Galois Theory by Ian Stewart is an excellent book indeed! I've got a hard copy lying at home that I am currently reading slowly page by page. I am planning to host book club meetups with this book later this year, perhaps during the winter if I am able to make good progress with this book.
In the meantime, if there is someone here who is interested in reading this type of books together and share updates with each other, I'd like to invite you to the IRC and Matrix channel named #bitwise [1][2] (the IRC and Matrix channels are bridged together, so you could join either one of them). The channel consists of some HN users as well as some users from other channels like ##math, ##physics, #cs, etc. It serves as an online space to share updates about mathematics and computation books you are reading and discuss their content.
Thanks for this! I tried joining a few other channels on Libera like #robotics and ##typetheory but they’re kinda dead. Usenet Newsgroups are also all spam. Will check it out.
I can agree with that, this is the primary textbook for the Open University's (excellent) Galois Theory MSc course (https://www.open.ac.uk/postgraduate/modules/m838. I really enjoyed my time on that course.
I was also very interested in reading about the the original papers prior to the various advancements in mathematical thinking and notation that tend to reframe how the theory is taught today. For that I highly recommend Peter Neumanns "The mathematical writings of Evariste Galois" (https://ems.press/books/hem/102) – it has the french side by side with a direct English translation along with notes explaining the context and possible thought process (it also served as a fun way to read some more French whilst I was trying to learn the language).
I hope it's OK to hijack the thread a bit: could you please tell me whether you'd recommend the Open University?
I think I might be interested in one of their Mathematics MSc. I don't know anyone personally who's gone so I'd love to hear what you thought of the experience please.
Yes, I would certainly recommend them if you are personally motivated. I've previously studied at Imperial for my BEng and then did a Mathematics BSc and then followed up with an MSc with the OU and certainly as a mature student, I have loved my time with the OU.
You get out of it very much what you put in. The materials on the undergrad side are excellent, at the MSc level you will basically be given a list of textbook resources, the odd OU prepared summary material and then a few online video tutorials (live) and then you get on with it.
There are forums and you have direct contact with your tutor though speaking myself, I never really engaged with them. You'll have a few "TMAs" to do (tutor marked assignments) and that's where you'll get direct feedback on your approach and questions but you are encouraged to message tutors if you need some guidance, and when I have I have always had a good experience.
My email is in my bio if you want to reach out, I'd be happy to send you some of the M838 course notes for you to get an idea of what you can expect.
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.1201/97810032139...