Richard Bellman (1920 - 1984) was one of the most prolific mathematicians. His early interest in pure mathematics was soon eclipsed by a consuming passion for applications. He had great talent, lots of energy, and the good fortune to be part of the most fertile centres of mathematics and its applications: Los Alamos during the Second World War, Princeton University and the RAND Corporation shortly after. Bellman is credited, among other things, with the invention of Dynamic Programming.

This book is based on the lectures Bellman delivered to a general audience at the University of Kentucky. The book is unusual in that it contains a little bit of substantial mathematics as well as much exposition of the context of mathematics and the philosophy of Bellman's approach to mathematics. The mathematics can be followed by
anyone who has taken a course in calculus. Yet it brings across the essence of the ideas that were a breakthrough when Bellman developed them in the 1950s. His contribution of invariant imbedding, for example, is illustrated by alternative treatments of the problem of determining how high a stone will go if you throw it upwards with a
given velocity. This is example is simple enough for a first calculus course.

Even if you skip the few formulas, then you'll still be rewarded by
Bellman's masterly discourse on context and background. You will find
it a joy to read and think: "I didn't know a scientist could write
like this."