I might be the ideal audience for this book - turned off Maths at school, yet still mildly interested, bed bound and unwell , with limited reading choices, however I found it largely uninteresting built up of clusters of not particularly memorable anecdotes which I have, a few months on entirely forgotten. Rather, he provides a series of interesting facts and folksy supporting anecdotes to show the development of: (1) different fields--geometry, probability, statistics; (2) concepts--pi, phi, infinity, zero; and (3) tools--logarithms, slide rules, the quincunx; in a way that is mostly understandable and usually entertaining. Trading Address (Warehouse) Unit E, Vulcan Business Complex, Vulcan Road, Leicester, Leicestershire, LE5 3EB. In this sense, maths is a more ancient and fixed base for knowledge than science, which is continually improved and changed in light of new evidence. From the thoughts of generations of mathematicians, our eyes have been opened to special numbers such as pi – the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter that pops up everywhere in scientific theories – and the golden ratio, a number that exists in nature in the way leaves are arranged around stems and the shape of a nautilus shell, and is now used by designers of beautiful objects (such as iPods).

Chapter 1 discusses the evolution of counting and is devoted to the limitations of the base 10 numeral system under which the West operates. While I was reading this book , I noticed it was published by Bloomsbury and I remembered that a few years ago they were doing rather poorly until J. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. The chapter on Vedic Mathematics was insightful, but I still do not see how this method can be considered easier than the traditional method I was taught.I'm not a reader of non-fiction for two reasons: (1) it usually purports to tell the truth when it is merely reporting a version of the truth like, well, fiction; and (2) it is usually less well written than fiction, where style tends to count more. And this book is also an answer (without actually trying to be) to all those people who ask – 'Why do we learn math if it has no real application in life?

The chapter on gambling (Slot/fruit machines, Roulette, Black-Jack) is too long, and my dear Gödel is missing completely! He shines a light on the mathematical patterns in nature, and on the peculiar predictability of random behaviour. When I saw this book on one of my frequent browses I thought that sounds right up my street so bought it (it had good reviews). Bellos proceeds with a revelatory anecdote illustrating our own socialized mania for quantification.

Statistics therefore became important for states, for economists, and to discover and understand climate change. He has a degree in Mathematics and Philosophy from Oxford, and is a former South America correspondent for the Guardian . I did struggle with some of the ideas but very often when I asked my husband to explain I found that the author explained the whole thing in the following paragraph.

Alex Bellos has a very good way of writing, easy to read and sprinkled, sparingly, with a bit of humour too - thoroughly enjoyable. On one hand it’s an easy read, a beach read if you will, and it covers quite a lot of math’s ground in relatively little space. He has organized the book in the way that allows him to be chronological while also taking diversions from time to time to connect with what's happening now in the field of mathematics. The style is laced with humour, but at all times, the star of the show is mathematics Ian Stewart, Prospect It is to be hoped that the uncountable delights of Bellos’s book, its verve and feeling for mathematics, convey its enchantments to a new generation.At Books2Door, we believe that reading is a fundamental skill that every child should have to help improve their vocabulary, grammar, and critical thinking skills. At this point, the book also irritated my psoriasis, as it reminded me of two of my education failures: (1) the slide rule; and (2) logarithms. It is noticeable that the author is trying to offer something to readers who have little or nothing to do with numbers and maths. Mathematics has revealed the underlying structures of nature, such as the golden ratio that defines the shape of a nautilus's shell. The highest found (at the time of publication of the book) was 2