Easy as Pi: The Countless Ways We Use Numbers Every Day

by Jamie Buchan

Have you ever wondered what makes "seventh heaven" and "cloud nine" so blissful and the number 13 so unlucky? Here's the "4-1-1" on the origins of numerical expressions and the importance of numbers in fiction, film, culture, and religion,
With Easy as Pi , you'll soon impress your friends with your knowledge of numbers--even if you're math averse. Make this and all of the Blackboard Books(tm) a permanent fixture on your shelf, and you'll have instant access to a breadth of knowledge. Whether you need homework help or want to win that trivia game, this series is the trusted source for fun facts.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Mathematics, Reference, Number, Education, Technical

176 pages, Hardcover

First published June 11, 2009

Reviews

[Diane in Australia · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 Stars = It was okay.

I love numbers. I don't love math. So, I hoped there would be something in this book to tickle my fancy. There was, but not much. You might want to get this from the library, and save your money.

[Lee · Rating 1 out of 5]

This might be a mildly amusing toilet-time read for the right person, but I suspect I'm not really in the target audience for the book.

The first of its five sections deals with the occurrence of numbers in popular sayings (at sixes and sevens, et al.), and discusses these sayings' etymologies. Alas, the most interesting examples in this section are either fairly well known already or else the etymology is unknown, and it's not particularly interesting to read that "Nineteen to the dozen is a thing people say. But no one knows why."

Next up is a section on numbers in fiction, which is really a short list of films and books the author is familiar with and which have a number in the title — 8 Mile, Seven Samurai, Debbie Does Dallas 9, etc. — or else numbers that are mildly famous because of their appearance in some fictional medium — 007 from James Bond, 42 from Hitchhiker's Guide, and so on. Nothing here is particularly interesting; if you know about the books and films discussed then you probably already know why that number appears, otherwise you probably won't care a great deal.

Third is "Numbers in culture", or perhaps that should be "Stuff that didn't fit in the other four sections". Those scam emails from Nigerian princes are apparently called "419 scams", so they're discussed here. There's an enduring fallacy that we only use ten per cent of our brains. And ten's a number. So that's discussed here. To be honest most of this section feels a bit tacked on, things the author saw on QI and wanted to discuss rather than anything to do with numbers.

Religion and mythology are treated next. A lot of this section looks at gematria and numerology, things which interest me not at all. Buchan repeatedly points out how meaningless these pursuits are, yet does give a dismaying number of pages over to them.

Finally comes "Numbers in Maths and Science." Within this section a smattering of interesting facts concerning numbers and number systems are discussed. The author admits in the book's introduction that he's not a professional scientist or mathematician, and this section in particular smacks of repetition — regurgitated titbits obtained from email interviews with academics and purloined (but not in a plagiaristic sense) from pop-science and -maths books.

As I intimated earlier, I'm not really in the book's target audience. If each of the five sections was expanded into a full book by an expert in the relevant field then I'd probably enjoy some of the results, but in this form and with this level of seeming indifference to the subject I wasn't too fond of the result. And the acerbic final sentence didn't leave a good last impression either.

[Cyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun little collection of "stuff about numbers" in and beyond math. A nice reference tool, too.

[Linda B · Rating 4 out of 5]

We are a people of numbers. We have phone numbers, house numbers, Social Security numbers, medical records numbers, lot numbers, and serial numbers. Even our computers and electronic devices function with numbers – you get the idea. Easy as Pi gives the read a glimpse into the world of numbers and how society uses them.
A brief summary of the divisions in Easy as Pi:
Numbers in our language – phrases using numbers explained
Numbers in Fiction – Movies, books and TV shows with numbers in the title
Numbers in Culture – gambling, Social Security, scams, etc.
Numbers in Mythology and Religion – numerology and significance of numbers in the Bible
Numbers in Math and Science – types of numbers, statistics, and oddities

This is not a mathematics instruction book. In Easy as Pi, I learned of the Piraha tribe, a small tribe in Brazil with a numbering system consisting of one, two and many – that’s all. I also learned about life without “0”, and all about Pi. Why did Ray Bradbury name his book Fahrenheit 451? Little snippets of information that help you gain insight into how important numbers are in our lives. Books like these are a fun interaction for families. Parents can quiz children or children can quiz their parents.

This is another wonderful book in the Reader's Digest Series. I have also reviewed:
I used to Know That by Caroline Taggart
A Certain "Je Ne Sais Quoi by Chloe Rhodes

[Luíza · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eu achei os dois primeiros capítulos desnecessários. O primeiro ainda pode ser mais interessante pra quem tem muita curiosidade sobre a língua inglesa e tem uma cultura já consolidade sobre isso (ou é falante nativo). O segundo é cultura inútil total, dá pra você ter umas sugestões de filmes pra ver e olhe lá.

O que eu esperava do livro está a partir da página 43. Realmente fatos (ou histórias) interessantes suficientemente explicados. Nada muito profundo mas já dá assunto para você conversar numa mesa de bar depois. Conhecimentos de matemática necessários para ler o livro: nenhum. Adorei a última frase do livro.

Eu daria 2.5 como nota porque lembro dos livros que dei nota 3 e acho melhores que esse, mas também tem livros que dei nota 2 que não estão no mesmo nível.

[v · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75/5
another divergent moment with a book i first read in 2015!! usually don't review non-fiction (except memoirs/bios) but i thought it would be nice to document how my perception of books from my childhood has changed. fun fact around this point of my childhood i struggled with maths (and could not for the life of me do long division I AM NOT KIDDING). the only thing i liked about numbers is how you could play with them and number "tricks"/logic puzzles?? sorry, i am not being very descriptive; the best illustration of my interest in numbers is the murderous maths series. i remember being really confident on the english gep tests and going absolutely mental over the math.

POINT IS, chances are my nine-year-old self was far more interested in the "numbers in culture" section than the actual math part of this book. in an interesting turn of events, i very much prefer maths to english now haha and hence this book is slightly less alluring to the current me than it was to the 2015 me. therefore (where's my 3 dots symbol), this book was probably a 4* in 2015 but the current me has deducted 0.25* due to personal preferences. in a somewhat unfair judgement (but who gives a shit this is goodreads not the straits times), this penalty was given because the maths section was a bit too surface level. but i guess that was the selling point of the book. parts i particularly enjoyed: the history of zero, all the chapters about the number 6 and how it's interpreted very differently between cultures, and a recap on roman numerals (i STILL have not solved the leetcode roman numerals problem and i am aware admitting this online is slightly telling of how good i REALLY am at problem solving because this is designated an easy problem but despite reading the relevant chapter i have yet to figure out the exact algorithm i should use...)

this book will only tickle the fancy of a very specific kind of people. read at your own risk, although the sunk cost will be minor because it isn't a very long book!

[Pauline · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has many interesting trivia about numbers in literature, pop culture, history. I learned that Pythagoras was a mystic who believed in numerology. And I learned that Fibonacci’s real name was Leonardo of Pisa. Lots of trivia about the golden ratio and its occurrence in the natural world.

But when it comes to mathematics and number theory, this book got a couple of things wrong!

For instance, in page 123, the author says an integer "is simply another word for a whole number; that is, one that doesn't have to be expressed as a fraction."

Nuh-uh! Even my sister who's in middle school knows that whole numbers are a different set from integers, because integers include negatives while whole numbers do not.

In page 170, the author says about infinity: "children's claims of there being an 'infinity plus 1' have not been subject to serious analysis -- infinity plus anything is infinity." Not subject to serious analysis?! You just invalidated Georg Cantor's theorems! And it seems the author holds a naive conception of infinity. Some infinities are bigger than others, and it has been proven mathematically.


So, in a nutshell, this book is mildly entertaining for the trivia, an okay bathroom read. But when it tries to explain mathematical concepts, take it with a grain of salt.

[Jina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy as Pi is full of fun number facts. Overall, I enjoyed reading this book. However, I don’t understand why Jamie abandoned his ascending number layout in the chapter on Religion and Mythology. Also, Jamie really didn’t do a very good job explaining binary. I reread what he wrote multiple times and compared it to his two examples and I cannot see the correlations. Also, his exert on the Gold Ratio was riddled with quite a bit of misinformation for someone who did extensive research. He writes that the Ancient Egyptians discovered it and used the number in the construction of the pyramids of Giza. Also that it was important to the Ancient Greeks and during the Italian Renaissance. Clearly, Jamie wasn’t bothered to pick up the book The Golden Ratio by Mario Livio (which was published in 2002, Easy as Pi was published in 2009) because all of those things are not true. It was discovered in Ancient Greece and was considered unnatural until Luca Pacioli renamed it “The Divine Proportion,” in the 1500s (basically the only notable thing to happen to it during the Italian Renaissance).

[Andrea Baustert]

This book has helped me understand what the numbers mean through out religion and the world. For example it will tell you what, and why the numbers they have chosen are there. This book has small parts that explain to you what the numbers mean. The book has explained to me why the 666 was the devils number, and why it´s a different number.. This book can educate on you math and other things that you may not understand. The book itself is really fun to read and learn everything you need to know. I think one of my favorite parts in the book was learning about religion and number. This is because its cool to see new ways to look at things. The book had went through all of the popular numbers that you may see in titles or in books. The book had also taught me math, and helped me remember what I need to know. It´s a small book, but it can help you learn everything you need to know. It taught why there were 12 zodiac signs, and that there was actually one more making it 13. I would recommend to people who are patient and willing to learn these things. Like I wouldn´t recommend this to someone who dosen´t like to read or likes numbers. I think that I learned a lot from this book, and I hope you would too. This book is really good.

[Nicki Cockburn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hate maths, with a passion, so I was a bit apprehensive about reading a book about numbers. But, it's a book about facts, interesting and quirky, a real find for anyone (like me) who loves random quizzyish info. I'm afraid the last chapter, about maths was a bit too mathsy for my brain to cope, but I found it a really good read. definitely worth reading, it's only a short book.

[Barbara Rose, RoseWellness · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book as I have a fascination with historical evolution & meaning of numbers.
Still my favorite book is by Michael S. Schneider,
“A Beginner's Guide to Constructing the Universe: Mathematical Archetypes of Nature, Art, and Science
Beginner’s Guide to Constructing the Universe.”🌹

[V · Rating 2 out of 5]

+ quick, easy read
+ laundry list of factoids about numbers. Most interesting was the evolution of 0 and the differences between some number systems

- I was expecting a book about the stories or cultural lore attached to certain numbers, but this wasn’t it.

[Kali Cawthon-Freels · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun book. Though of little academic merit, it is full of mathematically-related trivia concerning the origins of common phrases (like to "deep six" something) and broad overviews to the relevance of numbers in mythologies and religion. A great coffee table style book.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative in a lighthearted, non-stultifying way.

[Malola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good for being rubbish. :v
It has rather interesting trivia on numbers. The last part was more interesting...

[Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of course I enjoyed it! I'm a former math teacher and it was fun to review some of these terrific math facts and sayings.

[Mary Francois · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book about the importance of numbers in our history and culture. Lots of bite sized information without getting bogged down with too much technical jargon made this book quick and easy to read.

[Julian Onions · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some interesting trivia about numbers. Nothing very mathematically taxing, which might be good or bad.

[Caitlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book full of fun facts about numbers. Not the easiest format, but plenty of interesting tidbits.

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting facts about numbers and mathematical theories, including historical and cultural origins, mysticism and religious thoughts and the presence of numbers in nature. Always fascinating.

[Martha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok. It's March 14th. I had to finally pick this book (of Alexander's) up today. I CLEARLY didn't read every word, but enough to enjoy it.

[Guy D · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5. Mostly obvious or dull but there are interesting bits, and I like the quips and commentary.

[Blake Frederick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book sent me on a tangent of trying to decide whether NaN (Not a Number) is a number

[Mickey Bits · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting bathroom read. However it seems somewhat poorly produced. I noticed a couple typos and some strange phrasings.

[Andrew Robertson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book that has a lot of information about numbers but is only a shadow of what it could have been.
Most of the book had interesting mathematical concepts about numbers, such as why the "Monty Hall problem" works and interesting facts about the Golden Ratio. The other half was "12 is an interesting number because there are 12 zodiac signs" and "the saying 'cloud 9' comes from..."

A much better book that is strictly about numbers and what makes them interesting is "From Zero to Infinity" by Constance Reid.

[미셸 (Undeniably Book Nerdy) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leslie's Review:
One of my favorite subjects at school is Math so Easy As Pi was great to read. I really learned a lot of new stuff about numbers and not just in relation to math but also in fiction, culture and religion (the book dedicates a chapter for each of these and all nicely organized) that I heard in passing but don't really know the meaning of. For example, I now know the meaning behind the movie title 8 Mile (it's a road in Detroit that provides a socio-economic divide between rich and the poor of the city). But my favorite part of this book will have to be the "Numbers in Mythology and Religion" section. In particular, I really enjoyed trying out numerology thing. The author explains how numerology is used to make ideas and theorize numbers and he tells how you to assign each letter in the alphabet with the numbers 1-9. Then, you match the letters in your name to the numbers and keep adding them up until you come up with a single digit number. That number's meaning supposedly tells you your personality. I tried this out with my name and I got the number 2 which means "duality, division, cooperation." Hmm... this is true, I guess, because there are times I'm torn between two things and I act in different ways around different sets of people. Anyway, I also really like when the book talks about the different zodiacs--again, zodiacs were something I've heard about but never really understood and now I know more about it!

I thought the book was organized well with a table of contents for the different sections and with the page number for each separate topic that falls under the section. Everything was really easy to find and I didn't have to flip pages. There were these cute little illustrations too and I really like that a few were there to provide a nice visual and explain a topic clearer. To sum it up, I really liked this book. It has a lot of interesting information, all explained well (though a couple were a little confusing) and I learned a lot. And though I know this, it all the more made me realize that there are more to numbers than the math we learn in school. This is a book I'm going to come back to once in a while just to flip through and re-read a few of my favorite sections. 4.5 out of 5 stars

[Brandon Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy as Pi by Jamie Buchan is an interesting nonfiction book dealing with basic mathematics and numbers. This book describes the countless ways we use numbers everyday throughout our lives, oftentimes without realizing it.

This book is filled with over a hundred different and unique ways that we use numbers in practically every area of our lives. Throughout the course of the book, the reader comes to the realization that numbers occur within multiple subjects and topics including education, culture, religion, language, fiction and mythology.

For example, in the “religion” section of the book, Buchan describes the who/what/where/when/why/how the number 666 is commonly associated with the devil. There are some really cool mathematical examples in this book as well, such as the Fibonacci sequence. As described in the book, the Fibonacci sequence is a series of numbers where a particular term within the sequence equals the sum of the previous two terms. There are story problems listed where the answer to the problem is found using this sequence. I found some of this information very cool and interesting.

Overall, this book was okay. It was not one of those “on-the-edge-of-your-seat” types of books since there was no suspense or tension involved, but for being a mathematical nonfiction book, I guess suspense is not an attribute which you should expect. Sometimes I felt that the information given throughout the book was given in too much detail, making parts of the book somewhat boring. Had the author just stuck with simple facts and light descriptions rather than relying on heavy, over-written and unnecessary details, the book would have been a much more enjoyable read.

This book is definitely not for everybody. Only a select group of people will find this book to be truly fascinating. I would recommend this book to those interested in learning something new, those fascinated by mathematics or numbers, or enjoy science.

[Zguba Salemenska · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very enjoyable.

[Lindsay · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’ll be honest…you want honesty, right? This book wasn’t my cup of tea. Now, please don’t misunderstand. It is chock full of information about every numerical saying known to man, including many I have never heard of. On the other hand, it is a book chock full of every numerical saying known to man. You see where I’m going with this?

I am very sure that lots of people love reading that kind of stuff. I personally know several people with fountains of random trivia coming out of their mouths all the time. That is the type of person who would likely enjoy this book. It is definitely full of lots of trivia and some pretty good information. I just wish there was some humor or something to make the material easier on the brain.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from FSB Media. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”