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Fibonacci’s Rabbits: And 49 Other Discoveries That Revolutionised Mathematics
A lucid exploration of the story of mathematics through the examination of 50 of its greatest discoveries, Fibonacci’s Rabbits is fully illustrated throughout, featuring clear explanations of the context, procedures, results and implications of each discovery.
176 pages, Paperback
First published November 7, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
November 21, 2019
I'm not a great fan of '50 things' type books, though they seem eternally popular, but as was the case with Adam Hart-Davis's psychology title in the same series (Pavlov's Dog), I was pleasantly surprised, in part because the topic was well-suited to the format, and in part because the Hart-Davis has three pages of text to play with rather than just an illustrated spread.
After giving us some foundational and historical aspects of mathematics, from the origins of base 10 and base 60 to pi and zero, Hart Davis gets onto more meaty material, ranging through everything from chaos theory to game theory, plus some lighter weight but enjoyable mathematical deviations such as the Fibonacci sequence rabbits in the book's title, or the strange 3D shapes known as scutoids. It's all easy reading - no mathematical experience required - and a good way to get a feel for the way that maths is so much more than arithmetic, geometry and algebra.
One minor irritation is the way that every item is titled as a question, some of which aren't actually answered in the text. So, for example, we get 'How big is infinity?', which gives us a quick tour of ancient Greeks, Galileo and Cantor, but (perhaps thankfully) doesn't actually attempt to address the question. This entry also demonstrated why this format has its limits on a big topic (no pun intended) like infinity. Hart-Davis mentions, for example, Hilbert's Hotel - but doesn't take the reader through what's involved, so we just get a vague statement that Hilbert used a series of ingenious proofs to show that despite the infinite set of rooms being full, an infinite set of extra guests can be accommodated. There's no point saying this unless it's opened up in a bit more detail.
Despite a few issues with generalisation like this, though, it's a readable and enjoyable exploration for the key aspects of mathematics, plus some of the fun bits.
After giving us some foundational and historical aspects of mathematics, from the origins of base 10 and base 60 to pi and zero, Hart Davis gets onto more meaty material, ranging through everything from chaos theory to game theory, plus some lighter weight but enjoyable mathematical deviations such as the Fibonacci sequence rabbits in the book's title, or the strange 3D shapes known as scutoids. It's all easy reading - no mathematical experience required - and a good way to get a feel for the way that maths is so much more than arithmetic, geometry and algebra.
One minor irritation is the way that every item is titled as a question, some of which aren't actually answered in the text. So, for example, we get 'How big is infinity?', which gives us a quick tour of ancient Greeks, Galileo and Cantor, but (perhaps thankfully) doesn't actually attempt to address the question. This entry also demonstrated why this format has its limits on a big topic (no pun intended) like infinity. Hart-Davis mentions, for example, Hilbert's Hotel - but doesn't take the reader through what's involved, so we just get a vague statement that Hilbert used a series of ingenious proofs to show that despite the infinite set of rooms being full, an infinite set of extra guests can be accommodated. There's no point saying this unless it's opened up in a bit more detail.
Despite a few issues with generalisation like this, though, it's a readable and enjoyable exploration for the key aspects of mathematics, plus some of the fun bits.
September 5, 2020
It has been a long while since I took mathematics at university when I studied mechanical engineering. Compared to some of the other subjects on the course, like stress mechanics, which was just, stressful, it has always been a subject that I enjoyed. However, that was many years ago and I am a bit rusty at it, to say the least.
Maths has been a subject that has intrigued people going back hundreds and thousands of years, in fact, the first evidence of people counting was found on a bone in a cave between South Africa and Swaziland and is estimated to be over 40,000 years old. From this early beginning, Hart-Davis explains why people count using base 10 and base 60, something that we still do even today, before moving onto the mathematics that the Ancient Greeks did with squaring the circle and Pythagoras famous theorem.
They had bigger ideas though about what could be done with numbers and soon they were considering infinity, how to calculate Pi and how many prime numbers there were. The baton was passed to the Islamic world who gave us our numbering system that is still in use today, taught us how to solve quadratic equations and borrowed the concept of nothing from India.
Hart-Davis moves onto the Europeans with chapters on probability, imaginary numbers, the roots of calculus and Fibonacci sequence before covering game theory, the complexities of flow and the three-body problem. As the understanding of mathematics increased so the variety of things that it could describe, this was the era of statistics, Venn diagrams and chaos theory.
The final sections of the book have chapters on more modern mathematical solutions that describe how our modern communications systems work and some of the complex geometries that can be achieved with a little mathematical nous.
I thought that this was an approachable maths book that might even appeal to those that normally turn pale at the thought of a quadratic equation. Hart-Davis writes with a wry humour and it has clear and concise explanations of mathematical discoveries that have changed the way that we see the world and is laid out with lots of pictures and diagrams to make it feel a lot less like a textbook! I did spot the odd typo which baffled me on one of the chapters until I realised where the error was. Apart from that tiny omission, I thought that this was a nicely produced book.
Maths has been a subject that has intrigued people going back hundreds and thousands of years, in fact, the first evidence of people counting was found on a bone in a cave between South Africa and Swaziland and is estimated to be over 40,000 years old. From this early beginning, Hart-Davis explains why people count using base 10 and base 60, something that we still do even today, before moving onto the mathematics that the Ancient Greeks did with squaring the circle and Pythagoras famous theorem.
They had bigger ideas though about what could be done with numbers and soon they were considering infinity, how to calculate Pi and how many prime numbers there were. The baton was passed to the Islamic world who gave us our numbering system that is still in use today, taught us how to solve quadratic equations and borrowed the concept of nothing from India.
Hart-Davis moves onto the Europeans with chapters on probability, imaginary numbers, the roots of calculus and Fibonacci sequence before covering game theory, the complexities of flow and the three-body problem. As the understanding of mathematics increased so the variety of things that it could describe, this was the era of statistics, Venn diagrams and chaos theory.
The final sections of the book have chapters on more modern mathematical solutions that describe how our modern communications systems work and some of the complex geometries that can be achieved with a little mathematical nous.
I thought that this was an approachable maths book that might even appeal to those that normally turn pale at the thought of a quadratic equation. Hart-Davis writes with a wry humour and it has clear and concise explanations of mathematical discoveries that have changed the way that we see the world and is laid out with lots of pictures and diagrams to make it feel a lot less like a textbook! I did spot the odd typo which baffled me on one of the chapters until I realised where the error was. Apart from that tiny omission, I thought that this was a nicely produced book.
March 8, 2023
For some reason I had an itch to read a history of mathematics book and found this in my local book store. I was drawn to the clever, colorful illustrations and thought this would be a fun survey of mathematical discoveries from ancient times to today. And pretty much that's what it was.
The one issue I had that dropped it to four stars is the assumption the author made that I fully understand some of the more esoteric concepts of high-level math that the geniuses in the book discovered. I don't. I minored in Math in college, but when you start talking about imaginary numbers and multi-dimensional polygons, I realize how inadequate my education really was. I'm fascinated by the accomplishments reported in the book, but frustrated at the sometimes scant explanations. Maybe that's not the purpose of the book, but it negatively affected my enjoyment.
I see the author has two companion books to this one that seem to deal more with thought experiments and philosophy, so I may give them a try. I just hope those don't make me feel as dumb as this one did!
The one issue I had that dropped it to four stars is the assumption the author made that I fully understand some of the more esoteric concepts of high-level math that the geniuses in the book discovered. I don't. I minored in Math in college, but when you start talking about imaginary numbers and multi-dimensional polygons, I realize how inadequate my education really was. I'm fascinated by the accomplishments reported in the book, but frustrated at the sometimes scant explanations. Maybe that's not the purpose of the book, but it negatively affected my enjoyment.
I see the author has two companion books to this one that seem to deal more with thought experiments and philosophy, so I may give them a try. I just hope those don't make me feel as dumb as this one did!
February 25, 2025
This book is a great intro to a host of concepts. I wish many were more thoroughly explained or better illustrated, but it was a good jumping off point and gave me at least one more layer of depth of understanding thinks like networks.
December 24, 2020
An interesting read, but a bit complex for someone with limited mathematical understanding and a bit simple for someone with it
June 1, 2020
I have previously read and enjoyed Pavlov's Dog by Adam Hart-Davis, but as a self-confessed numbers geek, Fibonacci's Rabbits is right up my street. Usually with books about complex subjects, in this instance mathematics, I would take my time reading it over several weeks but I ended up reading Fibonacci's Rabbits cover to cover in the space of a week.
Adam Hart-Davis has a real knack of explaining complex subjects in bite-sized chunks that make it easy for the lay person to understand. With interesting snippets throughout and Monty Pythonesque illustrations, he easily captured and held my attention from start to finish. I even exclaimed a few times when I had my own Eureka moments; discovering things I didn't know and will now never forget.
As much as I learned things, it also got me thinking and questioning. For example, there's a section about why there are 60 seconds in a minute and how this is linked to your hands. I wondered if this is why pointers of a clock are called hands. It probably isn't, but I like the idea of this link back to its origin and thinking of it this way means I will never forget this particular fascinating fact.
The book is written chronologically over 7 chapters which shows how mathematics has developed over the years from scratches on bones to complex computer code. Each chapter is broken down into between 6 and 9 individual discoveries of around 3 pages long; just enough to scratch the surface of a discovery and explain its origin without getting too bogged down in technicalities.
Written in a way that makes mathematics easy to understand for non-mathematicians, Fibonacci's Rabbits is an engrossing and fascinating book. I really wish Adam Hart-Davis had been my maths teacher!
I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.
Adam Hart-Davis has a real knack of explaining complex subjects in bite-sized chunks that make it easy for the lay person to understand. With interesting snippets throughout and Monty Pythonesque illustrations, he easily captured and held my attention from start to finish. I even exclaimed a few times when I had my own Eureka moments; discovering things I didn't know and will now never forget.
As much as I learned things, it also got me thinking and questioning. For example, there's a section about why there are 60 seconds in a minute and how this is linked to your hands. I wondered if this is why pointers of a clock are called hands. It probably isn't, but I like the idea of this link back to its origin and thinking of it this way means I will never forget this particular fascinating fact.
The book is written chronologically over 7 chapters which shows how mathematics has developed over the years from scratches on bones to complex computer code. Each chapter is broken down into between 6 and 9 individual discoveries of around 3 pages long; just enough to scratch the surface of a discovery and explain its origin without getting too bogged down in technicalities.
Written in a way that makes mathematics easy to understand for non-mathematicians, Fibonacci's Rabbits is an engrossing and fascinating book. I really wish Adam Hart-Davis had been my maths teacher!
I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.
August 25, 2025
A charming, interesting book in chronological order, which shows how math concepts build on concepts. There are seven chapters with an overview introduction at the start. Little vignettes showcase the mathematicians who developed a particular field, their historical context and a link to how that field is applied today.
Due to its simplified and concise format, I had a couple of aha moments, but mostly was in awe of the brilliance of the breakthroughs. What was quite amazing is just how long ago these concepts were explored. The fact that the circumference of the earth was calculated 240BCE is astonishing.
I wasn't aware of the existence and or significance of some of the maths described. For ideas that had me flummoxed as the explanations cut short, I headed to Google or You tube. The chapter titles also gave fuel for thought.
Hart-Davis has an upbeat, fun writing style. There are only a few errors, such as with font mismatches and saying maths can prove things whereas science can only disprove, which is a logic fault. Math processes can differ from science processes and maths processes can help disprove science concepts.
Overall, a great little book which delivers what it sets out to do.
Due to its simplified and concise format, I had a couple of aha moments, but mostly was in awe of the brilliance of the breakthroughs. What was quite amazing is just how long ago these concepts were explored. The fact that the circumference of the earth was calculated 240BCE is astonishing.
I wasn't aware of the existence and or significance of some of the maths described. For ideas that had me flummoxed as the explanations cut short, I headed to Google or You tube. The chapter titles also gave fuel for thought.
Hart-Davis has an upbeat, fun writing style. There are only a few errors, such as with font mismatches and saying maths can prove things whereas science can only disprove, which is a logic fault. Math processes can differ from science processes and maths processes can help disprove science concepts.
Overall, a great little book which delivers what it sets out to do.
January 22, 2021
I got this as a present and although I usually really enjoy "mathsy" books this was a disappointment, there's a lot of things that are introduced only to lead nowhere and too many mentions of things like "innovative solutions to problems" that get no further detail. If there were suggestions for further reading on these, that may have made it better but there are none.
Some chapters end as if the next chapter will expand further on the subject but never do - probably an unavoidable problem in a "50 things" book.
The layout was irritating in my edition too, with each chapter having a "conclusion" listed towards the beginning that often had little to do with the chapter, a crazily tiny typeface given the amount of blank space in the margins (made worse on some off-white pages) and illustrations that were often not relevant (as far as I could see) when some geometric explanations were crying out for illustrations and didn't have them.
Anyone who buys this book for the rabbit content will be disappointed too.
Some chapters end as if the next chapter will expand further on the subject but never do - probably an unavoidable problem in a "50 things" book.
The layout was irritating in my edition too, with each chapter having a "conclusion" listed towards the beginning that often had little to do with the chapter, a crazily tiny typeface given the amount of blank space in the margins (made worse on some off-white pages) and illustrations that were often not relevant (as far as I could see) when some geometric explanations were crying out for illustrations and didn't have them.
Anyone who buys this book for the rabbit content will be disappointed too.
April 17, 2022
This is a fun overview of 50 key mathematical breakthroughs from ancient history up to the present day. I picked it up in The Works looking for something light during a reading slump - light, that is, in that each discovery is only 1-2 pages long, rather than light in that I understood any of it.
Okay, towards the start of the book where ancient civilisations were learning how to count and discovering pi, I'll admit I felt more confident of keeping up. When Isaac Newton discovered calculus in the 1600s, I remembered that that was a thing I knew how to do, once, as my A Level in Maths attests to, even if I now couldn't tell you what calculus is. When I got to the final discovery in 2014, around the dynamics of *checks book* Riemann surfaces, I was just politely nodding.
Still, it was all delivered with insight and humour, and sometimes it's nice to know what you don't know.
Okay, towards the start of the book where ancient civilisations were learning how to count and discovering pi, I'll admit I felt more confident of keeping up. When Isaac Newton discovered calculus in the 1600s, I remembered that that was a thing I knew how to do, once, as my A Level in Maths attests to, even if I now couldn't tell you what calculus is. When I got to the final discovery in 2014, around the dynamics of *checks book* Riemann surfaces, I was just politely nodding.
Still, it was all delivered with insight and humour, and sometimes it's nice to know what you don't know.
March 16, 2022
A fascinating read for anyone with an interest in mathematics. This book just begins to cover the basics of some of the most important discoveries in the math world and their impact on our world today, and has made me want to continue learning about some of those studies and theorems. As someone who studied math in college, this was a great way to keep up on some of the most important principles and to stay interested in numbers and how they work!
December 29, 2022
The fact that this book took more than a year to complete is probably indicative of my feelings towards it. It had a lot of potential, but was poorly edited (there were different fonts used in the _same sentence_), the descriptions were pithy ("It was an innovation"), and I really didn't feel like the format worked for me. Perhaps a book of the same length but only containing 20 or 25 mathematicians would be more valuable to me.
November 23, 2021
This book presents an interesting angle into the window of mathematics. I learned many things I did not know before. I was entertained by stories describing historical events that led to these discoveries or were behind them, only known to a few who dived deep into some of these mathematical problems.
December 14, 2021
Interestingly composed, I wish I could give it a half star additionally. New to the mathematic literary genre, this book created more questions then it answered for me. With that said, it gave me a great overview of each topic so I can choose which topics I wish to pursue further. I really enjoyed it as an introduction to the evolution of mathematics.
September 26, 2025
Likely a good book for middle and high schoolers. Good summary of the major milestones in mathematics. Fun art.
I don't think I was the target audience for this book. I was a college math major. I was familiar with >95% of the content. Most summaries oversimplify or misrepresent the actual mathematics at play.
I don't think I was the target audience for this book. I was a college math major. I was familiar with >95% of the content. Most summaries oversimplify or misrepresent the actual mathematics at play.
August 4, 2021
The book which triggers to search for additional info about some interesting topics. In overall it connects different math types and reason behind. Good read 👌
April 25, 2025
Really fun math history book. I like the layout and presentation - easy to understand, lots of color and graphics.
April 18, 2022
3.5 stars, a lovely compilation of mathematical breakthroughs. I’m not sure if this book would be very clear for the non mathematician, the author certainly describes mathematical operations but without much detail, is he just giving a flavour? Or trying to actually describe operations/solving equations etc.? The quirky illustrations are fun, and the background of the mathematicians involved is interesting. Overall a very nice compilation.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews