Good Math Books?

[Tscott]

I'm interested in finding some more interesting and accessible books on various math topics. Also, I would be especially interested in any good books related to teaching math as I may be moving into this field into the near future.

First, some great books I've already read and would recommend to anyone else interested:

Godel, Escher and Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid - Douglas R. Hofstader
One of my favorite books ever. A fascinating look at many subjects relating to intelligence (artificial or otherwise), self-awareness and of course Godel's inconsistency proof.

Linked: How Everything Is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means - Albert-Laszlo Barabasi
Great introduction to a new field of mathematics, the study of complex networks. Insight into how the Internet, businesses, fads, and even diseases like AIDS are networked and connected.

Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinity - David Foster Wallace
The author of Infinite Jest himself takes on infinity and infinitesimals and the mathematicians that discovered the basic ideas behind them that lead to today's calculus. Very readable and insightful.

The Nothing That Is: A Natural History of Zero - Robert Kaplan
The flip side of the previous book, this one looks at zero and when and why early cultures accepted it (or not) in their concept of math.

Fermat's Enigma : The Epic Quest to Solve the World's Greatest Mathematical Problem - Simon Singh
If you've had a math class odds are you've heard "Fermat's Last Therom" at least mentioned. Gone unproved for centurys, despite Fermat's famous claim that "I have discovered a truly marvelous demonstration of this proposition which this margin is too narrow to contain." Finally proved in the last decade, this book gives an interesting history of math from ancient Greece to today in the context of this simple yet elusive problem and somehow never gets too dense for even a layman reader.

So, any suggestions of stuff in a similar vein?

[Kelric]

Good....interesting....math books

Now there's an oxymoron if I've ever seen one.

[Smoove_B]

I hate math...well, actually math hates me.

But while doing research for game design, I read a good book by Bart Kosko called "Fuzzy Thinking".

It's all about fuzzy logic - my interest was in its use for AI.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... s&n=507846

[Tscott]

I hate math...well, actually math hates me.

But while doing research for game design, I read a good book by Bart Kosko called "Fuzzy Thinking".

That looks interesting. I've studied Logic before but haven't really been exposed to any "fuzzy logic", er, formally that is. Also, from what I can tell it's the type of book I'm looking for- gets the ideas across without presenting the reader with page after page of formulas filled with Greek letters.

[Atalante]

A book entitled Fermat's Last Therom was the book that showed me that maths could be cool. Basically a history of, unsurprisingly, fermat's last therom.

[Smoove_B]

That looks interesting. I've studied Logic before but haven't really been exposed to any "fuzzy logic", er, formally that is. Also, from what I can tell it's the type of book I'm looking for- gets the ideas across without presenting the reader with page after page of formulas filled with Greek letters.

That's exactly what it is. As someone that isn't math "1337", I can say it's very forgiving.

You probably have had fuzzy math, but never realized it.

[Jeff V]

My favorite math book:



I think Dante reserved a level of hell just for math teachers.

[driver]

BCR would have known some. Bummer, isn't it?

[Alefroth]

Asimov has a collection of essays called 'Asimov on Numbers' that I thought was interesting, and sparked my interest in math during high school.

Ale

[Giles Habibula]

"Relativity: The Special and The General Theory: A Clear Explanation That Anyone Can Understand" by Albert Einstein.

The subject always intrigued me, so I bought the book, and DAMNED if I didn't damn-near grasp the idea! He starts out in definite layman's terms, and by page 25 I was nearly having a mental epiphany--I was THIS close to getting it! Then he felt the need to express himself using "simple" (hah!) equations, and things went downhill pretty fast after that.

Keep in mind I pulled myself up to a D- in algebra by getting a C on the final. I was averaging an F. But if you can grasp some 'simple' formulas, this is a truly fascinating book, even for the complete math idiot.

[Grundbegriff]

The Lady Tasting Tea is a good book in this genre. It offers an interesting account of the development of probability and statistics over the past century without actually delving into the technical details.

[Atalante]

"Relativity: The Special and The General Theory: A Clear Explanation That Anyone Can Understand" by Albert Einstein.

The subject always intrigued me, so I bought the book, and DAMNED if I didn't damn-near grasp the idea! He starts out in definite layman's terms, and by page 25 I was nearly having a mental epiphany--I was THIS close to getting it! Then he felt the need to express himself using "simple" (hah!) equations, and things went downhill pretty fast after that.

Keep in mind I pulled myself up to a D- in algebra by getting a C on the final. I was averaging an F. But if you can grasp some 'simple' formulas, this is a truly fascinating book, even for the complete math idiot.

"Who is the third?" - Sir Arthur Eddington (one of the first scientists to comprehend general relativity), when asked if it was true that only three people in the world truely understand the theory at anyone time.

Supposedly that stat still holds today, so don't feel to bad.

[Defiant]

I remember enjoying Chaos: The Making of New Science by James Gleick when I read it ages ago.

[Dirt]

Chaos Theory is out the door. It's all about String Theory now. Don't know a thing about either.