Weirder Maths: At the Edge of the Possible

by David Darling, Agnijo Banerjee

Even the most enthusiastic of maths students probably at one time wondered when exactly it would all prove useful in ‘real life’. Well, maths reaches so far and wide through our world that, love it or hate it, we’re all doing maths almost every minute of every day. David Darling and Agnijo Banerjee go in search of the perfect labyrinth, journey back to the second century in pursuit of ‘bubble maths’, reveal the weirdest mathematicians in history and transform the bewildering into the beautiful, delighting us once again.

Genres: Mathematics, Nonfiction, Science

255 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 4, 2019

About the author

There is more than one author in the database with this name. Not all books on this profile may belong to the same person.

David Darling is a science writer and astronomer. He is the author of many books, including the bestselling Equations of Eternity, and the popular online resource The Worlds of David Darling. He lives in Dundee, Scotland.

Reviews

[Johna Krause · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book goes into a bunch of very interesting history and fields of mathematics, at times it was really interesting when it went into the details, however, it mostly never really goes deeper than merely mentioning them. Some of the transitions within a chapter seemed pretty random and disconnected and left me a bit confused about why he was explaining something irrelevant and a little boring.

There are some really cool facts inside this book and even though I do find math really interesting, there were some bits that were boring regardless.

[Josh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some fun concepts, but the lack of illustrations or visuals (or even equations!) to demonstrate most of these ideas detracted from the enjoyment.
Needed to keep my phone nearby to look up images for every chapter, and using a screen is not something I’m aiming for when reading a book.
Explanations are also inconsistent in their depth, and some things are glossed over that could leave a reader unsure of what is being discussed.

[Max Deacon-Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some interesting concepts in this book, but it's either too quick to explain the topics (for non-maths experts), or not advanced enough (for maths experts). I don't really know who this book is therefore for!

It was a struggle to read and, much as I'd love to say I enjoyed it, I wouldn't recommend :(

[Maddie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't read very much of it at all, but didn't need to in order to designate it as a total snoozefest. Imagine writing a pop math book and barely having any images? No need to imagine, they've done it for you.

[Elalber2000 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un libro muy contundente, algo técnico, pero que trata temas de mates muy muy interesantes. El último capitulo especialmente es una reflexión muy interesante sobre el clásico tema de si las mates se crean o se descubren. Si os mola el tema echadle un ojo.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant. Great variety. Very readable. Lost me here and there (but I like that) but also learned a lot. Found myself thinking about the ideas when I had trouble sleeping or when I woke up too early. Particularly liked the chapters:
At the Vanishing Point
Seven Numbers that Rule the Universe
Tilings
Wierd Mathematicians
The Great Unknowns
Could Maths be any Different

[Steve Gross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Each chapter is kind of a stream of consciousness with a starting math topic. Interesting.

[Nicholas Campbell · Rating 2 out of 5]

A lot of history but not much on application etc.

[Aniela · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐