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lajuana_'s review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
chris_cousins's review against another edition
5.0
A brilliant book on maths. Easy to read, it explains all in simple terms.
br1arrose's review against another edition
5.0
A fun romp through the wold of math, a tale strewn with cultural tidbits, interesting revelations and a primer in everything from number counting to infinity.Thought, like sitting down with a favoite, passionate professor to be regaled over coffee, it at times it was easy to get lost on the way to conclusion, you are none the less guaranteed to find enjoyment and humor if you let yourself go along for the ride. I enjoyed the connections made between and amongst the stories as the author meandered through the great figures of math and explained the theory.
rutnoboa's review against another edition
5.0
Alex’s Adventures in Numberland is a captivating read that broadens the reach of mathematics past its traditional scope. Within the conventional (or at least American-style) school system, mathematics is often contemplated as merely a stepping stone for graduation, an abstract concept that can be easily ignored if you join the humanities or liberal arts and simplified through the rise of constantly evolving computers and calculators if you go into STEM. However, Bellos manages to explore the important connections math has with linguistics, entertainment, history, and more. I found Bellos’s first chapter on the Mundurku people absolutely enthralling and couldn’t keep my hands off the rest of the book, which I filled with notes on my thoughts.
Perhaps I’m biased since I’ve always loved math, even outside of its massive social, cultural, and historical context. However, I would definitely NOT hesitate to recommend this book to even my most math-abhorrent friends.
Perhaps I’m biased since I’ve always loved math, even outside of its massive social, cultural, and historical context. However, I would definitely NOT hesitate to recommend this book to even my most math-abhorrent friends.
chaitanyasethi's review against another edition
5.0
'Alex's Adventures in Numberland' is a book that I would want everyone to read. Part history, part sociology, and part philosophy, it traces the origins of man's desire to introduce numbers and counting into his life and how that choice has led to the growth of Mathematics today.
While it may sound strange to us, the desire to question the need for math, Alex sets the ball rolling right from the first chapter(the zeroth, in the book) where he introduces a tribal community in the Amazon who don't have the vocabulary for numbers beyond 5 because they have no need for counting the things they own. It is at that point he makes you realize how much about the math around us we take for granted - why do we have a base 10 for counting, how did the names for the numbers come about, how did humans over the world establish math as a globally standard way of communicating, and where did the ideas for concepts like probability, statistics, and infinity come from?
He also explores what he terms 'ethnomathematics' - the approach of different cultures towards Mathematics; how Indians(Hindus) have made Vedic math as a symbol of past glory and how Japanese have made mental arithmetic and the abacus a mark of intelligence. He's also traced the link of innovations and ideas over time - how one idea led to another and it snowballed into fads and theories. There are sprinkles of neat mathematical tricks and patterns to amuse the reader - curious little observations and theorems. There are references to religion and how many people associated the exploration of math to getting closer to divinity.
Although it runs nearly 450 pages, it is a book one can breeze through. The writing is easy to follow and so are the mathematical explanations(for the most part). In any case, the point isn't to grasp the math but the philosophy behind it. If you'd like to spend some time being impressed with the ingenuity of brilliant minds who lived before us and had the ability to invent these concepts, then this book would be a field day for you.
While it may sound strange to us, the desire to question the need for math, Alex sets the ball rolling right from the first chapter(the zeroth, in the book) where he introduces a tribal community in the Amazon who don't have the vocabulary for numbers beyond 5 because they have no need for counting the things they own. It is at that point he makes you realize how much about the math around us we take for granted - why do we have a base 10 for counting, how did the names for the numbers come about, how did humans over the world establish math as a globally standard way of communicating, and where did the ideas for concepts like probability, statistics, and infinity come from?
He also explores what he terms 'ethnomathematics' - the approach of different cultures towards Mathematics; how Indians(Hindus) have made Vedic math as a symbol of past glory and how Japanese have made mental arithmetic and the abacus a mark of intelligence. He's also traced the link of innovations and ideas over time - how one idea led to another and it snowballed into fads and theories. There are sprinkles of neat mathematical tricks and patterns to amuse the reader - curious little observations and theorems. There are references to religion and how many people associated the exploration of math to getting closer to divinity.
Although it runs nearly 450 pages, it is a book one can breeze through. The writing is easy to follow and so are the mathematical explanations(for the most part). In any case, the point isn't to grasp the math but the philosophy behind it. If you'd like to spend some time being impressed with the ingenuity of brilliant minds who lived before us and had the ability to invent these concepts, then this book would be a field day for you.
vcmc's review against another edition
4.0
I love this book- light-hearted yet serious. Some bits are easy revision others out of my comfort zone. Fascinating start to finding out more about modern maths.
puzzlebound's review against another edition
4.0
Very accessible book about crazy math things. It's so interesting! I loved how so many of the stories seemed to start with someone just sitting down and starting to fiddle with numbers, a puzzle, etc.
daedalusjr's review against another edition
3.0
I liked the beginning and some of the middle parts, it's a nice overview of the history of mathematics. However there were some really long chapters and stories that weren't as fun to read as others.