factors.Cheng's love for abstract mathematics really shines through the text and she elucidates the concepts so well, it makes me want to go further with these so far removed worlds of abstract thought. I just hope, as the author with this gift of explanation would write a book in the same vein as this one, for calculus or abstract algebra.

Eugenia Cheng (may her tribe increase!)Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,And saw, within the moonlight in her room,An angel writing in a book of gold.Exceeding peace had made Eugenia bold,And to the presence in the room she said,"What writest thou?"—The vision raised its head,Answered, "The names of those who love Mathematics.""And is mine one?" said Eugenia. "Nay, not so,"Replied the angel. Eugenia spoke more low,But cheerly still; and said, "I pray thee, then,Write me as one that loves her fellow men."The angel wrote, and vanished. The next nightIt came again with a great wakening light,And showed the names whom Mathematics had blest,And lo! Eugenia’s name led all the rest.Leigh Hunt would probably forgive the mangling of his magnificent poem for he would agree with the sentiments (he would certainly be fascinated by Category Theory were he alive today). To write a book like this takes a) Absolute mastery of the subject, b) Love of one's fellow man to be willing to put so much effort into sharing the joy of the subject and c) A genius for conveying very difficult ideas and making them comprehensible. All of us readers benefit from Eugenia Cheng's experience in teaching children and artists - the patience with which she develops the ideas in this book is admirable (and necessary) and the overall effort is deserving of the highest praise.

A gentle leading by hand a child towards Category Theory, with plenty of practical examples (not only from math).I'm enjoying reading it.This could be the right way to understand the "Mathematics of mathematics" (that is the scope of Category Theory)Strongly recommended.

This is an excellent introduction to category theory that starts off in part 1 with a high level overview of abstraction in mathematics that is accessbible to most people. Part 2 links this to abstract algebra concepts encountered in undergraduate courses before focusing on category theory in part 3.It feels like you could give this book to a high school student and even if they couldn't follow the entire book immediately they would be able to reread over the years and learn something new each time.Personally I'm coming at this book as a data scientist with a physics background and an interest in topological data analysis. My previous exposure to category theory was via 'Elementary Applied Topology' by Ghrist and 'Seven Sketches in Compositionality' by Fong and Spivak, both of which are also excellent but a challenge to my rusty math skills. The 'Joy of Abstraction' was both a very enjoyable read in itself and also opens up the books I had been attempting previously.My one quibble is that it would be good if the Kindle version were supported on e-ink devices and not just Kindle Fire. Even the fixed font pdf-like current format would render fine on the Kindle Scribe for example.