21 Fascinating and Interesting Books about Mathematics

Title: The Nothing that is

The value of nothing is explored in rich detail as the author reaches back as far as the ancient Sumerians to find evidence that humans have long struggled with the concept of zero, from the Greeks who may or may not have known of it, to ...

Author(s): Robert Kaplan;Ellen Kaplan

ISBN 13: 9780195142372
Pages: 225

Title: Is God a Mathematician?

This fascinating book will interest anyone curious about the human mind, the scientific world, and the relationship between them.

Author(s): Mario Livio

ISBN 13: 9780743294065
Pages: 320

Title: A History of Mathematics

The updated new edition of the classic and comprehensive guide to the history of mathematics For more than forty years, A History of Mathematics has been the reference of choice for those looking to learn about the fascinating history of ...

Author(s): Carl B. Boyer;Uta C. Merzbach

ISBN 13: 9780470525487
Pages: 688

Title: Mathematics

Presents the history of mathematics, from the inception of counting and positional notation to the development of such disciplines as geometry, algebra, group theory, and string theory.

Author(s): Tom Jackson

ISBN 13: 9780985323042
Pages: 144

Title: The Black Swan

A black swan is an event, positive or negative, that is deemed improbable yet causes massive consequences. In this groundbreaking and prophetic book, Taleb shows in a playful way that Black Swan events explain almost everything about our world, and yet we—especially the experts—are blind to them. In this second edition, Taleb has added a new essay, On Robustness and Fragility, which offers tools to navigate and exploit a Black Swan world.

Author(s): Nassim Nicholas Taleb

ISBN 13: 9780812973815
Pages: 444

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Title: The Joy of X

A comprehensive tour of leading mathematical ideas demonstrates how math intersects with philosophy, science, and other aspects of everyday life.

Author(s): Steven Strogatz

ISBN 13: 9780544105850
Pages: 316

Title: The Golden Ratio

Offers a look at phi, or "the golden ratio," discovered by Euclid more than two thousand years ago, examining the meaning of this remarkable mathematical proportion in terms of science, biology, philosophy, and other fields.

Author(s): Mario Livio

ISBN 13: 9780767908160
Pages: 294

Title: Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid

Douglas Hofstadter’s book is concerned directly with the nature of “maps” or links between formal systems. However, according to Hofstadter, the formal system that underlies all mental activity transcends the system that supports it. If life can grow out of the formal chemical substrate of the cell, if consciousness can emerge out of a formal system of firing neurons, then so too will computers attain human intelligence. Gödel, Escher, Bach is a wonderful exploration of fascinating ideas at the heart of cognitive science: meaning, reduction, recursion, and much more.

Author(s): Douglas R. Hofstadter

ISBN 13: 9780465026562
Pages: 800

Title: Fooled By Randomness

Contends that randomness and probability have a large impact on life, claims that people regularly fail to recognize that role, and tells how to differentiate between randomness in general and the financial markets in particular.

Author(s): Nassim Taleb

ISBN 13: 9780812975215
Pages: 316

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Title: The Golden Ratio

Offers a look at phi, or "the golden ratio," discovered by Euclid more than two thousand years ago, examining the meaning of this remarkable mathematical proportion in terms of science, biology, philosophy, and other fields.

Author(s): Mario Livio

ISBN 13: 9780767908160
Pages: 294

Title: Fascinating Fibonaccis

Explains the mysterious and fascinating Fibonacci numbers and ratios, their occurrence in nature, mathematical properties, and historical significance.

Author(s): Trudi Hammel Garland

ISBN 13: 9780866513432
Pages: 103

Title: A Mind for Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science (Even If You Flunked Algebra)

Whether you are a student struggling to fulfill a math or science requirement, or you are embarking on a career change that requires a new skill set, A Mind for Numbers offers the tools you need to get a better grasp of that intimidating material. Engineering professor Barbara Oakley knows firsthand how it feels to struggle with math. She flunked her way through high school math and science courses, before enlisting in the army immediately after graduation. When she saw how her lack of mathematical and technical savvy severely limited her options—both to rise in the military and to explore other careers—she returned to school with a newfound determination to re-tool her brain to master the very subjects that had given her so much trouble throughout her entire life. In A Mind for Numbers, Dr. Oakley lets us in on the secrets to learning effectively—secrets that even dedicated and successful students wish they’d known earlier. Contrary to popular belief, math requires creative, as well as analytical, thinking. Most people think that there’s only one way to do a problem, when in actuality, there are often a number of different solutions—you just need the creativity to see them. For example, there are more than three hundred different known proofs of the Pythagorean Theorem. In short, studying a problem in a laser-focused way until you reach a solution is not an effective way to learn. Rather, it involves taking the time to step away from a problem and allow the more relaxed and creative part of the brain to take over. The learning strategies in this book apply not only to math and science, but to any subject in which we struggle. We all have what it takes to excel in areas that don't seem to come naturally to us at first, and learning them does not have to be as painful as we might think! An engineering professor who started out doing poorly in mathematical and technical subjects in school offers tools, tips and techniques to learning the creative and analytical thought processes that will lead to achievement in math and ...

Author(s): Barbara Oakley

ISBN 13: 9780399165245
Pages: 316

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Title: How Not to Be Wrong: How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking

The math we learn in school can seem like a dull set of rules, laid down by the ancients and not to be questioned. In How Not to Be Wrong, Jordan Ellenberg shows us how terribly limiting this view is: Math isn’t confined to abstract incidents that never occur in real life, but rather touches everything we do—the whole world is shot through with it.

Author(s): Jordan Ellenberg

ISBN 13: 9780143127536
Pages: 480

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Title: The Golden Ratio

Offers a look at phi, or "the golden ratio," discovered by Euclid more than two thousand years ago, examining the meaning of this remarkable mathematical proportion in terms of science, biology, philosophy, and other fields.

Author(s): Mario Livio

ISBN 13: 9780767908160
Pages: 294

Title: Our Mathematical Universe

Max Tegmark, one of the most original physicists at work today, leads us on an astonishing journey to explore the mysteries uncovered by cosmology and to discover the nature of reality.

Author(s): Max Tegmark

ISBN 13: 9780307744258
Pages: 432

Title: Number

A new edition of the classic introduction to mathematics, first published in 1930 and revised in the 1950s, explains the history and tenets of mathematics, including the relationship of mathematics to the other sciences and profiles of the ...

Author(s): Tobias Dantzig

ISBN 13: 9780452288119
Pages: 398

Title: The Mathematics of Games And Gambling: Second Edition. The Anneli Lax New Mathematical Library

The first edition of this book was reprinted eight times! This book introduces and develops some of the important and beautiful elementary mathematics needed for rational analysis of various gambling and game activities. Most of the standard casino games (roulette, , blackjack, keno), some social games (backgammon, poker, bridge) and various other activities (state lotteries, horse racing, etc.) are treated in ways that bring out their mathematical aspects. The mathematics developed ranges from the predictable concepts of probability, expectation, and binomial coefficients to some less well-known ideas of elementary game theory. The Second Edition includes new material on: sports betting and the mathematics behind it; Game theory applied to bluffing in poker and related to the “Texas Holdem phenomenon”: The Nash equilibrium concept and its emergence in the popular culture: Internet links to games and to Java applets for practice and classroom use. The only formal mathematics background the reader needs is some facility with high school algebra. Game-related exercises are included at the end of most chapters for readers interested in working with and expanding ideas treated in the text. Solutions to some of the exercises appear at the end of the book.

Author(s): Edward W. Packel

ISBN 13: 9780883856468
Pages: 175

Title: The Power of Limits

One of the delights of life is the discovery and rediscovery of patterns of order and beauty in nature—designs revealed by slicing through a head of cabbage or an orange, the forms of shells and butterfly wings. These images are awesome not just for their beauty alone, but because they suggest an order underlying their growth, a harmony existing in nature. What does it mean that such an order exists; how far does it extend? The Power of Limits was inspired by those simple discoveries of harmony. The author went on to investigate and measure hundreds of patterns—ancient and modern, minute and vast. His discovery, vividly illustrated here, is that certain proportions occur over and over again in all these forms. Patterns are also repeated in how things grow and are made—by the dynamic union of opposites—as demonstrated by the spirals that move in opposite directions in the growth of a plant. The joining of unity and diversity in the discipline of proportional limitations creates forms that are beautiful to us because they embody the principles of the cosmic order of which we are a part; conversely, the limitlessness of that order is revealed by the strictness of its forms. The author shows how we, as humans, are included in the universal harmony of form, and suggests that the union of complementary opposites may be a way to extend that harmony to the psychological and social realms as well.

Author(s): Gyorgy Doczi

ISBN 13: 9781590302590
Pages: 150

Title: The Equation That Couldnt Be Solved

The first extensive, popular account of the mathematics of symmetry and order, The Equation That Couldn't Be Solved is told not through abstract formulas but in a beautifully written and dramatic account of the lives and work of some of the ...

Author(s): Mario Livio

ISBN 13: 9780743258210
Pages: 368

Title: Brilliant Blunders: From Darwin to Einstein - Colossal Mistakes by Great Scientists That Changed Our Understanding of Life and the Universe Reprint Edition

Drawing on the lives of five great scientists, this “scholarly, insightful, and beautifully written book” (Martin Rees, author of From Here to Infinity) illuminates the path to scientific discovery. Charles Darwin, William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), Linus Pauling, Fred Hoyle, and Albert Einstein all made groundbreaking contributions to their fields—but each also stumbled badly. Darwin’s theory of natural selection shouldn’t have worked, according to the prevailing beliefs of his time. Lord Kelvin gravely miscalculated the age of the earth. Linus Pauling, the world’s premier chemist, constructed an erroneous model for DNA in his haste to beat the competition to publication. Astrophysicist Fred Hoyle dismissed the idea of a “Big Bang” origin to the universe (ironically, the caustic name he gave to this event endured long after his erroneous objections were disproven). And Albert Einstein speculated incorrectly about the forces of the universe—and that speculation opened the door to brilliant conceptual leaps. As Mario Livio luminously explains in this “thoughtful meditation on the course of science itself” (The New York Times Book Review), these five scientists expanded our knowledge of life on earth, the evolution of the earth, and the evolution of the universe, despite and because of their errors. “Thoughtful, well-researched, and beautifully written” (The Washington Post), Brilliant Blunders is a wonderfully insightful examination of the psychology of five fascinating scientists—and the mistakes as well as the achievements that made them famous.

Author(s): Mario Livio

ISBN 13: 9781439192375

Title: Outliers: The Story of Success

In the past decade, Malcolm Gladwell has written three books that have radically changed how we understand our world and ourselves: The Tipping Point, Blink, and Outliers. Regarded by many as the most gifted and influential author and journalist in America today, Gladwell has the rare ability to connect with audiences of tremendously varied interests. There are over 10 million copies of his books in print.

Now, Gladwell's landmark investigations into the world around us are collected together for the first time. Beautifully repackaged and redesigned, with newly added illustrations throughout each book, COLLECTED is a perfect treasury of prose and provocation for Gladwell fans old and new.

Author(s): Malcolm Gladwell

ISBN 13: 9780316017930
Pages: 336

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