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Islands of Truth: A Mathematical Mystery Cruise

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Well, not quite.

I think this book is the sequel-in-spirit to The Mathematical Tourist, and the prequel-in-spirit to Jungles of Randomness (if I have the publication order right). This and Tourist are about a scattering of research topics in modern mathematics; Jungles of Randomness focusses more on probability, etc.

I've met an awful lot of people who hate math and profess not to understand how anyone could endure it willingly. (I'm a math major.) Well, I used to be one of those people. Peterson's books, among others, convinced me that could be exciting topics in math, that math could be *fun.* Not that I have any hope of touching said research topics in the near future, or understanding them in any depth--but it gives me something to look forward to.

As for people who don't think they can understand this--well, I probably didn't when I read this and its "prequel" in high school. I'd just gotten through some basic calculus. But Peterson's writing is lucid and entertaining; he does a good job of giving the reader a flavor, if not the details, of the topic he covers.

And hey--if you can't make it through all the text, there are an awful lot of neat color plates and diagrams to entertain you. (To this day I have an inordinate fondness for drawing approximations to Menger sponges during math lectures.)

While this work could more aptly be named Islands of Truth in an Ocean of Mystery, that in no way detracts on the quality. The author, long a reporter for Science News, is one of the best expository writers in mathematics, and this book reflects it.
Particularly impressive is the conciseness. A partial list of the topics includes: turning a sphere inside out, knot physics, tiling the plane, packing spheres, fractal images, snowflake creation, matchstick mathematics, how to design a concert hall so that the music is properly reflected, computer chess, and chaos. While your curiosity is piqued and you hunger for more specific information, you do feel satisfied. An extensive bibliography is included. There are a large number of pictures, sixteen in color. Any bright high school student will have no trouble understanding the material.
An outstanding example of math written for the layman, yet with something for the professional, this book can definitely be tagged with a "must read" label.

Published in Journal of Recreational Mathematics, reprinted with permission.

Ivars Peterson, "Islands of Truth," many figures.

Ivars Peterson is the mathematics/computer writer and online editor at Science News. He is the author of The Mathematical Tourist, Islands of Truth, Newton's Clock, Fatal Defect, and The Jungles of Randomness. In the "Islands of Truth," we learn about the surfaces and knots, the four color theorem; number theory; prime numbers; higher dimensions; fractals and chaos; cellular automata; Penrose tiling; zero-knowledge proof. Good reading. We learn how to turn a beach ball inside out. We learn about the fourth dimension and how a rubber band may help solve the traveling salesman problem.


Good reading for a broad audience.

I have a bachelor's in mathematics and this book skims interesting topics not even covered at an undergratuate level. Easy reading for anyone. An enjoyable book full of knowledge. Are you a student who is sick of calculators, get this book! No calculations required