Paul R. Halmos had been a great teacher, educator, author, and, of course, mathematician. He wrote eloquently about his life’s journey as a mathematician in what he called his “automathography”: I want to Be a Mathematician. It is a book with a lot of mathematics (higher) but it also has a high literary value. He writes forcefully. His writing is quite original, thought-provoking, and effective. I might write about the book later, but, for now, I want to draw your attention to an essay, How to Do Research, from his book. Here are the opening lines (it is an image, emphasis mine):
Beautiful, isn’t it? True of most of us, isn’t it? What is also interesting about it is that it not only applies to formal, professional “research”, but also to everyday problem-solving, investigation of things that intrigue you. In other words, it is about researcher’s attitude.
AMS (American Mathematical Society) has been kind enough to publish this essay in its entirety. Here is the link to it in PDF: https://www.ams.org/notices/200709/tx070901136p.pdf
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