''A Mathematician's Miscellany'' is an autobiography and collection of anecdotes by

John Edensor Littlewood John Edensor Littlewood (9 June 1885 – 6 September 1977) was a British mathematician. He worked on topics relating to analysis, number theory, and differential equations and had lengthy collaborations with G. H. Hardy, Srinivasa Ramanu ...

. It is now out of print but ''Littlewood's Miscellany'' is its successor, published by

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

and edited by Béla Bollobás. In a chapter "The Mathematician's Art of Work" at the end of the ''Littlewood's Miscellany'' edition Littlewood distinguishes 4 phases in creative work:

Preparation which requires the essential problem to be ''stripped of accidentals and brought clearly into view; all relevant knowledge surveyed; possible analogues pondered. It should be kept constantly before the mind during intervals of other work.''
Incubation which he argues is the work of one's subconscious.
Illumination which tends to happen in a fraction of a second and this is almost when one's mind is relaxed and engaged only lightly if at all with ordinary matters. It is here that Littlewood recommends "the relaxed activity of shaving" as being likely to be a fruitful time for illumination
Verification Dixit, Avinash (1994) My System of work (Not!), The American Economist, Spring also published in Passion and Craft: How Economists Work, ed. Michael Szenberg, University of Michigan Press, 1998.

Editions

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References

Biographies and autobiographies of mathematicians {{science-bio-book-stub