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

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.