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A review by _samd
Alex's Adventures in Numberland: Dispatches from the Wonderful World of Mathematics by Alex Bellos
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.