Customer Reviews

Beyond Numeracy

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4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
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I read "Innumeracy" and liked it so I read this book too. For me this book is better because there's more mathematical meat on it and it seems to sweep across the whole field of mathematics in easy to read pieces. I wish I'd read this before I started University, my undergraduate maths was so much disjointed rote learning. I got the grades but I'm not sure I really learned anything about mathematics. This book helps to put it all in perspective.

This is almost a sequel to Innumeracy in which Paulos goes beyond the simple exposition of people's difficulties with math to teach, in a very readable fashion, to main concepts of mathematics, be it simple high school, college, or even the complex research mathematics.

The nice thing about this book is that you can read it bit by bit, since each chapter that deals with a topic is about 3-5 pages long, so you won't get bored and if you don't understand one topic you can move on to the next one. The topics are not really connected, so one can just move on to somehting one finds more interesting.

Overall, I believe I now know what many of the complex topics like chaos theory are about. Enough for a cocktail conversation with a mathematician at least.

This book was required for my contemporay mathematics class in school, and I thought it was wonderful. Paulos explains many areas of mathematics so that anyone can understand. He does this using real-world examples. Paulos also explains how many common items in our lives are based on math. I think this is great for the student who finds himself/herself saying, "When am I ever going to use this in real life?" during their math classes.

I was captured entirely by "innumaracy", so i dwelve deeper into John Allen Paulo works, his website and other books, and i manage to buy several of the books.

I particularly like beyond numeracy. It is not as easily read as innumeracy, but it is deeper and more insightful.

It is written in loose shorter essays focusing on special mathematic things. I love the explanation of "infinity", "chaos theory", "pi", "probability" etc. I think people interested slightly in mathematics will be enchanted and enjoying the book.

Some of the essays are only sweet writing words, some contain heavy formula that needs digestions and basic math understanding.

There are about 70 short essays in all that can be read independently at leasure. I found out i strted to get dizzy after reading 10 essays in a straight reading.

John proved that you can make dry stuff interesting, and if you read some of the materials and use if for conversation, it will makes you look like a whiz with great taste! that is one additional benefit of reading! and you will do it without the usual pain. ;-)

This book is extraordinarily witty and well-written and manages to cover an amazing amount of mathematics in its 80 or so short segments. Great for a survey course or for someone who wants a feel for mathematics but can't bear to read a clunky textbook.

Beyond Numeracy is a well written book which brings mathematics to life. There are no math prerequisites--just an open mind and curiousity about the subject. Beyond Numeracy along with Paulos other title, Innumeracy, bring some sophisticated concepts that apply to all our lives into easy reach. Not to mention that it makes for some great cocktail conversation as well.

The book consists of short articles on key mathematical topics. The best articles are the ones really focused on mathematical or geometrical topics, especially the ones where he went down to the explanation or demonstration. Other topics like Goedel's theorem are more difficult and although one can try to understand the very broad idea behind, I could not say I have even come close to an understanding.

The articles about the philosophical detours of a mathematician were also difficult to follow. I have the impression (just a metaphor) that when we perceive a formula or mathematical or logical proposition, our brain circuitry recognizes it as such and the signals travel through a special mathematical processor that is difficult to access in regular circumstances. This would explain our fear of formulas and other logical constructions, since these neurological pathways are not the common route. Mathematicians seem to use this path as the standard route, so they talk about everyday situations in mathematical terms leaving us lay persons wondering: "What is he talking about?" So when for example a person explains a traffic light in terms of an algorithm, you know you are talking to a mathematician.

His mathematical account of the perfect democracy offered me new insights of which I had not thought of and I believe the implications of these are very important.

Since each article has no relation with the next, it is not a book that you cannot drop, you can read one chapter every now and then. The author chose an alphabetical order for his articles rather than a chronological one. This makes you jump from Aristotle and Euclid to Goedel's theorem, over Pascal's triangle and back to Pi and Pitagoras. In the end I appreciated this approach, since I did not have the impression that the more I read, the more incomprehensible or difficult it would get, I was rather glad that I could return to known terrain like Pitagoras.

All in all this is a highly recommendable book, I just would have liked some topics explained in a little more detail.

I thought this a good book that showed how math is valuable in the real world. The author tries to avoid reading like a text book to try and make math come alive. He is moderately successful, but it is hard not to have some mathy jargon and notation, which I think will discourage those who don't have some motivation to think about math to start with. Overall a good book and I will try to read his first book if I get a chance.

Pretty good book. It gives a good overview of the major concepts of mathematics and it helped me to understand more the historical oontext of those concepts.

These short essays, arranged alphabetically present a peek into mathematical topics, some I've long forgotten (differentials) and others new (non-Euclidian geometry). Paulos writes directly, usually without formulas, and if a particular essay doesn't click for you, keep turning, there's a new one in a few pages. Although the essays are mostly independent, there are some interesting connections. In light of the California governors voting recall, the section on voting systems seems clairvoyant, but he warns against the "Jean Dixon" effect in an earlier essay. The essays present mathematics as a dynamic field, and something as basic as variables, was just invented in the 16th century. Even since this book first came out, Fermat's last theorem has been proved, and there is even a larger prime number.

For those working with computers, there is a reminder of some of the mathematical background such as Al-Khwarizmi in Baghdad inventing the "Algorithm", the Turing Test, and sorting.

Paulos always touches on the human aspects of math, such as the fractal nature of human consciousness or mathematics in ethics.
QED - a great read