redfiona99

Needs more maths.

I know that Simon Singh says in the intro that it's not a maths book, but it keeps doing this very odd thing, where you get the basics of the topic, and some upper A level bits of the same topic but not the middle bit. Which is a problem. I know the basics, and I'm fine down there, but I need a little help to move upwards. (It turns out that I only count as innumerate when I hang out with physicists and mathematicians. Unfortunately, I spent my uni years with physicists and mathematicians. Well, I say unfortunately ... drunkenly and enjoyably is more accurate.)

I know why he starts with "this is not a maths book," it's so that people will read a maths book, but it's a bit oddly defensive.

Singh is an engaging writer, and I plan on getting his cryptography book when I can, but, enjoyable as it was (and it was very enjoyable), this book left me wanting more.

Not a Simpsons person, so I can't comment on the amount of Simpsonia. Although, really, the title should have been the maths of the Simpsons and Futurama.

(There was also the occasional see diagram down the page - it's actually down the page, which I hold against the publisher but not the author.)

In Pursuit of the Unknown: 17 Equations That Changed the World by Ian Stewart
The Joy of x: A Guided Tour of Math, from One to Infinity by Steven Strogatz
Alex's Adventures in Numberland by Alex Bellos
Fermat's Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve the World's Greatest Mathematical Problem by Simon Singh
Professor Stewart's Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities by Ian Stewart
How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking by Jordan Ellenberg
What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe
Group theory in the bedroom and other mathematical diversions by Brian Hayes
The Colossal Book of Mathematics: Classic Puzzles, Paradoxes, and Problems by Martin Gardner
Things to make and do in the fourth dimension by Matt Parker

Two more of those are on my 'I want to get' list so ... good suggestions.