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xahrab's review against another edition
1.0
this book is so fundamentally boring that it makes my fingers itch in attempts to rid myself of the internal pain this book has caused me- not to mention whoever read the audiobook did a very bad job at it cause it makes me never wanna use audible again
_samd's review against another edition
4.0
I never had a healthy respect for mathematics. My interests being Physics and Computer Science, maths was always considered by me as a tool which I must be proficient in to get through CS and Physics. Alex's Adventures in Numberland, not only managed to make me love maths, but also come to terms with the fact that the beauty of maths is in its abstractness. It doesn't have to correlate with the physical world. It's not Physics.
Alex Bellos starts the book with an account of the Munduruku tribe in Brazil, and a general overview of counting, from there the book covers different base systems (dozenal), plane geometry, algebra, cartesian geometry, mathematical puzzles, logarithms, number theory, probability, statistics, non-euclidean geometries and finally the concept of infinity. It's about as much content a 400 page book can touch upon. The Gambling Chapter (Chance is a Fine Thing) is remarkably well done, albeit a bit long.
The book traces the history of mathematical developments around the world along with accounts of interviews with certain eccentric people who have contributed to the field in rather odd ways (The accounts give the book some charm and prevent it from turning into another regular maths textbook). Even though I was familiar with most of the mathematicians and stories associated with them, the book never seemed to get tedious. Certain parts are just flat-out mind boggling, like the geometry of the 50p coin, as an example of a curve of constant width, the Recaman Sequence, and the Drunkard's Walk.
Anyone looking to overcome their general hatred/fear/indifference of mathematics must give this book a read. It's that side of maths which your school textbooks will never talk about. And believe me, that side is definitely worth a look.
Alex Bellos starts the book with an account of the Munduruku tribe in Brazil, and a general overview of counting, from there the book covers different base systems (dozenal), plane geometry, algebra, cartesian geometry, mathematical puzzles, logarithms, number theory, probability, statistics, non-euclidean geometries and finally the concept of infinity. It's about as much content a 400 page book can touch upon. The Gambling Chapter (Chance is a Fine Thing) is remarkably well done, albeit a bit long.
The book traces the history of mathematical developments around the world along with accounts of interviews with certain eccentric people who have contributed to the field in rather odd ways (The accounts give the book some charm and prevent it from turning into another regular maths textbook). Even though I was familiar with most of the mathematicians and stories associated with them, the book never seemed to get tedious. Certain parts are just flat-out mind boggling, like the geometry of the 50p coin, as an example of a curve of constant width, the Recaman Sequence, and the Drunkard's Walk.
Anyone looking to overcome their general hatred/fear/indifference of mathematics must give this book a read. It's that side of maths which your school textbooks will never talk about. And believe me, that side is definitely worth a look.
annmarieodonnell's review against another edition
5.0
Reading this book at the moment. I can't get over how much my perception of maths and numbers is changing. In school, maths was a dread, and in some cases depending on the passions of my teacher it could be such a bore. My university courses rarely involved numbers, but when they did I wish someone had pointed me to this book.
edwincooperboy's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
3.0
platypusengima's review against another edition
3.0
I can't really remember much about this book (I finished quite a few weeks ago with limited internet connection) but I'll give it a shot.
Alex's book is very good if you want to dabble your toes in many aspects of maths, which is really good. Sometimes there would be topics I loved, sometimes I would have to pull myself through them. But that's more to do with the maths. It doesn't require much maths knowledge at all: I've just finished my AS's* (doing both maths and further maths) and I understood most of it (some bits were still confusing). And then my dad, who knows less about maths than me, also read it and seemed to understand most of it. Bar a few questions (but that's what the internet is for).
So long and short if you want an intro into some more complex maths, this is probably one of the best places that you can start.
*You do AS's two years before univeristy. So one year of AS's, one year of full A-levels, and then BOOM off to uni.
Alex's book is very good if you want to dabble your toes in many aspects of maths, which is really good. Sometimes there would be topics I loved, sometimes I would have to pull myself through them. But that's more to do with the maths. It doesn't require much maths knowledge at all: I've just finished my AS's* (doing both maths and further maths) and I understood most of it (some bits were still confusing). And then my dad, who knows less about maths than me, also read it and seemed to understand most of it. Bar a few questions (but that's what the internet is for).
So long and short if you want an intro into some more complex maths, this is probably one of the best places that you can start.
*You do AS's two years before univeristy. So one year of AS's, one year of full A-levels, and then BOOM off to uni.
aulbayne's review against another edition
challenging
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
5.0