If the quadratic formula makes you excited, or if finding the diameter of a circle is practically a walk in the park for you, then these books will be sure to put a smile on your face. There are not many well-known math-related books, simply because math has always been more of a numbers game. However, the library has some great books about brilliant math masterminds, interesting mathematical discoveries, and tips for teaching math.
Biography: The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdos and the Search for Mathematical Truth
Author: Paul Hoffman
Publisher description:
For more than six decades, Erdos lived out of two tattered suitcases, crisscrossing four continents at a frenzied pace, chasing mathematical problems and fresh talent. Erdos saw mathematics as a search for lasting beauty and ultimate truth. It was a search Erdos never abandoned, even as his life was torn asunder by some of the major political dramas of our time. In this biography, Hoffman uses Erdos’s life and work to introduce readers to a cast of remarkable geniuses, from Archimedes to Stanislaw Ulam, one of the chief minds behind the Los Alamos nuclear project.
Nonfiction: Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences
Author: John Allen Paulos
Publisher description:
Examines the nation’s burgeoning inability to deal rationally with very large numbers, assesses the impact on government policymaking and everyday life, and shows what can be done about this.
Fiction: Flatland
Author: Edwin Abbott Abbott
Publisher description:
Flatland, Edwin Abbott Abbott’s story of a two-dimensional universe, as told by one of its inhabitants who is introduced to the mysteries of three-dimensional space, has enjoyed an enduring popularity from the time of its publication in 1884. This fully annotated edition enables the modern day reader to understand and appreciate the many “dimensions” of this classic satire with commentary on language and literary style, including numerous definitions of obscure words and an appendix on Abbott’s life and work.
Nonfiction: How Not To Be Wrong
Author: Jordan Ellenburg
Publisher description:
In How Not to Be Wrong, Jordan Ellenberg shows us that math isn’t confined to abstract incidents that never occur in real life, but rather touches everything we do–the whole world is shot through with it. Math allows us to see the hidden structures underneath the messy and chaotic surface of our world. It’s a science of not being wrong, hammered out by centuries of hard work and argument. Armed with the tools of mathematics, we can see through to the true meaning of information we take for granted: How early should you get to the airport? What does “public opinion” really represent? Why do tall parents have shorter children? Who really won Florida in 2000? And how likely are you, really, to develop cancer?
Biography: A Beautiful Mind
Author: Sylvia Nasar
Publisher description:
In this biography, Sylvia Nasar re-creates the life of a mathematical genius whose brilliant career was cut short by schizophrenia and who, after three decades of devastating mental illness, miraculously recovered and was honored with a Nobel Prize. A Beautiful Mind traces the meteoric rise of John Forbes Nash, Jr., from his lonely childhood in West Virginia to his student years at Princeton, where he encountered Albert Einstein, John von Neumann, and a host of other mathematical luminaries.