Professor Stewart's Hoard of Mathematical Treasures

by Ian Stewart

Professor Stewart's Hoard of Mathematical Treasures Stewart, Professor Ian

Genres: Mathematics, Nonfiction, Science, Reference, Popular Science, Puzzles, 21st Century

352 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Ian Nicholas Stewart is an Emeritus Professor and Digital Media Fellow in the Mathematics Department at Warwick University, with special responsibility for public awareness of mathematics and science. He is best known for his popular science writing on mathematical themes.
--from the author's website

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See other authors with similar names.

Reviews

[Manuel Alfonseca · Rating 3 out of 5]

ENGLISH: Interesting collection of mathematical conundra and mathematical information.

I have detected a questionable phrase in the section titled "Beyond the fourth dimension." It says: "In fact, thanks to Einstein's general theory of relativity we think space is curved..." Actually we now think that it is flat.

ESPAÑOL: Interesante colección de problemas e información matemáticos.

He detectado una frase discutible en el apartado "Más allá de la cuarta dimensión". Dice: "De hecho, gracias a la teoría general de la relatividad de Einstein, pensamos que el espacio es curvo..." En realidad, ahora pensamos que es plano.

[Brian Clegg · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has been around rather a while - in fact it has been on my review shelf for a long time, because there are enough of these books out there (think Prof Stewart's Cabinet, Casebook, Incredible Numbers...) that I thought I'd already reviewed it.
The format is familiar - a series of very short articles, which could be mathematical puzzles, logic puzzles, fun mathematical factoids and so on. The chances are that few readers will find every item interesting - for me, in this book, it was about 1 in 3 - but anyone with at least a vague interest in maths will find some of it worth a read.
Personally I only like the puzzles I can pretty much work out in my head in under a minute - anything requiring any more effort is too much like being back at school and being set homework. I also find the need to keep flipping to the back of the book to see the solutions a pain - it would have been much better if the solution to each puzzle was after the puzzle, so you could read the book sequentially.
Apart from those quick-to-work out puzzles I also enjoyed the historical and biographical articles. Most of the latter seemed to be about mathematicians being extremely eccentric and, say, forgetting who their own children or friends are - I'm not sure Ian Stewart is selling the joys of mathematics very well if this is what it does to your brain (I know, I know - correlation isn't causality).
For me, then, there just wasn't quite enough that clicked to make this a really enjoyable book. But if you like working out how to make a star from a folded piece of paper with just one snip from a pair of scissors, devising magic hexagons (magic squares are just so passé) or working out which three digit numbers are the sum of the cubes of their individual digits (still awake?) then this is very much the book for you.

[Stephen Clynes · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was written in 2009 and I bought the 3285 KB Amazon Kindle edition published in 2010. Sadly there is no structure to this book, there is no theme, it is more like a collection of magazine tit bits. Ian may be a good mathematician but he is not a good author. This book was a big disappointment for me and I did not enjoy reading it. The text does not engage or inspire the reader. It is quite dull, which is a shame because of how mathematics explain our world. This book is very bitty, made up of little short sections. There is an awful lot of algebra to read through, making this book very easy to put down.

I did not find any mathematical treasures at all, just a collection of bits and pieces. I thought this book a poor read. I took very little away from this book, the best snippet being...

Traces of sexagesimal arithmetic still linger in our culture. We divide an hour into 60 minutes and a minute into 60 seconds. In angular measure, we divide a degree into 60 minutes and a minute into 60 seconds, too - same words, different context.

[Tim Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not just puzzles. This book presents some fairly serious mathematics.

[Armshaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

You don't need to have read Professor Stewart's Cabinet of Mathematical Secrets to enjoy this. It's full of self contained mathematical jokes, puzzles, stories, trivia, quirky rules, that sort of thing.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think it's a great book for true math enthusiasts. Since I'm not one of them, and I prefer logical than mathematical questions, I had a hard time with most of this material. However, the way of writing and basing it on famous detective were really fun.

[Sommer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book I wish I had written myself.

[Steve Read · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what I was expecting. Can't give it more than three I'm afraid

[Yotam · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

[Maurizio Codogno · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dopo che nel 2008 il Cabinet del professor Stewart entrò prepotentemente nella Top Ten dei libri più venduti nel Regno Unito - si vede che lì la matematica ogni tanto riesce ad arrivare al grande pubblico - l'accademico britannico fa il bis con questo "tesoretto", sempre costruito mischiando fatti e fattoidi matematici senza troppo ordine, anche se a dire il vero alcuni di essi sono opportunamente posti uno a fianco dell'altro. Vi sembrerà strano, ma per una volta ho trovato il sequel meglio dell'originale! Da un lato Stewart non ha fortunatamente esagerato con i giochi di parole, dall'altro - avendo già sfruttato molte delle curiosità matematiche per così dire "comuni" - è stato costretto a pescare novità che spesso lo sono davvero, almeno per uno come me che pure di matematica ricreativa ne mastica parecchia. Per i non angolofoni non resta che sperare che Codice traduca anche questo volume, e lo affidi allo stesso traduttore :)

[Koen Crolla · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like I've been reading a lot of Stewart's books lately. This is the sequel to Professor Stewart's Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities, which I read a few years ago, and it's much the same, to the point where the publisher felt it necessary to specify that it was indeed a different book on the cover.
So yes, another collection of mathematical party tricks and things of that general nature, aimed roughly at secondary students and people who don't like math. For the sake of this latter group, Stewart spends a lot of time being vaguely embarrassed that he's a mathematician and not, say, a children's entertainer, which is kind of annoying if you believe that people who proudly don't like math are morons. Unfortunately, I've already read such of John Allen Paulos's books as are available around here, so it'll have to do. Aside from that, though, it's entertaining enough.

[Adrian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a book to read in one sitting, unless you like headaches.

This is a fairly random collection of mathematical oddities. They range from the fun and easy to understand maths 'tricks' to proper brain blending (or bending?) theorems that could reduce grown men to tears.

As a maths graduate, and someone with a long-standing interest in numbers, I found it diverting but really couldn't be arsed to work my way through any of the problems. It was interesting to have a brief look at the answers, but frankly, as I've not done any 'serious' maths for 17 years, I knew most of it was beyond me. I'm sure that there are plenty of people out there that will get much more out of than me.

If I have one serious issue, it's the continual referral to the previous book - which I haven't read.

[Edward · Rating 4 out of 5]

So this is is my reading-but-not-reading shelf, which is basically where I put coffee table books, miscellanies, info books, etc: books that are not necessarily meant to be read in one go, but rather explain little factoids, or describe sundry marvelous events. This is one such book. Please note books on this list may be read or partly read.


I acquired this off an aunt for Christmas, and it is brilliant. Witty and funny, it covers a variety of pure and practical mathematics, all in an easy to read format.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a combination of easily-digestible chunks: interesting math-related historical facts, jokes, and math puzzles. The jokes are bad (in a good way), and the historical facts are interesting enough, but the focus is definitely on the puzzles. They're not bad: some are pretty simple, some are more difficult; there are classic questions that show up in any book like this, but there are also lots that I have not seen before.

Ultimately, this book skips a lot of missteps that trip up some other math puzzle books, but it never stands out.

[Heather Cawte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of the puzzles here were completely beyond me, although I was gratified to find how many logic puzzles I could solve.

Probably more of the book, by volume, is a collection of entertaining articles about areas of mathematics such as topology, prime numbers, famous maths problems and so on. These were very interesting and, if occasionally over my head, educational. Some of them made my head explode :)

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a little treasure. Just pick it up once and a while and exercise your mind with a little brainteaser for fun and mental stimulation. They're not extremely difficult, but fun. I caught a couple of mistakes and intended to write him about them, but I never followed through. You have to be the "right type" to appreciate this sort of thing, and I am. Not for everyone. Maybe good for teachers to come up with brainteasers for a math class for Jr. and Sr. High students.

[gekko100 · Rating 2 out of 5]

The cabinet is starting to empty out... not as good as the first volume, this one smacks of a quick follow-up cash in.

A lot of the entries just read like summaries from the Professor's web-browsing (he even gives links to the wikipedia pages).

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such a fun read for any math nerd. Some of the items are easily digestible, while others require more thought. Overall, it's a great book to show math skeptics just how many cool applications the subject has.

[Victor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had fun with this book. It's virtually impossible to read straight through. If you are not mathematically inclined a lot of the problems embedded in this book won't be very interesting. Anyways I learned a lot!

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of facts, history, brain teasers, puzzles, and general nerdy fun.

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the maths but read it on my kindle. It really doesn't suit that format, so if you do read it, go for paperback.

[Jenette · Rating 5 out of 5]

> ∞ Σ π ∩ ... !

[George · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting book, highly recommended.

[Janelle]

Very interesting and gave me a new handful of arbitrary but nerdy facts to memorize.