Monday, February 2, 2015

"Gauss can recite all of pi -- backwards" ...(& a book)


Of course he can barely hold a candle to Riemann ;-) ...but I do still love me some Gauss!
I should return to this site more than a couple times a year... so many of these just crack me up:

http://www.gaussfacts.com/top?page=1

(thanks to whoever originally created it!)

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Meanwhile, I'm currently reading (halfway through) "Mathematics Without Apologies" by Michael Harris:




Wow!... This is only February, but already pretty sure this book will be in the running for my favorite math volume of 2015! It's one of the oddest, richest, most unpredictable math volumes I've ever seen for a general audience; with a somewhat mind-bending writing style and approach... difficult to briefly describe (Peter Woit calls it "a sometimes gonzo version of post-modern academic style.")
Should quickly add that my love for it WON'T be shared by all... this book will be too odd, toooo eclectic for some, I'm sure. I'll have a more detailed review some time in the future, but you may wish to check it out on your own before then. Or, in meantime, you can read Peter Woit's review here:
http://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/?p=7479


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