New Books in Mathematics

Raffaele Danna, "The Craft of Indo-Arabic Numerals: How Practical Arithmetic Shaped Commerce and Mathematics in Western Europe, 1200–1600" (Harvard UP, 2026)

28 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In the thirteenth-century Mediterranean, commerce transformed as merchants shifted from Roman to Indo-Arabic numerals—an alternative that better fac...

Antonio Padilla, "Fantastic Numbers and Where to Find Them: A Cosmic Quest from Zero to Infinity" (FSG,2022)

15 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

A fun, dazzling exploration of the strange numbers that illuminate the ultimate nature of reality. For particularly brilliant theoretical physicis...

Tom Griffiths, "The Laws of Thought: The Quest for a Mathematical Theory of the Mind" (Henry Holt and Co., 2026)

04 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The Laws of Thought: The Quest for a Mathematical Theory of the Mind (Henry Holt and Co., 2026) is an exploration of the quest to use mathematic...

Giuseppe Longo and Adam Nocek, "The Organism Is a Theory: Giuseppe Longo on Biology, Mathematics, and AI" (U Minnesota Press, 2026)

20 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

A bold reimagining of life that bridges science, philosophy, cybernetics, and the complexities of biological existence The Organism Is a Theory: Gius...

Jeremiah Joven Joaquin and James Franklin eds., "The Necessities Underlying Reality: Connecting Philosophy of Mathematics, Ethics and Probability" (Bloomsbury, 2025)

24 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Necessities Underlying Reality: Connecting Philosophy of Mathematics, Ethics and Probability (Bloomsbury, 2025) is an open access book ...

Andrew H. Jaffe, "The Random Universe: How Models and Probability Help Us Make Sense of the Cosmos" (Yale UP, 2025)

25 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

An award-winning astrophysicist looks at how the understanding of uncertainty and randomness has led to breakthroughs in our knowledge of the cosmos ...

Thomas Morel, "Underground Mathematics: Craft Culture and Knowledge Production in Early Modern Europe" (Cambridge UP, 2022)

21 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Thomas Morel joins Jana Byars to tell the story of subterranean geometry, a forgotten discipline that developed in the silver mines of early modern Eu...

Al Posamentier, "Math Makers: The Lives and Works of 50 Famous Mathematicians" (Prometheus, 2020)

09 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today I talked to Alfred S. Posamentier, a co-author (with Christian Spreitzer) of Math Makers: The Lives and Works of 50 Famous Mathematicians (Prome...

David Bressoud, "Calculus Reordered: A History of the Big Ideas" (Princeton UP, 2019)

19 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Calculus Reordered: A History of the Big Ideas (Princeton UP, 2019) takes readers on a remarkable journey through hundreds of years to tell the story ...

Chris Dalla Riva, "Uncharted Territory: What Numbers Tell Us about the Biggest Hit Songs and Ourselves" (Bloomsbury, 2025)

11 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Popular music history collides with data analytics, charts, and numbers in this insightful and surprising look at the greatest hits and musicians, fad...

Allen B. Downey, "Probably Overthinking It: How to Use Data to Answer Questions, Avoid Statistical Traps, and Make Better Decisions" (U Chicago Press, 2023)

10 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Statistics are everywhere: in news reports, at the doctor's office, and in every sort of forecast, from the stock market to the weather. Blogger, teac...

Anthony Bonato, "Dots and Lines: Hidden Networks in Social Media, AI, and Nature" (Johns Hopkins UP, 2025)

03 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Can networks unlock secrets of AI or make sense of a social media mess? A behind-the-scenes look at how networks reveal reality. According to mathema...

George Musser, "Putting Ourselves Back in the Equation: Why Physicists Are Studying Human Consciousness and AI to Unravel the Mysteries of the Universe" (Picador, 2024)

27 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A revelatory exploration of how a “theory of everything” depends upon our understanding of the human mind.The whole goal of physics is to explain ...

Noah Giansiracusa, "Robin Hood Math: Take Control of the Algorithms That Run Your Life" (Penguin, 2025)

20 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Everything we do today is recorded as data that’s sold to the highest bidder. Plugging our personal data into impersonal algorithms has made governm...

Anil Ananthaswamy, "Why Machines Learn: The Elegant Maths Behind Modern AI" (Dutton, 2024)

30 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Machine learning systems are making life-altering decisions for us: approving mortgage loans, determining whether a tumor is cancerous, or deciding if...

Robyn Arianrhod, "Vector: A Surprising Story of Space, Time, and Mathematical Transformation" (U of Chicago Press, 2024)

25 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A celebration of the seemingly simple idea that allowed us to imagine the world in new dimensions--sparking both controversy and discovery. The stars...

Chris Bernhardt, "Beautiful Math: The Surprisingly Simple Ideas behind the Digital Revolution in How We Live, Work, and Communicate" (MIT Press, 2024)

14 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Most of us know something about the grand theories of physics that transformed our views of the universe at the start of the twentieth century: quantu...

Scientists Cooperate while Humanists Ruminate (EF, JP)

17 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Back in 2021, John and Elizabeth sat down with Brandeis string theorist Albion Lawrence to discuss cooperation versus solitary study across discipli...

Grace Lindsay, "Models of the Mind: How Physics, Engineering and Mathematics Have Shaped Our Understanding of the Brain" (Bloomsbury, 2021)

20 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Models of the Mind: How Physics, Engineering and Mathematics Have Shaped Our Understanding of the Brain (Bloomsbury, 2021) provides a multifaceted a...

Karenleigh A. Overmann, "The Material Origin of Numbers: Insights from the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East" (Gorgias Press, 2024)

28 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What are numbers, and where do they come from? Based on her groundbreaking study of material devices used for counting in the Ancient Near East, Karen...

Luci Pangrazio and Neil Selwyn, "Critical Data Literacies: Rethinking Data and Everyday Life" (MIT Press, 2023)

19 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Data has become a defining issue of current times. Our everyday lives are shaped by the data that is produced about us (and by us) through digital tec...

Michael Gavin, "Literary Mathematics: Quantitative Theory for Textual Studies" (Stanford UP, 2022)

09 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Across the humanities and social sciences, scholars increasingly use quantitative methods to study textual data. Considered together, this research re...

Al Posamentier and Christian Speitzer, “The Mathematics of Everyday Life” (Prometheus Books, 2018)

08 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today I talked to Al Posamentier about his books (co-authored with Christian Speitzer) The Mathematics of Everyday Life (Prometheus Books, 2018).  ...

Brian Clegg, "Ten Patterns That Explain the Universe" (MIT Press, 2021)

02 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Our universe might appear chaotic, but deep down it's simply a myriad of rules working independently to create patterns of action, force, and conseque...

David J. Hand, "Dark Data: Why What You Don't Know Matters" (Princeton UP, 2020)

08 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

There is no shortage of books on the growing impact of data collection and analysis on our societies, our cultures, and our everyday lives. David Hand...

Ann Johnson and Johannes Lenhard, "Cultures of Prediction: How Engineering and Science Evolve with Mathematical Tools" (MIT Press, 2024)

24 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A probing examination of the dynamic history of predictive methods and values in science and engineering that helps us better understand today's cultu...

Paulina Rowinska, "Mapmatics: How We Navigate the World Through Numbers" (Pan Macmillan, 2024)

19 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

How does a delivery driver distribute hundreds of packages in a single working day? Why does remote Alaska have such a large airport? Where should we ...

David S. Richeson, "Tales of Impossibility: The 2000-Year Quest to Solve the Mathematical Problems of Antiquity" (Princeton UP, 2019)

28 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

David S. Richeson's book Tales of Impossibility: The 2000-Year Quest to Solve the Mathematical Problems of Antiquity (Princeton University Press, 2019...

Thomas A. Garrity, "All the Math You Missed (But Need to Know for Graduate School)" (Cambridge UP, 2021)

10 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Graduate students in many programs besides mathematics will need to be familiar with the methods and results of a variety of mathematical topics. Just...

Kevin Lambert, "Symbols and Things: Material Mathematics in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries" (U Pittsburgh Press, 2021)

15 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The stereotype of the solitary mathematician is widespread, but practicing users and producers of mathematics know well that our work depends heavily ...

Ismar Volić, "Making Democracy Count: How Mathematics Improves Voting, Electoral Maps, and Representation" (Princeton UP, 2024)

01 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What's the best way to determine what most voters want when multiple candidates are running? What's the fairest way to allocate legislative seats to d...

A Better Way to Buy Books

12 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Bookshop.org is an online book retailer that donates more than 80% of its profits to independent bookstores. Launched in 2020, Bookshop.org has alre...

Barbara Sattler, "The Concept of Motion in Ancient Greek Thought: Foundations in Logic, Method, and Mathematics" (Cambridge UP, 2020)

28 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Barbara M. Sattler's book The Concept of Motion in Ancient Greek Thought: Foundations in Logic, Method, and Mathematics (Cambridge UP, 2020) examin...

Lawrence Goldman, "Victorians and Numbers: Statistics and Society in Nineteenth Century Britain" (Oxford UP, 2022)

25 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A defining feature of nineteenth-century Britain was its fascination with statistics. The processes that made Victorian society, including the growth ...

Milo Beckman, "Math Without Numbers" (Dutton, 2020)

17 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

One of the questions I am often asked is exactly what do mathematicians do. The short answer is that they look at different mathematical structures, t...

The Outer Limits of Reason: What Science, Mathematics, and Logic Cannot Tell Us

31 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Many books explain what is known about the universe. This book investigates what cannot be known. Rather than exploring the amazing facts that science...

Athene Donald, "Not Just for the Boys: Why We Need More Women in Science" (Oxford UP, 2023)

07 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Why are girls discouraged from doing science? Why do so many promising women leave science in early and mid-career? Why do women not prosper in the sc...

Justin L. Bergner, "Solving the Price Is Right: How Mathematics Can Improve Your Decisions On and Off the Set of America's Celebrated Game Show" (Prometheus Books, 2023)

19 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Price is Right is television's longest-running game show. Since its inception in 1956, contestants have won cars, tropical vacations, diamond jewe...

Shelly M. Jones, "Women Who Count: Honoring African American Women Mathematicians" (American Mathematical Society, 2019)

16 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

African-Americans and women are increasingly visible in professional mathematical institutions, organizations, and literature, expanding our mental mo...

Alice and Bob Meet the Wall of Fire and A Prime Number Conspiracy

15 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of the MIT Press podcast, Thomas Lin, Editor-in-Chief of Quanta Magazine, discusses the research and current climate behind the scienc...

Jeffrey Carpenter and Andrea Robbett, "Game Theory and Behavior" (MIT Press, 2022)

14 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Jeffrey Carpenter and Andrea Robbett's book Game Theory and Behavior (MIT Press, 2022) is an introduction to game theory that offers not only theore...

James D. Stein, "Seduced by Mathematics: The Enduring Fascination of Mathematics" (World Scientific, 2022) Math

19 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Seduction is not just an end result, but a process -- and in mathematics, both the end results and the process by which those end results are achieved...

John Allen Paulos, "Who's Counting?: Uniting Numbers and Narratives with Stories from Pop Culture, Puzzles, Politics, and More" (Prometheus, 2022)

18 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Innumeracy, by John Allen Paulos, was first published in 1988. In it the author brilliantly highlighted many of the sorry truths those of us who teach...

Alfred S. Posamentier, "The Secret Lives of Numbers: Numerals and Their Peculiarities in Mathematics and Beyond" (Prometheus Books, 2022)

23 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Alfred S. Posamentier's The Secret Lives of Numbers: Numerals and Their Peculiarities in Mathematics and Beyond (Prometheus Books, 2022) is the fir...

Probability

22 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of High Theory, Justin Joque talks with Júlia Irion Martins about Probability. This conversation is part of our High Theory in STEM s...

Alexandr Draganov, "Mathematical Tools for Real-World Applications: A Gentle Introduction for Students and Practitioners" (MIT Press, 2022)

11 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

I’ve never read a book like Mathematical Tools for Real-World Applications: A Gentle Introduction for Students and Practitioners (MIT Press, 2022)...

Andrew Fiss, "Performing Math: A History of Communication and Anxiety in the American Mathematics Classroom" (Rutgers UP, 2020)

09 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Performing Math: A History of Communication and Anxiety in the American Mathematics Classroom (Rutgers University Press, 2020) by Dr. Andrew Fiss tel...

David Kaiser, "Well, Doc, You're In: Freeman Dyson’s Journey through the Universe" (MIT Press, 2022)

02 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Freeman Dyson (1923–2020)—renowned scientist, visionary, and iconoclast—helped invent modern physics. Not bound by disciplinary divisions, he we...

John Stillwell, "The Story of Proof: Logic and the History of Mathematics" (Princeton UP, 2022)

31 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Story of Proof: Logic and the History of Mathematics (Princeton UP, 2022) investigates the evolution of the concept of proof--one of the most sig...

Alberto Cairo, "How Charts Lie: Getting Smarter about Visual Information" (Norton, 2019)

23 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We’ve all heard that a picture is worth a thousand words, but what if we don’t understand what we’re looking at? Social media has made charts, i...

Karen Hunger Parshall, "The New Era in American Mathematics, 1920–1950" (Princeton UP, 2022)

12 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In The New Era in American Mathematics, 1920-1950 (Princeton University Press, 2022) Karen Parshall explores the institutional, financial, social, ...

Peter Winkler, "Mathematical Puzzles" (A K Peters, 2020)

23 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Peter Winkler has been collecting mathematical puzzles since childhood. He has had published two previous collections, and recently he compiled his la...

Brian Cafarella, "Community College Mathematics: Past, Present, and Future" (CRC Press, 2022)

23 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In Community College Mathematics: Past, Present, and Future (CRC Press, 2022), Brian Cafarella addresses the key questions: How can we build a futur...

Joseph Mileti, "Modern Mathematical Logic" (Cambridge UP, 2022)

15 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Today I had the pleasure of talking to Joe Mileti, associate professor of mathematics at Grinnell College. Even if you are not "into" math, you will ...

Ronald Meester and Klaas Slooten, "Probability and Forensic Evidence: Theory, Philosophy, and Applications" (Cambridge UP, 2021)

09 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In Probability and Forensic Evidence: Theory, Philosophy, and Applications (Cambridge UP, 2021), Ronald Meester and Klaas Slooten address the role ...

Andrew Witt, "Formulations: Architecture, Mathematics, Culture" (MIT Press, 2022)

08 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In Formulations: Architecture, Mathematics, Culture (MIT Press, 2022), Andrew Witt examines the visual, methodological, and cultural intersections b...

Scott Gehlbach, "Formal Models of Domestic Politics" (Cambridge UP, 2021)

30 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Formal mathematical models have provided tremendous insights into politics in recent decades. Formal Models of Domestic Politics (Cambridge UP, 2021...

Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, "Don't Trust Your Gut: Using Data to Get What You Really Want in LIfe" (Dey Street Books, 2022)

22 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Today I talked to Seth Stephens-Davidowitz about his new book Don't Trust Your Gut: Using Data to Get What You Really Want in LIfe (Dey Street Boo...

Robert-Jan Smits and Rachael Pells, "Plan S for Shock: Science. Shock. Solution. Speed." (Ubiquity Press, 2022)

21 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Plan S: the open access initiative that changed the face of global research.  Robert-Jan Smits and Rachael Pells's book Plan S for Shock: Science. S...

Nikita Braguinski, "Mathematical Music: From Antiquity to Music AI" (Focal Press, 2022)

09 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What is mathematical music? In Mathematical Music from Antiquity to AI (Routledge, 2022), musicologist Nikita Braguinski discusses how mathematics h...

Mindy Capaldi, "Teaching Mathematics Through Games" (American Mathematical Society, 2021)

10 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Games are an established aide in pre-college mathematics education. Meanwhile, innumerable popular books have investigated the mathematics of games. I...

Dashun Wang and Albert-László Barabási, "The Science of Science" (Cambridge UP, 2021)

13 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Listen to this interview of Dashun Wang, Professor at the Kellogg School of Management and McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University,...

Hilary Glasman-Deal, "Science Research Writing For Native and Non-Native Speakers of English" (World Scientific Publishing Europe, 2020)

31 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Listen to this interview of Hilary Glasman-Deal, teacher of STEMM communication at the Centre for Academic English, Imperial College London, and autho...

Thomas Haigh and Paul E. Ceruzzi, "A New History of Modern Computing" (MIT Press, 2021)

30 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In A New History of Modern Computing (MIT Press, 2021), Thomas Haigh and Paul Ceruzzi trace changes leading to the computer becoming a ubiquitous...

Scott Timcke, "Algorithms and the End of Politics: How Technology Shapes 21st-Century American Life" (Bristol UP, 2021)

28 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

As the US contends with issues of populism and de-democratization, this timely study considers the impacts of digital technologies on the country’s ...

N. J. Enfield, "Language Vs. Reality: Why Language Is Good for Lawyers and Bad for Scientists" (MIT Press, 2022)

23 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Nick Enfield’s book, Language vs. Reality: Why Language is Good for Lawyers and Bad for Scientists (MIT Press, 2022), argues that language is prim...

Stephen B. Heard, "The Scientist’s Guide to Writing: How to Write More Easily and Effectively Throughout Your Scientific Career, 2nd ed." (Princeton UP, 2022)

21 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Listen to this interview of Stephen Heard, Professor of Biology at the University of New Brunswick. We talk about his book The Scientist’s Guide to...

Kate Crawford, "The Atlas of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence" (Yale UP, 2021)

21 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What happens when artificial intelligence saturates political life and depletes the planet? How is AI shaping our understanding of ourselves and our s...

Florian Jaton, "The Constitution of Algorithms: Ground-Truthing, Programming, Formulating" (MIT Press, 2021)

16 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Constitution of Algorithms: Ground-Truthing, Programming, Formulating (MIT Press, 2021) is a laboratory study that investigates how algorithms ...

Sarah Brayne, "Predict and Surveil: Data, Discretion, and the Future of Policing" (Oxford UP, 2020)

04 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Police use of advanced data collection and analysis technologies—or, "big data policing"—continues to receive both positive and negative attention...

Tony Veale, "Your Wit Is My Command: Building AIs with a Sense of Humor" (MIT Press, 2021)

16 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

For fans of computers and comedy alike, an accessible and entertaining look into how we can use artificial intelligence to make smart machines funny. ...

Aubrey Clayton, "Bernoulli's Fallacy: Statistical Illogic and the Crisis of Modern Science" (Columbia UP, 2021)

10 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

There is a logical flaw in the statistical methods used across experimental science. This fault is not a minor academic quibble: it underlies a reprod...

Brian Cafarella, "Breaking Barriers: Student Success in Community College Mathematics" (A K Peters, 2021)

01 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Students' success in mathematics at community colleges has been the subject of thorough quantitative research, which has reported poor overall results...

Helga Nowotny, "In AI We Trust: Power, Illusion and Control of Predictive Algorithms" (Polity, 2021)

20 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Today I talked to Helga Nowotny about her new book In AI We Trust: Power, Illusion and Control of Predictive Algorithms (Polity, 2021). One of the ...

Thomas Huckle and Tobias Neckel, "Bits and Bugs: A Scientific and Historical Review of Software Failures in Computational Science" (SIAM, 2019)

17 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A true understanding of the pervasive role of software in the world demands an awareness of the volume and variety of real-world software failures and...

David Sulzer, "Music, Math, and Mind: The Physics and Neuroscience of Music" (Columbia UP, 2021)

30 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Why does a clarinet play at lower pitches than a flute? What does it mean for sounds to be in or out of tune? How are emotions carried by music? Do ot...

James Wynn and G. Mitchell Reyes, "Arguing with Numbers: The Intersections of Rhetoric and Mathematics" (Pennsylvania State UP, 2021)

07 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

One pervasive stereotype about mathematics is that it is objective, unbiased, or otherwise exempt from the influence of human passions. James Wynn a...

Ian Stewart, “The Joy of Mathematics” (Open Agenda, 2021)

12 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The Joy of Mathematics is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Ian Stewart, Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at the Un...

Vicky Neale, "Why Study Mathematics?" (London Publishing Partnership, 2020)

05 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Students and their families face a consequential choice in whether to pursue a degree, and in what area. For those considering mathematics programs, t...

Brian Clegg, "Ten Patterns That Explain the Universe" (MIT Press, 2021)

28 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Our universe might appear chaotic, but deep down it's simply a myriad of rules working independently to create patterns of action, force, and conseque...

Chris Bleakley, "Poems That Solve Puzzles: The History and Science of Algorithms" (Oxford UP, 2020)

27 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

As algorithms become ever more significant to and embedded in our everyday lives, ever more accessible introductions to them are needed. While several...

Alfred S. Posamentier, "Math Tricks: The Surprising Wonders of Shapes and Numbers" (Prometheus Books, 2021)

30 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Alfred S. Posamentier's Math Tricks: The Surprising Wonders of Shapes and Numbers (Prometheus Books, 2021) has a lovely assortment of puzzles from ...

Rachel Steinig and Rodi Steinig, "Math Renaissance: Growing Math Circles, Changing Classrooms, and Creating Sustainable Math Education" (Natural Math, 2018)

26 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Math Renaissance: Growing Math Circles, Changing Classrooms, and Creating Sustainable Math Education (Natural Math, 2018) couples two educational me...

Satyan Devadoss and Matt Harvey, "Mage Merlin's Unsolved Mathematical Mysteries" (MIT Press, 2020)

10 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Sixteen of today's greatest unsolved mathematical puzzles in a story-driven, illustrated volume that invites readers to peek over the edge of the unkn...

Artur Ekert, “Cryptoreality” (Open Agenda, 2021)

09 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Cryptoreality is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Artur Ekert, Professor of Quantum Physics at the Mathematical Inst...

Freeman Dyson, “Pushing the Boundaries” (Open Agenda, 2021)

06 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Pushing the Boundaries is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and former mathematical physicist and writer Freeman Dyson, w...

James Ladyman and K. Wiesner, "What Is a Complex System?" (Yale UP, 2020)

30 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

While i find it pretty easy to recognize when i'm reading articles in complexity science, i've never been satisfied by definitions of complexity and r...

James Robert Brown, “Plato’s Heaven: A User’s Guide” (Open Agenda, 2021)

22 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Plato’s Heaven: A User’s Guide is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and James Robert Brown, Emeritus Professor of Phi...

Ellen Peters, "Innumeracy in the Wild: Misunderstanding and Misusing Numbers" (Oxford UP, 2020)

31 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

To many mathematicians and math enthusiasts, the word "innumeracy" brings to mind popular writing like that of John Allen Paulos. But inequities in ou...

Dave Auckly, et al., "Inspiring Mathematics: Lessons from the Navajo Nation Math Circles" (AMS, 2019)

27 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Math circles defy simple narratives. The model was introduced a century ago, and is taking off in the present day thanks in part to its congruence wit...

Jonas Peters and Nicolai Meinshausen, "The Raven's Hat: Fallen Pictures, Rising Sequences, and Other Mathematical Games" (MIT Press, 2021)

02 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Games have been of interest to mathematicians almost since mathematics became a subject. In fact, entire branches of mathematics have arisen simply to...

Eugenia Cheng, "x + y: A Mathematician's Manifesto for Rethinking Gender" (Basic Book, 2020)

01 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

From its more mainstream, business-focused and business-friendly “Lean In” variants, to more radical, critical and intersectional understandings o...

J. Rosenhouse, "Games for Your Mind: The History and Future of Logic Puzzles" (Princeton UP, 2020)

25 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Jason Rosenhouse's Games for Your Mind: The History and Future of Logic Puzzles (Princeton UP, 2020) is about a panoply of logic puzzles. You’ll f...

Snezana Lawrence, "A New Year's Present from a Mathematician" (CRC Press, 2019)

08 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

It would be simple enough to say that mathematics is being done, and that those who do it are mathematicians. Yet, the history and culture of the math...

James D. Stein, "The Fate of Schrodinger's Cat: Using Math and Computers to Explore the Counterintuitive" (World Scientific, 2020)

07 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Math has a complicated relationship with the counterintuitive: Rigorous logic, calculation, and simulation can both help us wrap our minds around ph...

Anna Weltman, "Supermath: The Power of Numbers for Good and Evil" (Johns Hopkins UP, 2020)

01 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Mathematics as a subject is distinctive in its symbolic abstraction and its potential for logical and computational rigor. But mathematicians tend to ...

Alfred S. Posamentier, "The Joy of Geometry" (Prometheus, 2020)

11 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Alfred S. Posamentier's The Joy of Geometry (Prometheus, 2020) is a book for someone who has taken geometry but wants to go further. This book, as o...

Susan D'Agostino, "How to Free Your Inner Mathematician: Notes on Mathematics and Life" (Oxford UP, 2020)

29 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Doing mathematics can be stimulating, deep, and sometimes fantastic. It can also be frustrating, impenetrable, and at times dispiriting. In her new co...

Alfred Posamentier, "Mathematics Entertainment for the Millions" (World Scientific Publishing, 2020)

09 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The book being discussed is Mathematics Entertainment for the Millions (World Scientific Publishing Co.), by Alfred Posamentier. In reading this boo...

David Bressoud, "Calculus Reordered: A History of the Big Ideas" (Princeton UP, 2019)

24 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Calculus Reordered: A History of the Big Ideas (Princeton UP, 2019) takes readers on a remarkable journey through hundreds of years to tell the story ...