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tophat8855's review against another edition
4.0
A great book that you can just open up to any page and read.
stephenmeansme's review against another edition
(NOTE: I didn't actually finish this book.)
Honestly, there's nothing really wrong with "Beyond Numeracy" per se. It's just not for me. Having expected something similar to its predecessor "Innumeracy," I was surprised to find that it's actually a collection of essays on mathematical topics directed at the interested "general reader."
As a Master's level mathematics graduate, it didn't really add anything for me, or at least not enough that I felt it was worth finishing.
That said, Paulos is a decent writer, so if you don't have a very mathematical background but are willing to be convinced that it really is cool stuff, I would recommend checking this book out. Three stars for the nonmathematicians.
Unfortunately, I spotted at least one flagrant mathematical myth: supposed "facts" about phi, the so-called "golden ratio." In fact, it was just one of many ratios known to ancient Greek geometers; the Parthenon's ratios can be adjusted to suit as long as you pick the zoom on an image and the thickness of the measurement lines; "golden" spirals in nature are often more general logarithmic spirals; etc. Mathematics is awesome enough without falling victim to mysticism.
Honestly, there's nothing really wrong with "Beyond Numeracy" per se. It's just not for me. Having expected something similar to its predecessor "Innumeracy," I was surprised to find that it's actually a collection of essays on mathematical topics directed at the interested "general reader."
As a Master's level mathematics graduate, it didn't really add anything for me, or at least not enough that I felt it was worth finishing.
That said, Paulos is a decent writer, so if you don't have a very mathematical background but are willing to be convinced that it really is cool stuff, I would recommend checking this book out. Three stars for the nonmathematicians.
Unfortunately, I spotted at least one flagrant mathematical myth: supposed "facts" about phi, the so-called "golden ratio." In fact, it was just one of many ratios known to ancient Greek geometers; the Parthenon's ratios can be adjusted to suit as long as you pick the zoom on an image and the thickness of the measurement lines; "golden" spirals in nature are often more general logarithmic spirals; etc. Mathematics is awesome enough without falling victim to mysticism.
remocpi's review
4.0
Tras publicar El hombre anumérico, Paulos siguió con el tema en su continuación. Una vez que en el primer libro nos convence de lo necesario que es no solamente saber un poco de matemáticas sino tener el sentido común y el ánimo de usarlas, en este segundo libro nos hace un repaso bastante extenso del panorama actual de las matemáticas. Desde el teorema de Pitágoras, sobre el que todos hemos leído, hasta la topología algebraica, de la que casi nadie tiene ni la menor idea, el autor nos pinta brevísimos panoramas y nos cuenta "de qué va" ese trocito de las matemáticas. Lo hace además consiguiendo que todo se entienda bien, aunque por supuesto se ve obligado a simplificar. Pero me parece un libro fantástico para empezar a entender la amplitud del campo de las matemáticas. Muy recomendable.
jared_davis's review against another edition
4.0
***Math hipster review alert***
Enjoyable yet lacking rigor
Enjoyable yet lacking rigor
kristaann's review against another edition
3.0
This book was lent to me by a co-worker. I think he thought I was smarter than I actually am, as a lot of this book was too deep in mathematical detail for me to be really interested in it. That being said, I did learn some interesting things about mathematics that I didn't know before.
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