New and Noteworthy Titles on our Bookshelf

The Big Bang of Numbers

How to Build the Universe Using Only Math

By Manil Suri. W. W. Norton & Company, 2022, 379 pp.

Courtesy of W. W. Norton & Company.

In October 2013, Manil Suri wrote an opinion piece for the New York Times called “How to Fall in Love with Math.” A quick Google search should lead you to his short piece; I encourage you to read it. The article articulates how many mathematicians view their art; some do math because it’s beautiful and others because it’s fun. Many are motivated by the usefulness of mathematics while others cite some combination of these compels them toward math. Suri presents another option, which is that mathematics puts us in conversation with something deeper than ourselves.

The Big Bang of Numbers was born from Suri’s opinion piece. The article was widely read the week it was published, and many of the comments on the piece expressed an appreciation for mathematics. Other comments found fault in Suri’s words or asked for more detail about what he wrote. No matter the tone, readers of the New York Times were talking about math—a lot!

In his book, Suri builds the universe of mathematics out of nothing; truly, he uses the empty set to define zero and motivates arithmetic, geometry, algebra, patterns, physics, infinity, and iteration from the initial “big bang.” He tackles topics larger than numbers, such as the curvature of our universe. As he leaves more technical explanations for his endnotes, his prose is easy to follow. He describes the text as a large “thought experiment” with opportunities to imagine, and various diagrams and figures throughout help to illustrate many of the abstract concepts. Though the chapters contain mathematics familiar to most professionals, this book adds perspective and motivation to the building blocks of our art. I could see The Big Bang of Numbers given as a gift to senior undergraduates or used to supplement a mathematics of the world course. If you seek a delightful read, look no further than this book.

The Potential to Inspire: Sonia Kovalevsky’s Mathematical Journey

Una Fuente de Inspiración: la Jornada Matemática de Sonia Kovalevsky

By Laura P. Schaposnik. Schapos Publishing, 2023, 31 pp.

Courtesy of Laura P. Schaposnik.

Being simultaneously a mathematician and a parent means I have read many children’s books about mathematics. Some feature concepts, like the ABCs of Mathematics, while others, like this book, highlight the lives of mathematicians. Sonia Kovalevsky is known by a few different transliterations of her Russian name; the author chose this spelling because she was inspired by the Sonia Kovalevsky Days for girls in math run by the Association for Women in Mathematics. There is no doubt that Sonia Kovalevsky faced many uphill battles in her life, and most of them arose from her gender. Reading this book made me wonder how many people even today encounter similar obstacles to their dreams. Perhaps telling Kovalevsky’s story to school-age children, as this book does, will inspire them to persevere even when they find themselves in challenging situations.

As I read, I pondered a few interesting conversations I could have with my children (or students) if they read this book. How is Sonia’s life similar to or different from other mathematicians you know? Why weren’t women allowed to publish their writing in Kovalevsky’s time? What does it mean to live with “courage and conviction?”

Overall, The Potential to Inspire is a fun book to read out loud. It is a treat to experience verse that rhymes both in English and Spanish. This book would fit well at home, in your office, in your math history class, or as a gift for a future K–12 mathematics teacher.