{"id":29058,"date":"2016-06-01T23:10:22","date_gmt":"2016-06-02T03:10:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=29058"},"modified":"2016-06-01T23:10:22","modified_gmt":"2016-06-02T03:10:22","slug":"review-of-the-new-york-times-book-of-mathematics-edited-by-gina-kolata","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=29058","title":{"rendered":"Review of The New York Times Book of Mathematics, edited by Gina Kolata"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ny_times_book_of_mathematics_large\"<\/a>The New York Times Book of Mathematics<\/p>\n

More than 100 Years of Writing by the Numbers<\/em><\/p>\n

edited by Gina Kolata
\nForeword by Paul Hoffman<\/p>\n

Sterling, New York, 2013. 480 pages.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re at all interested in mathematics, this is a fascinating book covering the history of major developments in mathematics in the twentieth century and the start of the twenty-first, as told in the pages of The New York Times.<\/em><\/p>\n

Since the articles are from The New York Times<\/em>, they are written for the general public, and the articles aren\u2019t too lengthy. I mostly read one a day for a very long time. Incredible as it may seem, the book was never on hold when I wanted to renew it.<\/p>\n

My only complaint was that I had to learn to check the date \u2013 given at the end of each article \u2013 before reading the article rather than after, because all are reported as happening in the present \u2013 it was nice to know when the major development had actually happened in 1936 (though there are more from recent years than going that far back).<\/p>\n

Of course, having once been in a PhD program in Mathematics (though I settled for my Master\u2019s), I was extra interested to get tastes of what\u2019s going on before and after my time in the math department. For me, it was interesting to place the articles as before or after my time at UCLA.<\/p>\n

The articles are grouped in chapters of related articles. You\u2019ll get an idea of what to expect from the chapter titles: \u201cWhat Is Mathematics?\u201d; \u201cStatistics, Coincidences and Surprising Facts\u201d; \u201cFamous Problems, Solved and As Yet Unsolved\u201d; \u201cChaos, Catastrophe and Randomness\u201d; \u201cCryptography and the Emergence of Truly Unbreakable Codes\u201d; \u201cComputers Enter the World of Mathematics\u201d; and \u201cMathematicians and Their World.\u201d Try this book for a bird\u2019s-eye view of that fascinating world.<\/p>\n

sterlingpublishing.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Nonfiction\/ny_times_book_of_mathematics.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

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