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

4.0

I really enjoyed all of the stories and trivia about all things math related. It was interesting how the author tied together the scope of math from who counts and why up through modern math research. Much of the "narrative" follows the subtly deep influence of a numeral system on our understanding and ability to ale sense of the world. I also particularly liked how he wove in various puzzles and games like rubiks cubes, sudoku, and tanagrams as well as understanding probabilities and chance through things like gambling,lottery and coin flips. Although he delves into some fairly complex concepts I think the author's approach was very accessible and reminded me how fascinating the world of math can be. The only thing I found funny and "corrected" in head each time was his UK-influenced use of the word "maths" where I have grown up calling the subject "math" or "mathematics". It was an amusing little reminder that the world is a bigger place than I sometimes realize, as is the subject of this book.