Good books written by great mathematicians I read many of Richard Fenynman's books and I found them both very entertaining and moving, showing the human side of a brilliant scientific mind. I recently read also a collection of P.A.M. Dirac's writings on the topic of beauty and mathematical truth. I personally find that reading good non-technical books about personal histories, biographies, ways of conceiving the universe written by great scientists is always very enlightening. Feynman and Dirac represent (mostly) a physic's point of view, so I'd be interested in reading some thoughts from great mathematicians.
So my question is: could you please suggest good books of this kind? The constraints are the following:


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*the author is a great mathematician (universally acknowledged as such)

*the book/writing is not a paper, i.e. it's not a technical essay on some of the author's research;

*the main topic of the book/writing is the author's world view, philosophical thoughts, considerations about mathematics et similia.


An example of such a book could be Science et Hypothèse by Henri Poincaré.
 A: Indiscrete Thoughts by Gian-Carlo Rota.
I Want to be a Mathematician: An Automathography by Halmos.
A: How to Solve It: A New Aspect of Mathematical Method by George Pólya fits the bill perfectly. Not only is the author a first-rank mathematician, the work is also philosophical, mathematical and above all practical at the same time. A rare combination indeed!
A: Serge Lang has written a large number of books. The ones satisfying the above requirements contain the following:


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*The beauty of doing mathematics (1985)

*Math!: Encounters with high school students (1985)

*Challenges (1997)


There is also a very good book by David Hilbert, "Natur und mathematisches Erkennen" (german title), but I don't know whether there exists a translation into english.
A: Enigmas of Chance by Mark Kac, perhaps?
A: Bertrand Russell was a philosopher in addition to being a mathematician. He wrote a rather famous book, A History of Western Philosophy in which he presents a historical account of Western Philosophy. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature for his lifetime of writings.
