Too often math gets a bad rap, characterized as dry and difficult. But, Alex Bellos says, "math can be inspiring and brilliantly creative. Mathematical thought is one of the great achievements of the human race, and arguably the foundation of all human progress. The world of mathematics is a remarkable place."
Bellos has traveled all around the globe and has plunged into history to uncover fascinating stories of mathematical achievement, from the breakthroughs of Euclid, the greatest mathematician of all time, to the creations of the Zen master of origami, one of the hottest areas of mathematical work today. Taking us into the wilds of the Amazon, he tells the story of a tribe there who can count only to five and reports on the latest findings about the math instinct--including the revelation that ants can actually count how many steps they've taken. Journeying to the Bay of Bengal, he interviews a Hindu sage about the brilliant mathematical insights of the Buddha, while in Japan he visits the godfather of Sudoku and introduces the brainteasing delights of mathematical games.
Exploring the mysteries of randomness, he explains why it is impossible for our iPods to truly randomly select songs. In probing the many intrigues of that most beloved of numbers, pi, he visits with two brothers so obsessed with the elusive number that they built a supercomputer in their Manhattan apartment to study it. Throughout, the journey is enhanced with a wealth of intriguing illustrations, such as of the clever puzzles known as tangrams and the crochet creation of an American math professor who suddenly realized one day that she could knit a representation of higher dimensional space that no one had been able to visualize.
Whether writing about how algebra solved Swedish traffic problems, visiting the Mental Calculation World Cup to disclose the secrets of lightning calculation, or exploring the links between pineapples and beautiful teeth, Bellos is a wonderfully engaging guide who never fails to delight even as he edifies. Here's Looking at Euclid is a rare gem that brings the beauty of math to life.
Table of Contents:
Preface -- Chapter 0. A head for numbers -- In which the author tries to find out where numbers come from, since they haven't been around that long. He meets a man who has lived in the jungle and a chimpanzee who has always lived in the city. -- Chapter 1. The counter culture -- In which the author learns about the tyranny of ten, and the revolutionaries plotting its downfall. He goes to an after-school club in Tokyo where the pupils learn to calculate by thinking about beads. -- Chapter 2. Behold! -- In which the author almost changes his name because the disciple of a Greek cult leader says he must. Instead, he follows the instructions of another Greek thinker, dusts off his compass and folds two business cards into a tetrahedron. -- Chapter 3. Something about nothing -- In which the author travels to India for an audience with a Hindu seer. He discovers some very slow methods of arithmetic and some very fast ones. -- Chapter 4. Life of pi -- In which the author is in Germany to witness the world's fastest mental multiplication. It is a roundabout way to begin telling the story of circles, a transcendental tale that leads him to a New York sofa. -- Chapter 5. The x-factor -- In which the author explains why numbers are good but letters are better. He visits a man in the English countryside who collects slide rules and hears the tragic tale of their demise. Includes an exposition of logarithms and how to make a superegg. -- Chapter 6. Playtime -- In which the author is on a mathematical puzzle quest. He investigates the legacy of two Chinese men-one was a dim-witted recluse and the other fell off the earth-and then flies to Oklahoma to meet a magician. -- Chapter 7. Secrets of succession -- In which the author is first confronted with the infinite. He encounters an unstoppable snail and a devilish family of numbers. -- Chapter 8. Gold finger -- In which the author meets a Londoner with a claw who claims to have discovered the secret of beautiful teeth. -- Chapter 9. Chance is a fine thing -- In which the author remembers the dukes of hasard and goes gambling in Reno. He takes a walk through randomness and ends up in an office block in Newport Beach-where, if he looked across the ocean, he might be able to spot a lottery winner on a desert island in the South Pacific -- Chapter 10. Situation normal -- In which the author's farinaceous overindulgence is an attempt to savor the birth of statistics. -- Chapter 11. The end of the line -- In which the author terminates his journey with potato chips and crochet. He's looking at Euclid, again, and then at a hotel with an infinite number of rooms that cannot cope with a sudden influx of guests. -- Bibliography -- Acknowledgments -- Permissions and credits -- Index.
Review Quotes:
"An expansive overview of numbers and figures, and those who find them irresistible....A smorgasbord for math fans of all abilities."-Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Alex Bellos has a degree in Mathematics and Philosophy from Oxford University. Curator-in-residence at the Science Museum and the Guardian's math blogger, he has worked in London and Rio de Janeiro, where he was the paper's unusually numerate foreign correspondent. In 2002 he wrote Futebol, a critically acclaimed book about Brazilian football, and in 2006 he ghostwrote Pelé's autobiography, which was a number one bestseller. Here's Looking at Euclid was shortlisted for the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize and was a Sunday Times bestseller for more than four months.
Free Press
Pub Date: April 19, 2011
0.82" H x 8.42" L x 5.53" W
336 pages
paperback