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knopmanshausen's review against another edition
challenging
funny
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
3.0
peacefixation's review against another edition
3.0
Decent read, some essays were better than others.
lauralauralaura's review against another edition
3.0
This book was a grind. I love popular science well done, but the only reasons I finished this book were that it was for book club and the chapters were bite sized. Also, way too much Woody Allen, because any Woody Allen is too much Woody Allen for me.
tlockney's review against another edition
4.0
Calling this one done a bit before the end. Honestly, the latter essays get a bit tedious. There's a lot to love about this book and a few things that kind of grated at my nerves. But overall, some of the better chapters were incredible and really made me think and want to do more research. Despite some potentially serious flaws, I'm giving this one four stars for getting me excited enough to start digging out more of my math books again.
deadly_nightshade_'s review against another edition
5.0
People all over the internet want recommendations for books that will blow their minds. They're usually asking for fiction, but I think nonfiction is the way to go, and this book is the place to start. Every essay will blow your mind a little bit.
I honestly only bought this thing because it was on sale for $2, and I'm so glad I did. I feel like the cover and title did it a disservice. People who pick it up to read about Einstein and Godel will be disappointed as they're discussed mainly in only one of the essays. The cover doesn't even really give any indication that it's an essay collection. Strange marketing, especially since I think only a specific group of people would enjoy reading this. I would recommend it only to people who enjoy a good dose of philosophy with their math/physics, and don't mind a dash of biography. The biography sections are really juicy and scandalous, basically front page of People magazine material, so you may love or hate that. I sense that very strict math/science people would find the musings and the questions asked in this book kind of pointless.
I see a couple of critical reviews. They for the most part say the essays are too shallow. I think the essays basically convey the intended ideas. They don't and can't go into the mathematics of it all, simply because you can fill textbooks with the math required to explain each topic. And the thing with nonfiction reviews is that a lot of people who review nonfiction read a lot of nonfiction. This means that an essay about something like Godel's Incompleteness Theorem will seem shallow to someone who has read Godel's Proof by Ernest Nagel, which is an entire book dedicated to the topic.
View this book as a large sample platter of the most interesting ideas known to man. If you want to delve deeper into any of the ideas, feel free to pick up the corresponding text. This book actually has a Further Reading section, which makes it easy. That's what's cool about reading nonfiction, it's a choose your own adventure activity. If you liked reading about the map problem, turn to "Four Colors Suffice: How the Map Problem Was Solved" by Robin Wilson, but if you preferred the topic of prime numbers, turn to "The Music of the Primes" by Marcus du Sautoy.
I honestly only bought this thing because it was on sale for $2, and I'm so glad I did. I feel like the cover and title did it a disservice. People who pick it up to read about Einstein and Godel will be disappointed as they're discussed mainly in only one of the essays. The cover doesn't even really give any indication that it's an essay collection. Strange marketing, especially since I think only a specific group of people would enjoy reading this. I would recommend it only to people who enjoy a good dose of philosophy with their math/physics, and don't mind a dash of biography. The biography sections are really juicy and scandalous, basically front page of People magazine material, so you may love or hate that. I sense that very strict math/science people would find the musings and the questions asked in this book kind of pointless.
I see a couple of critical reviews. They for the most part say the essays are too shallow. I think the essays basically convey the intended ideas. They don't and can't go into the mathematics of it all, simply because you can fill textbooks with the math required to explain each topic. And the thing with nonfiction reviews is that a lot of people who review nonfiction read a lot of nonfiction. This means that an essay about something like Godel's Incompleteness Theorem will seem shallow to someone who has read Godel's Proof by Ernest Nagel, which is an entire book dedicated to the topic.
View this book as a large sample platter of the most interesting ideas known to man. If you want to delve deeper into any of the ideas, feel free to pick up the corresponding text. This book actually has a Further Reading section, which makes it easy. That's what's cool about reading nonfiction, it's a choose your own adventure activity. If you liked reading about the map problem, turn to "Four Colors Suffice: How the Map Problem Was Solved" by Robin Wilson, but if you preferred the topic of prime numbers, turn to "The Music of the Primes" by Marcus du Sautoy.