Under The Microscope

THE PENGUIN BOOK OF
CURIOUS AND INTERESTING MATHEMATICS by David Wells; Penguin, 1997; 319 pp; $24.95

Reviewed by Vicki Hyde, NZSM

Here's a handy book for the toilet -- not because of the subject matter, but because the brevity of the items lend themselves to quick reads. Wells has collected the "plums" that appealed to him in describing mathematics and mathematicians, some kindly and some vitriolic.

He admits that it is not a history and that there is no order to the book. This is the most frustrating thing about it as often there is no context to the vignettes, which can leave the reader struggling to see the joke. That aside, the collection does shine a light into, what is for many, an often-dark area of human knowledge and helps reveal the humanity that may lurk at the heart of many a statistician and logician.

Vicki Hyde is the editor of New Zealand Science Monthly.