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veronicasbookshelves's review against another edition
5.0
When I decided to read this book, written by Alex Bellos, whom I didn’t know spent a few years working in my home country and city as a foreign correspondent, I was not expecting to find such an excellent read.
I have never been a big fan of mathematics. To be perfectly honest, Maths was not my favourite subject at school. However, as the kind of person who possesses a very curious mind, I decided to investigate. What in heaven a book about the history of mathematics could offer in terms of knowledge to somebody who is not really mathematically minded? Would it make me like the subject a bit more? Would it enhance my understanding of Maths? The book delivered much more than a “yes” to all of the previous questions.
Alex’s style of writing is fascinating and keeps you engaged throughout the whole experience of reading his book. Get ready to embark in a fantastic adventure in a world where Maths is extremely interesting, fun and exciting! I enjoyed every page and finished reading the book with a “wow” sort of feeling.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys learning and acquiring knowledge about the world around them. This is not just a book about Maths! It’s a lesson in philosophy, religion, history and nearly everything else in between. A masterpiece!
I have never been a big fan of mathematics. To be perfectly honest, Maths was not my favourite subject at school. However, as the kind of person who possesses a very curious mind, I decided to investigate. What in heaven a book about the history of mathematics could offer in terms of knowledge to somebody who is not really mathematically minded? Would it make me like the subject a bit more? Would it enhance my understanding of Maths? The book delivered much more than a “yes” to all of the previous questions.
Alex’s style of writing is fascinating and keeps you engaged throughout the whole experience of reading his book. Get ready to embark in a fantastic adventure in a world where Maths is extremely interesting, fun and exciting! I enjoyed every page and finished reading the book with a “wow” sort of feeling.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys learning and acquiring knowledge about the world around them. This is not just a book about Maths! It’s a lesson in philosophy, religion, history and nearly everything else in between. A masterpiece!
cazmcdo's review against another edition
2.0
I really liked the sections on number games and the problems of probability - but I've always been a statistics gal at heart. Discussions of base 10 versus base 12 counting systems were also interesting to me as they were before picking up this book, but if anything this book made me like it less. As someone who reads a lot of popular science books, I'd hoped to get a Mary Roach-esque journey through numbers, but Bellos very much fell short. More short than his labouring of the point of regression towards the mean would suggest. Disappointed.
toeffy's review against another edition
5.0
Fascinating insights into the world of maths
I wish, I had discovered this book earlier in my life. It's not that I was bad at maths, but it was always elusive to grasp and to really understand. This book takes fear out of maths by explaining even the most complex concepts calmly and patiently. I especially loved the historical development: from the need of numbers higher than five, to establishing geometric axioms with nothing but a compass, to calculating logarithms without having the technical equipment we have now.
Basically, that's what students need to learn at school, I think. Because one of the most often complaints about maths (at least when I was at school) was "Why do I need to learn this, if I can get my smartphone to calculate everything for me?" This book teaches why certain concepts (for example like Pi) are so special and fascinating and how mathematical principles have evolved into what they are today.
Overall, a great, interesting, and highly entertaining read! It's not the easiest book, but it made me think in a way not many other books did. If someone told me at school that I would ponder mathematical theorems in my free time, I wouldn't have believed them.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to give maths a second chance and discover a whole new world of numbers and patterns.
5/5
I wish, I had discovered this book earlier in my life. It's not that I was bad at maths, but it was always elusive to grasp and to really understand. This book takes fear out of maths by explaining even the most complex concepts calmly and patiently. I especially loved the historical development: from the need of numbers higher than five, to establishing geometric axioms with nothing but a compass, to calculating logarithms without having the technical equipment we have now.
Basically, that's what students need to learn at school, I think. Because one of the most often complaints about maths (at least when I was at school) was "Why do I need to learn this, if I can get my smartphone to calculate everything for me?" This book teaches why certain concepts (for example like Pi) are so special and fascinating and how mathematical principles have evolved into what they are today.
Overall, a great, interesting, and highly entertaining read! It's not the easiest book, but it made me think in a way not many other books did. If someone told me at school that I would ponder mathematical theorems in my free time, I wouldn't have believed them.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to give maths a second chance and discover a whole new world of numbers and patterns.
5/5
_carmel_'s review against another edition
adventurous
funny
informative
lighthearted
slow-paced
3.75
Lots of fun stuff. A few boring chapters tho. Pi chapter, pythag chapter, Phi chapter, some of the probability and normal distribution were pretty darn goodm some fun stories and fun facts to learn to get you hooked on maths/numbers.
boleary30's review against another edition
2.0
As a math major I felt I had to read this, there are some good ideas, but nothing too great that I would recommend it to anyone.
elliottmoore's review against another edition
5.0
One of the most enjoyable books I've read on humanity's understanding of mathematics, and the joys of recreational maths.
"Maths is not sums, calculations and formulae. It is pulling things apart to understand how things work."
"Maths is not sums, calculations and formulae. It is pulling things apart to understand how things work."
anapotokina's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
3.75
genizah's review against another edition
challenging
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
4.0
Absolutely delightful. The best kind of popular science, since it covers actual concepts but also introduces a huge number of bonkers characters both historical and current.