How Mathematics Orders Our Lives, by Jason I. Brown
Quickie Recap: Brown explains the hidden maths behind everyday things, from simple games like rock, paper, scissors, to redecorating, to Beatles' songs.
Quickie Review: Yes, I read this willingly. It was better than I feared, and not quite as good as I'd hoped. I have a hard time explaining what exactly I anticipated from this title, but I was craving one of those aha moments that other great books have given me. This book didn't give me the tingles. I think it's failing that it was trying to cover too much too simply. The things that I understood - like how to calculate a tip and how to interpret a political poll in the papers - are things that I already knew and didn't need a book to tell me. Topics that I was less (or not) familiar with, like logarithms, I still have no grasp on whatsoever. But there were some clever moments, and Brown's cornball sense of humour helped me keep going.
Quickie Recommendation: Not entirely.
3 comments:
Tonight's commentary:
Was math discovered, or invented?
Invented by a horse whose hooves were particularly frisky.
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