Reviews
Are you interested in fiction with math and mathematician characters, biographies, math history, overviews of some applications of math, or plays, films or tv shows with math? Link here to reviews in the media of books, plays, films and television shows. In some cases the source requires a subscription, password or searching the archives to access the review; in other cases the review may only be available in print, directly from the source. Sometimes newspapers archive reviews and the url no longer works. Try searching the site for the title.
For more reviews please see the archive of reviews prior to 2013 and see the European Mathematical Society's collection of online book reviews.
Return to Math in the Media
Books Reviewed
A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z
50 Visions of Mathematics, edited by Sam Parc
Review by Charles Ashbacher, MAA Reviews, August 18, 2014
100 Essential Things You Didn’t Know You Didn’t Know About Math and the Arts, by John D. Barrow
Review by Matthew Hutson, “In a new book, a mathematician explores the connection between math and art,” The Washington Post, February 13, 2015
Review in Notices of the AMS, January 2016
101 Careers in Mathematics, edited by Andrew Sterrett
Reviewed by William J. Satzer, MAA Reviews, June 24, 2014
* A *
Ada's Algorithm: How Lord Byron's Daughter Ada Lovelace Launched the Digital Age, by James Essinger
Review by Jennifer Latson, "A math genius gets her due," The Boston Globe, October 13, 2014
Review by Laura Helmuth, New York Times Book Review, April 26, 2015
Lars Ahlfors: At the Summit of Mathematics, by Olli Lehto
Review by Michael Berg, MAA Reviews, August 11, 2015
Alan Turing: His Work and Impact, by S. Barry Cooper and Jan van Leeuwen
Review by Charles Ashbacher, MAA Reviews, January 2, 2014
Alex Through the Looking-Glass, by Alex Bellos
Review by Tom Chivers, "Mathematical equations should have the perfect symmetry of a joke," The Telegraph, April 21, 2014
Review by Simon Singh, “Adventures with a Maths Demon,” The Guardian, May 3, 2014
Reviewed by Frank O'Shea, “Sum of all fears, or joy: A numbers book,” The Sydney Morning Herald, June 28, 2014
Art in the Life of Mathematicians, edited by Anna Kepes Szemerédi
Review by Joel Haack, MAA Reviews, December 4, 2015
The Art of Risk: The New Science of Courage, Caution, and Chance, by Kayt Sukel
Review by Kate Douglas, "Luck be a Lady," New Scientist, April 16, 2016, pp. 44-45
* B *
A Beautiful Question: Finding Nature's Deep Design, by Frank Wilczek
Review by Marcelo Gleiser, "The Hidden Code of Creation," The Chronicle Review, September 11, 2015, p B16
Beautiful Geometry, by Eli Maor and Eugen Jost
Review by Lee Billings, Scientific American, November 22, 2013
Reviewed by Tony Mann, Times Higher Education, 13 March 2014
The Best Writing on Mathematics 2013, edited by Mircea Pitici
Review by Sandra Keith, MAA Reviews, January 18, 2014
The Best Writing on Mathematics 2014, edited by Mircea Pitici
Review by Mark Hunacek, MAA Reviews, December 21, 2014
The Best Writing on Mathematics 2015, edited by Mircea Pitici
Review in Notices of the AMS, January 2016
Review by Mark Hunacek, MAA Reviews, January 31, 2016
Beyond Banneker: Black Mathematicians and the Paths to Excellence, by Erica N. Walker
Review by Ron Buckmire, MAA Reviews, November 4, 2016
Birth of a Theorem: A Mathematical Adventure, by Cédric Villani (see Théorème Vivant for reviews of the French version)
Review by Hannah Fry, The Guardian, February 25, 2015
Review by Karen Shook, Times Higher Education, February 26, 2015
Review by Alexander Masters, "How could anyone enjoy Cédric Villani’s ‘Birth of a Theorem’? I think I’ve worked it out," The Spectator, February 28, 2015
Review by Jacob Aron, "Boltzman and brio," NewScientist, February 28, 2015, p. 50
Review by Amir Alexander, Nature, March 5, 2015, p. 31
Review by Clara Moskowitz, Scientific American, May 2015, p. 82
Review by Charles Ashbacher, MAA Reviews, May 7, 2015
Review by Daniel W. Stroock, Notices of the AMS, November 2015
On Publishers Weekly’s spring 2015 announcements and “Top 10: Science”
The Book on Games of Chance: The 16th-Century Treatise on Probability, by Gerolamo Cardano
Review by Joel Haack, MAA Reviews, June 14, 2016
Nathaniel Bowditch and the Power of Numbers: How a Nineteenth-Centure Man of Business, Science, and the Sea Changed American Life, Tamara Plakins Thornton
Review by Daniel Silver, "Salem's Savant," American Scientist, November-December 2016
The Boy Who Loved Math, by Deborah Heiligman
Review by Nate Silver, Beautiful Minds, The New York Times, July 12, 2013
A Brief History of Numbers, by Leo Corry
Review by Adhemar Bultheel, European Mathematical Society Reviews, September 8, 2015
L. E. J. Brouwer—Topologist, Intuitionist, Philosopher: How Mathematics Is Rooted in Life, by Dirk van Dalen
Reviewed by Dale M. Johnson, Notices of the AMS, June/July 2014
Burn Math Class: And Reinvent Mathematics for Yourself, by Jason Wilkes
Review by Clara Moskowitz, Scientific American, April 2016, p. 78
* C *
Cakes, Custard and Category Theory, by Eugenia Cheng
Review by Barbara Fantechi, European Mathematical Society Book Reviews, September 2015, p. 68
Review by John Baez, London Math Society Newsletter, September 14, 2015
The Call of the Primes, by Owen O'Shea
Review by Charles Ashbacher, MAA Reviews, March 8, 2016
Calculating the Cosmos: How Mathematics Unveils the Universe, by Ian Stewart
Review in Notices of the AMS, October 2016
A Calculus of Ideas: A Mathematical Study of Human Thought, by Ulf Grenander
Review by Andrew I. Dale, Notices of the AMS, January 2014
Capitalism and Arithmetic: The New Math of the 15th Century, by Frank Swetz
Reviewed by Peter Ruane, MAA Reviews, November 14, 2013
Chancing It: The Laws of Chance and How They can Work for You, by Robert Matthews
Review by Kate Douglas, "Luck be a Lady," New Scientist, April 16, 2016, pp. 44-45
Chaotic Fishponds and Mirror Universes: The Strange Maths Behind the Modern World, by Richard Elwes
Review in Notices of the AMS, October 2016
Circularity: A Common Secret to Paradoxes, Scientific Revolutions and Humor, by Ron Aharoni
Review by Darren Glass, MAA Reviews, June 7, 2016
Coffee, Love and Matrix Algebra, by Gary Ernest Davis
Review by David A. Huckaby, MAA Reviews, November 12, 2014
Coming to Our Senses: Perceiving Complexity to Avoid Catastrophes, by Viki McCabe
Review by Ittay Weiss, MAA Reviews, December 4, 2014
Complexities: Women in Mathematics, edited by Bettye Anne Case and Anne M. Leggett
Review by Carol Dorf, "A Wealth of Complexities," American Scientist, March - April 2013
Constitutional Calculus: The Math of Justice and the Myth of Common Sense, by Jeff Suzuki
Review by Charles Ashbacher, MAA Reviews, March 15, 2015
Review in Notices of the AMS, November, 2016
Count Like an Egyptian: A Hands-On Introduction to Ancient Mathematics, by David Reimer
Review by Nancy Szokan, The Washington Post, May 19, 12014
Review by Calvin Jongsma, MAA Reviews, May 28, 2014
Creating Symmetry: The Artful Mathematics of Wallpaper Patterns, by Frank A. Farris
Review by Daniel S. Silver, American Scientist, September-October, 2015, pp. 360-362
Review by James S. Walker, Notices of the AMS, December 2015
The Crest of the Peacock: Non-European Roots of Mathematics, by George Gheverghese Joseph
Review by Clemency Montelle, Notices of the AMS, December 2013
The Cult of Pythagoras: Math and Myths, by Alberto A. Martínez
Review by Ellen Ziliak, MAA Reviews, March 7, 2013
* D *
David Mumford—Selected Papers, Volume II: On Algebraic Geometry, including Correspondence with Grothendieck, edited by Ching-Li Chai, Amnon Neeman, and Takahiro Shiota
Review by Frans Oort, Notices of the AMS, February 2013
Decoded, a novel, by Mai Jia (translated by Olivia Milburn and Christopher Payne)
Reviewed by Li Gong, "The cryptic mind," Nature, March 6, 2014, p 36
Doing Data Science, by Rachel Schutt and Cathy O’Neil
Reviewed by Brian Hayes, Notices, October 2014< p/>
A Doubter's Almanac, by Ethan Canin
Review by NPR Staff, "In 'Doubter's Almanac,' Troubled Math Genius Tries To Solve The Unsolvable", NPR, February 18, 2016
Review by Ellen Ullman, New York Times, February 22, 2016
* E *
e: The Story of a Number, by Eli Maor
Review by Mehdi Hassani, MAA Reviews, March 22, 2016
Einstein's Dice and Schrödinger's Cat, by Paul Halpern
Review by Mark Bollman, MAA Reviews, May 26, 2015
On Publishers Weekly’s spring 2015 announcements and “Top 10: Science”
ENIAC in Action: Making and Remaking the Modern Computer, by Thomas Haigh, Mark Priestley, and Crispin Rope
Review by Charles Ashbacher, MAA Reviews, April 7, 2016
Enlightening Symbols: A Short History of Mathematical Notation and Its Hidden Power, by Joseph Mazur
Review by Nancy Szokan, "Where did the = sign come from? Author presents history of mathematical symbols," The Washington Post, April 7, 2014
Review by Gaia Donati, Science, July 2014
Review by Tom Siegfried, Science News, September 6, 2014
Review by Tushar Das, MAA Reviews, January 13, 2015
Leonhard Euler: Mathematical Genius in the Enlightenment, by Ronald S. Calinger
Review by Davide Castelvecchi, “A Mathematical Revolutionary,” Nature, December 10, 2015
Review by Frank Swetz, MAA Reviews, February 16, 2016
Review in Notices of the AMS, November 2016
Everyday Calculus: Discovering the Hidden Math All around Us, by Oscar E. Fernandez
Review by Tom Schulte, MAA Reviews, April 19, 2014
* F *
Figures of Thought: A Literary Appreciation of Maxwell’s Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism, by Thomas K. Simpson
Review by Brian Hayes, Notices of the AMS, September 2013
Finding Zero: A Mathematician’s Odyssey to Uncover the Origins of Numbers, by Amir D. Aczel
Review by Frank Swetz, MAA Reviews, December 31, 2014
Review by Clara Moskowitz, Scientific American, pp 82, January 2015
Review by Nick Romeo, “The Zero in Math—Why Nothing Matters,” The Daily Beast, February 2, 2015
The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking, by Edward B. Burger and Michael Starbird
Review by Gizem Karaali, MAA Reviews, April 25, 2013
Fluke: The Math and Myth of Coincidence, by Joseph Mazur
Review by Peter Rabinovitch, MAA Reviews, March 22, 2016
Review by David Shariatmadari, The Guardian, June 23, 2016
Review by Robyn Arianrhod, “Leaving luck out of the equation,” Cosmos, August 5, 2016
The Fractalist: Memoir of a Scientific Maverick, by Benoît B. Mandelbrot
Review by Dwight Garner, "Wandering Visionary in Math’s Far Realms," New York Times Book Review, October 30, 2012
Review by Adam Kirsch, "A Math Genius’s Sad Calculus," Tablet, October 25, 2012
Review in the Economist, "A cloud Atlas: Memoirs of a European mathematician," Oct 27, 2012
Review by Brian Hayes, "Father of Fractals," American Scientist, January-February, 2013
Review by Brie Finegold, "From Simple Rules Repeated," Science, January 18, 2013
Review by Jim Holt, "He Conceived the Mathematics of Roughness," The New York Review of Books, May 23, 2013
* G *
Game Theory: A Nontechnical Introduction, by Morton D. Davis
Review by Tom Schulte, MAA Reviews, February 15, 2016
Genius at Play: The Curious Mind of John Horton Conway, by Siobhan Roberts
Review by Michael Harris, “The Mercurial Mathematician,” Nature, July 23, 2015, pp. 406-407
Review by Colm Mulcahy, “John H. Conway: Genius at Play,” Huffington Post, July 14, 2015
Review by Genna Buck, "The lonely life of a unique genius," Maclean's, August 11, 2015
Review by Darren Glass, MAA Reviews, August 31, 2015
Review in Notices of the AMS, January 2016
Gentzen’s Centenary: The Quest for Consistency, edited by Reinhard Kahle and Michael Rathjen
Review by Jeremy Avigad, Notices of the AMS, December 2016
Geometric Magic Squares, by Lee C. F. Sallows
Reviewed by Charles Ashbacher, MAA Reviews, September 24, 2013
Geometry and the Imagination, by David Hilbert and S. Cohn-Vossen
Reviewed by Tim Penttila, MAA Reviews, November 16, 2013
The Golden Ticket: P, NP, and the Search of the Impossible, by Lance Fortnow
Review by Veit Elser, "Can Oompa-Loompas Save Us from Perebor?," Science, July 5, 2013
Golf on the Moon: Entertaining Mathematical Paradoxes and Puzzles, by Dick Hess
Review by Peter T. Olszewski, MAA Reviews, August 18, 2014
The Grapes of Math: How Life Reflects Numbers and Numbers Reflect Life, by Alex Bellos
Review by Jan Gardner, The Boston Globe, June 7, 2014
Review by Jennifer Ouellette, The New York Times, August 1, 2014
Great Calculations: A Surprising Look Behind 50 Scientific Inquiries, by Colin Pask
Review by Tom Schulte, MAA Reviews, August 28, 2015
* H *
Half a Century of Pythagoras Magazine, edited by Alex van den Brandhof, Jan Guichelaar, and Arnout Jaspers
Review by Tricia Muldoon Brown, MAA Reviews, January 14, 2016
Hidden Figures, The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race, by Margot Lee Shetterly (see also Hidden Figures, the movie)
Interview on NPR, September 25, 2016
Review by Julia Franz, "These black women were the mathematicians behind American spaceflight," PRI.org, November 5, 2016
Review by Carol Christian, "The Calculators," Science, December 16, 2016
Review by Joshua Adams, "Local author spotlights under-the-radar female mathematicians at NASA," C-Ville, December 23, 2016
Higher Order Fourier Analysis, by Terence Tao
Review by Allen Stenger, MAA Reviews, July 22, 2013
A History in Sum: 150 Years of Mathematics at Harvard (1825–1975), by Steve Nadis and Shing-Tung Yau
Review by Steve Batterson, Notices of the AMS, June/July 2014
How a Dangerous Mathematical Theory Shaped the Modern World, by Amir Alexander
Review by Jennifer Ouellette, The New York Times, August 1, 2014
How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking, by Jordan Ellenberg
Interview with the author, NPR, June 2, 2014
Review by Manil Suri, The Washington Post, June 13, 2014
Review by Annie Murphy Paul, How to Learn to Love Math, Time Magazine, June 13, 2014
Review by Erin Anderssen, “If you ever wondered how math class could help you later in life, here’s your answer,” The Globe and Mail, June 18, 2014
Review in Nature, June 19, 2014, page 339
Review by Hiawatha Bray, The Boston Globe, July 5, 2014
Review by Peter Orszag, "Math Plus Statistics Adds Up to Fun at the Beach", Money News, July 29, 2014
Review by Jennifer Ouellette, The New York Times, August 1, 2014
Review by William Satzer, MAA Reviews, August 5, 2014
Review by GrrlScientist, The best popular science books of 2014: Physical sciences, The Guardian, December 18, 2014
How To Bake Pi: An Edible Exploration of the Mathematics of Mathematics, by Eugenia Cheng
Review by Darren Glass, MAA Reviews, May 1, 2015
Review by Margaret Quamme, "Higher math served in bite-size bits," The Columbus Dispatch, May 10, 2015
Review by Alex Bellos, The New York Times, June 12, 2015
Review by Simon Worrall, “What Do Mayonnaise and Hollandaise Have To Do With Math?,” National Geographic, June 21, 2015
Review by Ria Misra, "How to Bake Pi Uses Math to Solve the Cookbook Paradox," i09, July 10, 215
On Publishers Weekly’s spring 2015 announcements and “Top 10: Science”
Review by Jeremy L. Martin, Notices of the AMS, October 2016
The Humans, by Matt Haig
Review by Harry Ritchie, The Guardian, May 15, 2013
* I *
Idea Makers, by Stephen Wolfram
Review by Tom Siegfried, "Science's Human Side," Science News, August 20, 2016 issue, pp. 28
I, Mathematician, edited by Peter Casazza, Steven G. Krantz and Randi D. Ruden
Review by P. N. Ruane, MAA Reviews, June 10, 2015
The Improbability Principle: Why Coincidences, Miracles and Rare Events Happen Every Day, by David Hand
Review by John A. Adams, The Washington Post, February 21, 2014
Review by Jennifer Ouellette, The New York Times, August 1, 2014
Review by Eve Limbrick-Oldfield, "What are the Chances?," Science, September 12, 2014
Infinitesimal: How a Dangerous Mathematical Theory Shaped the Modern World, by Amir Alexander
Review by John Allen Paulos, "The 16th Century’s Line of Fire, ‘Infinitesimal,’ a Look at a 16th-Century Math Battle," The New York Times, April 7, 2014
Review by NPR Staff, "Far From 'Infinitesimal': A Mathematical Paradox's Role In History", NPR, April 20, 2014
Review by Judith V. Grabiner, MAA Reviews, June 12, 2014
Review by Robyn Arianrhod, Times Higher Education, June 19, 2014
Review by Paula E. Findlen, "The Mathematical Shape of Modernity," Chronicle of Higher Education, June 23, 2014
In Praise of Simple Physics: The Science and Mathematics behind Everyday Questions, by Paul J. Nahin
Review by Mark Hunacek, MAA Reviews, June 9, 2016
In Pursuit of the Traveling Salesman: Mathematics at the Limits of Computation, by William J. Cook
Review by Jan Karel Lenstra and David Shmoys, Notices of the AMS, June/July 2016
Invisible in the Storm: The Role of Mathematics in Understanding Weather, by Ian Roulstone and John Norbury
Review, Books in Brief, Nature, April 4, 2013
Review by Peter Lynch, Notices of the AMS, September 2013
Invitation to a Mathematical Festival, by Ivan Yashchenko
Review by Charles Ashbacher, MAA Reviews, March 16 2013
* J *
The Joy of SET: The Many Mathematical Dimensions of a Seemingly Simple Card Game, by Liz McMahon, Gary Gordon, Hannah Gordon and Rebecca Gordon
Review by Mark Hunacek, MAA Reviews, November 3, 2016
The Joy of X: A Guided Tour of Math, from One to Infinity, by Steven Strogatz
Internet interview with Steven Strogatz, Science Friday, October 5, 2012
Internet interview with Steven Strogatz, "The Beauty and Delight of Mathematics: Q&A with Steven Strogatz," Wired Science, October 30, 2012
Review by Tom Siegfried, Science News, November 3, 2012
Review by Daniel N. Rockmore, "Making Math Pop," The Chronicle Review, January 14, 2013
Review by Robert James, The Bookbag, online, March 2013
* K *
The King of Infinite Space, by David Berlinski
Reviewed in Nature, January 31, 2013
Review by Brian Hayes, "Sparring with the Great Geometer", American Scientist, March - April 2013
Knots and Borromean Rings, Rep-Tiles, and Eight Queens, by Martin Gardner
Review by Tom Schulte, MAA Reviews, May 14, 2015
* L *
L.A. Math: Romance, Crime, and Mathematics in the City of Angels, by James Stein
Review by Josh Logue, Inside Higher Ed, January 29, 2016
Review by Phillip Zonkel, “Cal State Long Beach professor uses math to solve mysteries,” Long Beach Press Telegram, February 19, 2016
Review by Mindy Capaldi, MAA Reviews, April 27, 2016
Peter Lax, Mathematician: An Illustrated Memoir, by Reuben Hersh
Review by William J. Satzer, MAA Reviews, February 19, 2015
The Leading Indicators, by Zachary Karabell
Review by Diane Coyle, Statistically Speaking, The New York Times, April 11, 2014
Letters to a Young Scientist, by Edward O. Wilson
Review by Shaoni Bhattacharya, "You don't need good mathematics to be a scientist," New Scientist, May 6, 2013
Review by Stuart Pimm, "A guide to the life scientific," Nature, April 18, 2013
Locks, Mahabharata and Mathematics, by V. Raghunathan
Review by Dilip D'Souza, Live Mint, August 31, 2013
The Logician and the Engineer: How George Boole and Claude Shannon Created the Information Age, by Paul J. Nahin
Review by Marissa Fessenden, Scientific American, November 2012
Review by Charles Ashbacher, MAA Reviews, November 8, 2012
Review by Martin Davis, Notices of the AMS, September 2013
Logic’s Lost Genius: The Life of Gerhard Gentzen, by Eckart Menzler-Trott
Review by Jeremy Avigad, Notices of the AMS, December 2016
Love and Math: The Heart of Hidden Reality, by Edward Frenkel
Review by John Matson, Scientific American, September 20, 2013
Review by Minyanville, NASDAQ, September 27, 2013
Review by James Currie, "Math wiz breaks with nerd stereotype," Winnepeg Free Press, October 5, 2013
Review by Marcus du Sautoy, "Proof of passion," Nature, October 3, 2013
Review by Leonard Mlodinow, "It All Adds Up", New York Times, October 25, 2013
Interview with Edward Frenkel, Science Weekly Podcast, The Guardian, November 11, 2013
Review by Amir Alexander, "Brilliance Triumphs Over Rejection: In ‘Love & Math,’ Fighting Discrimination Through Numbers," New York Times, November 18, 2013
Review by Jim Holt, "A Mathematical Romance," The New York Review of Books, December 5, 2013
Review by Brian Hayes, "The Monodromy of Love," American Scientist, January-February 2014
Review by Julia McKinnell, Maclean's, December 17, 2013
Reviewed by Anthony W. Knapp, "Love and Math: The Heart of Hidden Reality," Notices, October 2014
Review by Alex Alaniz, “Love & Math, A Review Of Edward Frenkel’s Bestseller, A Math Planetarium,” Science 20, September 4, 2015
* M *
The Magic of Math, by Arthur Benjamin
Review by Adhemar Bultheel, European Mathematical Society Book Reviews, October 2, 2015
Review by Tom Schulte, MAA Reviews, November 17, 2015
Review by Steve Mirsky, The Magic of Math Lets You Have Your Pi and Eat it, Too, Scientific American, January 1, 2016
Magnificent Mistakes in Mathematics, by Alfred S. Posamentier and Ingmar Lehmann
Review by Mark Hunacek, MAA Reviews, September 12, 2013
Review by Tony Mann, Times Higher Learning, September 2013
Manifold Mirrors: The Crossing Paths of the Arts and Mathematics, by Felipe Cucker
Review by Hardy Gant, MAA Reviews, September 19, 2013
A Man For All Markets: From Las Vegas To Wall Street, How I Beat The Dealer And The Market, By Ed Thorp
Review by John Navin, "The Math Professor Who Beat Las Vegas And Wall Street," Forbes, January 6, 2016
Review by Tim Melvin, "The Strip And The Street: A Conversation With Mathematician, Hedge Fund Manager, And Blackjack Player Edward Thorp," Benzinga, January 17, 2017
The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan, by Robert Kanigel
Review by Fernando Q. Gouvêa, MAA Reviews, May 27, 2014
The Man Who Knew Too Much: Alan Turing and the Invention of the Computer, by David Leavitt
Review by William Dunham, MAA Reviews, January 14, 2016
Martin Gardner in the Twenty-First Century, edited by Michael Henle and Brian Hopkins
Review by Darren Glass, MAA Reviews, April 9, 2013
The MATH BOOK: From Pythagoras to the 57th Dimension, 250 Milestones in the History of Mathematics, by Clifford A. Pickover
Review by Sarah J. Greenwald and Jill E. Thomley, Notices of the American Mathematical Society, April 2015
Math Bytes, by Tim Chartier
Review by Alex Bello, "Empire State Building vanishes: amazing images of geometrical illusion", The Guardian, April 1, 2014
Review by Sol Lederman, Wild About Math: Making Math Fun and Accessible, April 6, 2014
Review by Robert Shaefer, New York Journal of Books, April 6, 2014
Review by Alex Bogomolny, Cut the Knot, April 2014
Review by A. Bultheel, "Math Bytes: Google Bombs, Chocolate-Covered Pi, and Other Cool Bits in Computing", The European Mathematical Society, May 12, 2014
Review by Philip J. Davis, Mathematics as Play, SIAM, June 2, 2014
Review by Mark Hunacek, MAA Reviews, June 9, 2014
Review by Rachael Skyner, "Whimsical Math," Science, September 5, 2014
Mathematical Brain Benders: Second Miscellany of Puzzles, by Stephen Barr
Review by Underwood Dudley, MAA Reviews, November 11, 2015
Mathematical Card Magic: Fifty-Two New Effects, by Colm Mulcahy
Reviewed by Kara Shane Colley, MAA Reviews, November 11, 2013
Review by Alex Bellos, “Algebra-cadabra! Here's a classic magic trick, and the mathematical secret behind it”, The Guardian, February 4, 2013
Mathematical Cartoons, by Charles Ashbacher
Review by David S. Mazel, MAA Reviews, August 10, 2015
Mathematical Circle Diaries, Year 1: Complete Curriculum for Grades 5 to 7, by Anna Burago
Review by Alex Bogomolny, MAA Reviews, January 30, 2013
Mathematical Curiosities: A Treasure Trove of Unexpected Entertainments, by Alfred S. Posamentier and Ingmar Lehmann
Review by Richard J. Wilders, MAA Reviews, September 23, 2014
Mathematical Excursions to the World's Great Buildings, by Alexander J. Hahn
Review by Science, February 15, 2013
Mathematical Magic, by William Simon
Review by Peter Olszewski, MAA Reviews, June 9, 2015
Mathematical Puzzles and Curiosities, by Barry R. Clarke
Review by Tom Schulte, MAA Reviews, August 15, 2014
Mathematical Understanding of Nature: Essays on Amazing Physical Phenomena and Their Understanding by Mathematicians, by V. I. Arnold
Review by William J. Satzer, MAA Reviews, October 28, 2014
Mathematicians and Their Gods, edited by Snezana Lawrence and Mark McCartney
Review by Adhemar Bultheel, European Mathematical Society Reviews, September 8, 2015
A Mathematician's Lament, by Paul Lockhart
Review by Mary Margaret Alvarado, The Chronicle of Higher Education, October 4, 2015
Mathematicians on Creativity, edited by Peter Borwein, Peter Liljedahl, and Helen Zhai
Review by Kelli M. Slaten, MAA Reviews, December 17, 2014
The Mathematician’s Shiva, by Stuart Rojstaczer
Review by Larry N. Mayer, "Love, Death and Math in Wisconsin: 'Mathemetician's Shiva' Is Rollicking Debut Novel," The Jewish Daily Forward, January 13, 2015
Review by Jane Honchell, “See Jane Read: Warm up your heart and mind with ‘The Mathematician’s Shiva’,” The Abington Journal, January 27, 2015
Mathematics and Art, by Lynn Gamwell
Review by Lynn Gamwell, "Why the history of maths is also the history of art," The Guardian, December 2, 2015
Mathematics and the Making of Modern Ireland: Trinity College Dublin from Cromwell to the Celtic Tiger, by David Attis
Review by Robert W. Hayden, MAA Reviews, December 16, 2014
Mathematics and the Mind, by Hassan Tahiri
Review by Charles Ashbacher, MAA Reviews, March 28, 2016
Mathematics in Nineteenth-Century America: The Bowditch Generation, by Todd Timmons
Review by Diann Porter, MAA Reviews, June 20, 2014
Mathematics in 20th-Century Literature and Art, by Robert Tubbs
Review by P. N. Ruane, MAA Reviews, September 6, 2014
Mathematics in Victorian Britain, edited by Raymond Flood, Adrian Rice, and Robin Wilson
Review by P. N. Ruane, MAA Reviews, May 16, 2014
Mathematics in Ancient Egypt: A Contextual History, by Annette Imhausen
Review by Calvin Jongsma, MAA Reviews, June 8, 2016
The Mathematics of Love: Patterns, Proofs, and the Search for the Ultimate Equation, by Hannah Fry
Review by Mark Colyan, Notices of the AMS, August 2016
Mathematics of Planet Earth: Mathematicians Reflect on How to Discover, Organize, and Protect Our Planet, by Hans Kaper and Christiane Rousseau
Review by Mark Hunacek, MAA Reviews, September 7, 2015
Review by Christopher K. R. T. Jones, Notices of the AMS, December 2016
Mathematics of the Transcendental, by Alain Badiou
Review by Andrej Bauer, Notices of the AMS, October 2015
The Mathematics that Power Our World: How is It Made?, by Joseph Khoury and Gilles Lamothe
Review by Kevin Tasley, MAA Reviews, November 29, 2016
Mathematics without Apologies: Portrait of a Problematic Vocation, by Michael Harris
Review by Amir Alexander, Nature, March 5, 2015, p. 31
The Math Myth and Other STEM Delusions, by Andrew Hacker
Review by David M. Bressoud, Notices of the AMS, November 2016
Math on Trial: How Numbers Get Used and Abused in the Courtroom, by Leila Schneps and Coralie Colmez
Review by Robert W. Hayden, MAA Review, December 11, 2012
Review by Abigail Tarttelin, The Huffington Post, January 4, 2013
Review by Janet Raloff, Science News, June 29, 2013
Review by Paul H. Edelman, Burden of Proof: A Review of Math on Trial, Notices of the AMS, August 2013
Math Power: How to Help Your Child Love Math, Even If You Don't, by Patricia Clark Kenschaft
Review by Ellen Ziliak, MAA Reviews, October 7, 2014
Meaning in Mathematics, edited by John Polkinghorne
Review by Michael Heller, "Deep Questions on the Nature of Mathematics," Notices of the AMS, May 2013
A Mind for Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science (Even If You Flunked Algebra), by Barbara Oakley
Interview by Michael Morella, “Learning the Language of Numbers,” US News and World Report, September 5, 2014
Review by Beverly Wood, MAA Reviews, October 30, 2014
Gösta Mittag-Leffler. A Man of Conviction, by Arild Stubhaug
Review by Sigurdur Helgason, Notices of the AMS, September 2013
The Moscow Puzzles: 359 Mathematical Recreations, by Boris A. Kordemsky
Review by Charles Ashbacher, MAA Reviews, May 14, 2015
My Life and Functions, by Walter K. Hayman
Review by David Drasin, Notices of the American Mathematical Society, May 2015
My Search for Ramanujan, by Ken Ono and Amir D. Aczel
Review by Adriana Salerno, "Counting on Ramanujan," MAA Focus, April/May 2016, pp. 34
Review by Jeremy Bernstein, "The Most Remarkable Mathematician," Wall Street Journal, July 1, 2016
* N *
Naked Statistics: Stripping the Dread from the Data, by Charles Wheelan
Review by Evelyn J. Lamb, "Great Refresher or First Course," Science, April 5, 2013
Naming Infinity: A True Story of Religious Mysticism and Mathematical Creativity, by Loren Graham and Jean-Michel Kantor
Review by Jascha Hoffman, "Pursuing the Infinite," Nature, April 23, 2009
Review in Scientific American, April 2009
Review by Alexey Glutsyuk, Notices of the AMS, January 2014
John Napier: Life, Logarithms, and Legacy, by Julian Havil
Review by George Szpiro, "Constructor of a Marvellous Canon", Nature, October 30, 2014
The New Math: A Political History, by Christopher J. Phillips
Review by Alex Bellos, “Mathematics: Set theory for six-year-olds,” Nature, December 4, 2014
Review by Jeremy Kilpatrick, Curriculum and the Cold War," Science, pp 380, January 23, 2015
The New Science of Cities, by Michael Batty
Review by Michael Szell, "Connecting Paradigms", Science, February 28, 2014
The Newton Papers, by Sarah Dry
Review by Mordechai Feingold, A voyage round Newton," Nature, May 2014
The New York Times Book of Mathematics, Edited by Gina Kolata
Review by Ian Stewart, Notices of the AMS, May 2014
The Noether Theorems: Invariance and Conservation Laws in the Twentieth Century, by Yvette Kosmann-Schwarzbach
Review by Robyn Arianrhod, The Evolution of an Idea, Notices of the AMS, August 2013
The Norm Chronicles: Stories and Numbers About Danger and Death, by Michael Blastland and David Spiegelhalter
Review by Jennifer Ouellette, The New York Times, August 1, 2014
Review by Mark Bollman, MAA Reviews, December 7, 2014
The Number Devil, by Hans Magnus Enzenberger
Review by Leonie Mueck, Nature, December 1, 2016
Numbers and Functions: From a Classical-Experimental Mathematician's Point of View, by Victor H. Moll
Review by Alex Bogomolny, MAA Reviews, January 14, 2013
Numbers: Their Tales, Types, and Treasures, By Alfred S. Posamentier and Bernd Thaller
Review by Underwood Dudley, MAA Reviews, September 11, 2015
A Numerate Life: A Mathematician Explores the Vagaries of Life, His and Probably Yours, by John Allen Paulos
Review by Conor Friedersdorf, “How Math Can Defeat Bullies”, The Atlantic, July 3, 2015
Review by Adhemar Bultheel, European Mathematical Society, July 30, 2016
* O *
Odds Against Tomorrow, by Nathaniel Rich
Review by Alan Cheuse, NPR News, ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, April 1, 2013
On Leibniz, by Nicholas Rescher
Review by Tom Schulte, MAA Reviews, January 18, 2014
Review by Eberhard Knobloch, Notices of the AMS, August 2015
On the Connexion of the Physical Science, by Mary Somerville
Review by Richard Holmes, Nature, October 23, 2014
William Fogg Osgood at Harvard: Agent of a Transformation of Mathematics in the United States, by Diann R. Porter
Review by Todd Timmons, MAA Reviews, April 23, 2014
Our Mathematical Universe, by Max Tegmark
Review by Max Tegmark, "Can the Meaning of Life Be Explained by Math?," Publishers Weekly, January 10, 2014
Review by Peter Woit, The Wall Street Journal, January 17, 2014
Review by Stephen C. Hirtle, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 25, 2014
Review by Brian Rotman, The Guardian, January 31, 2014
Review by Edward Frenkel, The New York Times, February 14, 2014
* P *
Paradoxes in Probability Theory, by William Eckhardt
Review by Olle Häggström, Notices of the AMS, March 2013
Patterns of the Universe: A Coloring Adventure in Math and Beauty, by Alex Bellos and Edmund Harriss
Review by Adrian Woolfson, Science, January 1, 2016, pp. 36
Review by Chau Tu, “A new coloring book highlights the visual beauty of mathematics,” PRI, February 3, 2016
Pearls from a Lost City: The Lvov School of Mathematics, by Roman Duda
Review by Henry Heatherly, MAA Reviews, September 14, 2014
The Perfect Bet: How Science and Math are Taking the Luck Out of Gambling, by Adam Kurcharski
Review by Kate Douglas, "Luck be a Lady," New Scientist, April 16, 2016, pp. 44-45
Review by Samantha Beckett, “The Perfect Bet” Shows Link Between Science and Gambling, According to Mathematician Adam Kucharski,” Casino.org, May 8, 2016
The Poetry of Victorian Scientists, by Daniel Brown
Review by Charles Ashbacher, MAA Reviews, July 28, 2014
Henri Poincaré: A Biography Thorugh the Daily Papers, by Jean-Marc Ginoux and Christian Gerini
Review by P.N. Ruane, MAA Reviews, March 2, 2014
Henri Poincaré: Impatient Genius, by Ferdinand Verhulst
Review by Michael Berg, MAA Reviews, October 27, 2012
Review by Julio M. Ottino, AIP Scitation, October 2013
Henri Poincaré: A Scientific Biography, by Jeremy Gray
Review by George Szpiro, "Poet of the Infinite", Nature, December 6, 2012
Review by Peter Pesic, "What Poincaré Knew," Science, March 22, 2013
Review by Julio M. Ottino, AIP Scitation, October 2013
Reviewed by John Stillwell, Notices of the AMS, April 2014
Prime Mystery: The Life and Mathematics of Sophie Germain, by Dora E. Musielak
Review by David Pengelley, MAA Reviews, April 21, 2015
Probably Approximately Correct, by Leslie Valiant
Review by Marcus Feldman, Notices of the AMS, November 2014
Professor Stewart's Casebook of Mathematical Mysteries, by Ian Stewart
Review by Tom French, MAA Reviews, October 2, 2014
Review by Sam Vandervelde, Notices of the AMS, December 2015
Professor Stewart's Incredible Numbers, by Ian Stewart
Reviewed by Ittay Weiss, MAA Reviews, April 28, 2015
The Proof and The Pudding: What Mathematicians, Cooks, and You Have in Common, by Jim Henle
Review by Joel Haack, MAA Reviews, May 2, 2015
The Puzzling Adventures of Doctor Ecco, by Dennis Shasha
Review by Megan Patnott, MAA Reviews, September 9, 2015
* Q *
Quantum Computing Since Democritus, by Scott Aaronson
Review by Avi Wigderson, Notices of the American Mathematical Society, November 2014
Quite Right: The Story of Mathematics, Measurement, and Money, by Norman Biggs
Review by Charles Ashbacher, MAA Reviews, March 29, 2016
* R *
Really Big Numbers, by Richard Evan Schwartz
Review by Yelena McManaman, "Infinity is Farther Than You Think", Moebius Noodles, July 21, 2014
Review by Darren Glass, MAA Reviews, August 21, 2014
Review by Sondra Eklund, Sonder Books, April 21, 2015
Reflections: The Magic, Music and Mathematics of Raymond Smullyan, by Raymond Smullyan
Review by Joel Haack, MAA Reviews, June 30, 2015
Iris Runge: A Life at the Crossroads of Mathematics, Science, and Industry, by Renate Tobies
Review by Tom Schulte, MAA Reviews, July 22, 2013
Return to Top
* S *
Secret History: The Story of Cryptology, by Craig P. Bauer
Review by Ellen Ziliak, MAA Reviews, August 4, 2014
Seduced by Logic: Emilie du Chatelet, Mary Somerville and the Newtonian Revolution, by Robyn Arianrhod
Review by Jane Gleeson-White, "Female pioneers in mathematics found strength in numbers ," The Australian, 23 July 2011
Review by Judith V. Grabine, Notices of the AMS, June-July 2013
Interview by Richard FIdler, Conversations with Richard Fidler, ABC Local, October 28, 2013
Shaping Space: Exploring Polyhedra in Nature, Art, and the Geometrical Imagination, edited by Marjorie Senechal
Review by Gizem Karaali, MAA Reviews, December 31, 2013
The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail — but Some Don’t, by Nate Silver
Review by Noam Scheiber, "Known Unknowns," The New York Times, November 2, 2012
Review by Andrew Hacker, "How He Got It Right," The New York Review of Books, January 10, 2013
Review by Sam Wang and Benjamin C. Campbell, "Mr. Bayes Goes to Washington," Science, February 15, 2013
Review by Lisa Goldberg, Quantitative Finance, December 16, 2013
Simon: The Genius in my Basement, by Alexander Masters
Review by Fernando Q. Gouvêa, MAA Reviews, December 15, 2014
The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets, by Simon Singh
Review by Thomas Jones, The Guardian, October 24, 2013
Review by NPR Staff, "Divide By D'oh! The 'Mathematical Secrets' Of The Simpsons," NPR Author Interviews, October 26, 2013
Review by Parade, "5 Math Lessons Hidden in The Simpsons," Parade Magazine, October 29, 2013
Review by Amir Alexander, "Examining the Square Root of D’oh!," The New York Times, January 27, 2014
Review by Ruchi Kumar, “Simon says, Math is still a minority sport,” DNA India, February 9, 2014
Single Digits: In Praise of Small Numbers, by Marc Chamberland
Review by William J. Satzer, MAA Reviews, June 6, 2015
Review by Rob Cline, The Gazette, August 30, 2015
Snowflake, Seashell, Star: A Colouring Adventure in Number Land, by Alex Bellos and Edmund Harriss
Review by Alex Bellos, "Nested fish and golden triangles: adult colouring and the beauty of maths," The Guardian, September 17, 2015
Review by Marianne Freiberger, Plus Magazine, October 7, 2015
Soccermatics: Mathematical Adventures in the Beautiful Game, by David Sumpter
Review by Paul Fennessy, The 42, June 5, 2016
Mary Somerville and the World of Science, by Allan Chapman
Review by Charles Ashbacher, MAA Reviews, February 12, 2015
The Symphony of Primes, Distribution of Primes and Riemann's Hypothesis, by Jan Feliksiak
Review by BWW Books, October 8, 2013
* T *
Taming the Unkown: A History of Algebra from Antiquity to the Early Twentieth Century, by Victor J. Katz and Karen Hunger Parshall
Review by Calvin Jongsma, MAA Reviews, February 26, 2015
Tangrams: 330 Puzzles, by Ronald C. Read
Review by Underwood Dudley, MAA Reviews, November 14, 2015
Textbooks, Testing, Training: How We Discourage Thinking, by Stephen S. Willoughby
Review by Tom Sinclair, MAA Reviews, September 14, 2014
Théorème Vivant, by Cédric Villani (See Birth of a Theorem: A Mathematical Adventure for reviews of the English version)
Reviewed by Jacques Hurtubise, Notices of the AMS, February 2014
Things to Make and Do in the Fourth Dimension: A Mathematician's Journey through Narcissistic Numbers, Optimal Dating Algorithms, at Least Two Kinds of Infinity, and More, by Matt Parker
Review by Paul Klassen, “Math book shows how numbers are functional — and fun,” Winnipeg Free Press, December 27, 2014
Review by Colm Mulcahy, “How to Get to the Fourth Dimension,” Scientific American, July 31, 2015
Review in Notices of the AMS, October 2016
Thinking in Numbers: On Life, Love, Meaning, and Math, by Daniel Tammet
Review by Manjit Kumar, The Telegraph, August 22, 2012
Review by Simon Ings, "Mathematics is as rich as literature," CultureLab blog, New Scientist, August 14, 2012
Review by Jordan Ellenberg, The Boston Globe, July 27, 2013
Review by Alexandra Witze, Science News, September 20, 2013
The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage, by Sydney Padua
Review by Nicholas Lezard, The Guardian, August 16, 2016
Tilings and Patterns, by Branko Grünbaum and G. C. Shephard
Review by William J. Satzer, MAA Reviews, November 29, 2016
Topics in Recreational Mathematics, edited by Charles Ashbacher
Reviewed by Fernando Q. Gouvêa, MAA Reviews, June 5, 2015
The Tower of Hanoi - Myths and Maths, by Andreas M. Hinz, Sandi Klavžar, Uroš Milutinović, and Ciril Petr
Review by Adhemar Bultheel, European Mathematical Society, February 23, 2013
Review by Charles Ashbacher, MAA Reviews, May 28, 2013
Review by Andrew Percey, zb Math
Review by László Kozma, ACM SIGACT News, Volume 45 Issue 3, pages 34-36, September 2014
Review by Jean-Paul Allouche, Newsletter of the European Mathematical Society, Issue 93, page 56, September 2014
Transcending Tradition: Jewish Mathematicians in German-Speaking Academic Culture, edited by Birgit Bergmann, Moritz Epple, and Ruti Ungar
Review by Marjorie Senechal, Notices of the AMS, February 2013
Truth or Truthiness: Distinguishing Fact from Fiction by learning to Think Like a Data Scientist, by Howard Wainer
Review by Christopher J. Phillips,"Facts Versus Fallacy," Science, August 5, 2016
Turbulent Times in Mathematics: The Life of J. C. Fields and the History of the Fields Medal, by Elaine McKinnon Riehm and Frances Hoffman
Review by Deborah Kent, Isis, Vol. 105, No. 2 (June 2014), pp. 457-458
Turing's Cathedral: The Origins of the Digital Universe, by George Dyson
Review by Thomas Misa, "Digital dawn," Nature, March 1, 2012, page 32
Review by Douglas Bell, "The godfather of the iPad," Globe & Mail, March 16, 2012
Review by William Poundstone, "Unleashing the Power," The New York Times, May 4, 2012
Review by Tom Siegfried, Science News, September 8, 2012
Review by Fenella Saunders, "When the World Went Digital," American Scientist, May-June 2013, pages 233-34
The Turing Guide, by Jack Copeland
Review by Andrew Robinson, "All Around Turing," New Scientist, January 7, 2017
Turing's Revolution, edited by Giovanni Sommaruga and Thomas Strahm
Review by Charles Ashbacher, MAA Reviews, February 18, 2016
Turing's Vision: The Birth of Computer Science, by Chris Bernhardt
Review by Jonathon Keats, "Are we Turing machines?," New Scientist, July 2, 2016
Alan Turing: The Enigma, by Andrew Hodges
Review by Katherine Safford-Ramus, MAA Reviews, November 30, 2014
* U *
Undiluted Hocus-Pocus: The Autobiography of Martin Gardner, by Martin Gardner
Review by David Singmaster, Master Puzzler, Nature, September 19, 2013
Review by Brian Hayes, Martin Gardner’s Autobiography: A Lifelong Quest for Truth and Meaning, Scientific American, September 20, 2013
Review by Charles Ashbacher, MAA Reviews, September 24, 2013
Review by Jordan Ellenberg, The Wall Street Journal, November 22, 2013
Review by Stephen Hirtle, "'Undiluted Hocus-Pocus': How science columnist Martin Gardner spread joy with numbers and games," Pittsburgh Post Gazette, December 27, 2013
Review by Teller, "The Brainteaser," The New York Times, January 3, 2014
Review by Andy Magid, Notices of the AMS, March 2014
* V *
Visions of Infinity, by Ian Stewart
Review by Tom Siegfried, Science News, March 23, 2013
Review by P. N. Ruane, MAA Reviews, March 7, 2013
Vito Volterra, by Angelo Guerraggio and Giovanni Paoloni
Review by Alex Bogomolny, MAA Reviews, March 19, 2013
* W *
War Games: A History of War on Paper, by Philipp von Hilgers
Review by Ursula Whitcher, MAA Reviews, August 13, 2013
A Wealth of Numbers: An Anthology of 500 Years of Popular Mathematics Writing, edited by Benjamin Wardhaugh
Review by Mark Bollman, MAA Reviews, June 30, 2012
Review by Carol Dorf, "A Wealth of Complexities," American Scientist, March - April 2013
Review by Andy R. Magid, Notices of the AMS, March 2013
Wearing Gauss's Jersey, by Dean Hathout
Review by Mark Bollman, MAA Reviews, September 12, 2013
Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy, by Cathy O'Neil
Review by Clara Moskowtiz, Scientific American, August 2016
Review by Katherine Burton, "A Math Nerd Wants to Stop the Big Data Monster," Bloomberg Business Week, August 24, 2016
Review by Evelyn Lamb, Scientific American, August 31, 2016
Review by Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing, September 6, 2016
Review by Pankaj Mehta, “Big Data Isn’t Just Watching You—It’s Making You Poorer,” In These Times, September 6, 2016
By Amiee Rawlins, “Math is Racist: How Data is Driving Inequality,” CNN Money, September 6, 2016
Review by David French, "No, Math isn't Racist," National Review, September 8, 2016
Review by Kalpana Shankar, Science, September 9, 2016
Review by Kelly McEvers, "'Weapons Of Math Destruction' Outlines Dangers Of Relying On Data Analytics," NPR, September 12, 2016
Review by Clay Shirky, New York Times Book Review, October 9, 2016
Review by Robert W. Hayden, MAA Reviews, January 9, 2016
What's Happening in the Mathematical Sciences, Volume 9, by Dana Mackenzie
Review by Tom Schulte, MAA Review, August 5, 2013
What's Happening in the Mathematical Sciences, Volume 10, by Dana Mackenzie and Barry Cipra
Review by William J. Satzer, MAA Reviews, March 21, 2016
What’s Math Got To Do With It?: How Teachers and Parents Can Transform Mathematics Learning and Inspire Success, by Jo Boaler
Review by Alfred Manaster, Notices of the AMS, October 2015
Who Killed Professor X?, by Thodoris Andriopoulos
Review by P. N. Ruane, MAA Reviews, April 15, 2015
Who's #1? — The Science of Rating and Ranking, by Amy N. Langville and Carl D. Meyer
Review by Richard J. Wilders, MAA Reviews, March 29, 2012
Review by Andrew I. Dale, Notices of the AMS, January 2013
Why Is There Philosophy of Mathematics at All?, by Ian Hacking
Review by John P. Burgess, Notices of the AMS, December 2014
* X *
X and the City: Modeling Aspects of Urban Life, by John A. Adam
Review by David S. Mazel, MAA Reviews, May 12, 2013
* Y *
* Z *
Zombies and Calculus, by Colin Adams
Review by Mark Hunacek, MAA Reviews, September 25, 2014
Review by Noel-Ann Bradshaw, Times Higher Education, October 23, 2014
Review by Tara Creel, "'Zombies and Calculus' brings math concepts back from the dead," Deseret News, October 27, 2014/p>
Here's an article on the increased interest in books about mathematics and mathematicians:
"The numbers game: Why math books are hot," by Jane Boursaw and Tameka L. Hicks, USA Today Weekend Magazine, September 21, 2003
Also, see Mathematical Fiction, maintained by Alex Kasman (College of Charleston).
Plays Reviewed
Breaking the Code, directed by Joe Calarco
Review by Bob Goepfert, Saratogian, July 29, 2014
Calculus: The Musical, by Marc Gutman and Sadie Bowman
Review by Amona Refaei, The News Record, February 20, 2013
A Disappearing Number, by Simon McBurney
Review by Carolyn Clay, "A Mathematical Path To The Hereafter?," WBUR The Artery, November 5, 2014
Proof, by David Auburn
Review by Bridgette Redman, ‘Proof’ adds up to witty family drama in Grand Ledge, Lansing State Journal, July 9, 2015
X&Y, a play by Marcus du Sautoy
Review by Jeremy Lee, "Arts: A multiple of sums", The Actuary, November 7, 2013
Review by Allan Hunter, Screen Daily, September 7, 2014
Films' Reviewed
A Brilliant Young Mind, directed by Morgan Matthews (see X+Y for reviews on the U.K. release of the film)
Review by Keith Devlin, Huffington Post, September 2, 2015
Review by Alan Scherstuhl, "Prime Achievement: 'A Brilliant Young Mind' Doesn't Master Math, but it Aces Life," The Village Voice, September 8, 2015
Review by Keith Devlin, "Love Multiplies At A Math Olympiad In 'Brilliant'," NPR, September 12, 2015
Review by Ty Burr, "Smart take on a genius in ‘A Brilliant Young Mind’", The Boston Globe, September 24, 2015
Review by Colin Covert, “Math genius' dizzying life is told with mesmerizing power in 'A Brilliant Young Mind',” Star Tribune, October 1, 2015
Review by Mark Saul, "Why Do We Do Mathematics?," Notices of the AMS, October 2016
Counting from Infinity, directed by George Csicsery
Review by Gar Smith, "Counting from Infinity: It's a Math-erpiece," The Berkeley Daily Planet, May 22, 2015
Flatland: The Movie, by Seth Caplan, Jeffrey Travis, and Dano Johnson
Review by Michelle Press, Scientific American, May 2008
Review by Julie Rehmeyer, Flatland and its sequel bring the math of higher dimensions to the silver screen, Science News, July 29, 2013
The Genius of George Boole, produced by Lord David Puttnam
Review by Olivia Kelleher, "Boole’s impact on technology is explored on film," Irish Examiner, August 16, 2015
Hidden Figures, directed by Theodore Melfi (see also The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race)
Review by Lili Loofbourow, “This movie about black female mathematicians looks glorious,” The Week, August 15, 2016
Review by Sky Selrach, "'Empire's' Taraji Henson New Role Celebrates Real-Life NASA Mathematician Genius," Nature World News, August 17, 2016
Review by Aria Ellise, "Hidden Figures: The Untold Story That’s Long Overdue," Milwaukee Community Journal, August 16, 2016
Review by Margot Lee Shetterly, “The Hidden Black Women Who Helped Win the Space Race,” NY Magazine, August 2016
Review by Cara Buckley, "On Being a Black Female Math Whiz During the Space Race," The New York Times, September 5, 2016
Review by Jan Crawford, “The African-American women behind NASA's rocket launches,” CBS News, September 7, 2016
Review by Maya Wei-Haas, “The Forgotten Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Send Astronauts to Space,” Smithsonian, September 8, 2016
Review by Mark Jackson, "‘Hidden Figures’: NASA’s First Black Female Math Wizards," Epoch Times, December 11, 2016
Review by Elizabeth Gibney, Nature, December 22, 2016
Review by Alia Hoyte, "5 Cool Things the Women Who Inspired 'Hidden Figures' Accomplished," How Stuff Works, December 23, 2016
Review by Stephanie Zacharek, “Hidden Figures Proves There’s Power in Numbers,” Time, December 23, 2016
Review by Rebecca Carroll, "Hidden Figures Shines a Spotlight on Three Extraordinary Women," Parade Magazine, January 5, 2017
How I Came to Hate Maths (Comment j’ai deteste les maths), a film by Olivier Peyon
Review by Jordan Mintzer, Hollywood Reporter, November 30, 2013
Review by Kang Hyun-kyung, "French documentary questions 'new math'," The Korea Times, September 3, 2014
Review by Juliette Cerf, Télérama Magazine, January 20, 2015, January 20, 2015
The Imitation Game, directed by Morten Tyldum
Review by Paddy Kehoe, RTÉ ten, November 13, 2014
Review by S. Barry Cooper, “Imitation Game will finally bring Alan Turing the fame he so rightly deserves,” The Conversation, November 19, 2014
Review by S. Barry Cooper, "You Need To See 'The Imitation Game' If You Care At All About Technology", Business Insider, November 20, 2014
Review by David Edelstein, "Benedict Cumberbatch Lifts Above Biopic Formula In 'Imitation Game',"NPR, November 25, 2014
Review by A. O. Scott, "Broken Codes, Both Strategic and Social," New York Times, November 27, 2014
Review by Kenneth Turan, "Mathematician's Story Is Dramatic Enough For The Big Screen," NPR, November 28, 2014
Review by Eric Molinsky, "Benedict Cumberbatch takes on another brilliantly awkward role as the man who brought computers to the world," PRI, November 30, 2014
The Man Who Knew Infinity, directed by Matthew Brown
Review by Paramita Ghosh, “Ramanujan biopic: A man who was more than the sum of his parts,” Hindustan Times, October 7, 2015
Review by Arun Janardhanan, "A passage to infinity: The untold story of Srinivasa Ramanujan," The Indian Express, December 6, 2015
Review by Imran Mojib, DIFF welcomes a passage to ‘infinity’ featuring Indian mathematician, The Gulf Today, December 13, 2015
Review by George E. Andrews, Notices of the AMS, February 2016
Review by Andrew Robinson, "In Search of Ramanujan," Nature, March 30, 2016
Review by Andrew Lowry, Empire Online, April 4, 2016
Review by Stuart Jeffries, “Genius by numbers: why Hollywood maths movies don't add up,” The Guardian, April 6, 2016
Review by Saskia O'Donoghue, “Ramanujan biopic "The Man Who Knew Infinity" tells mathematician's journey,” Daily Mail, April 7, 2016
Review by Matthew Reisz, “The Man Who Knew Infinity: another beautiful mind on screen,” Daily Mail, April 8, 2016
Review by Andrew Robinson, Nature, March 31, 2016
Review by Jacob Aron, "The Man Who Knew Infinity fails to break the mathematical mould," New Scientist, April 8, 2016, paper pp. 46, April 23, 2016
Review by David Roy, “Proof of life: Biopic The Man Who Knew Infinity just about adds up,” Irish News, April 8, 2016
Review by Kathryn Shattuck, "A Math Biopic, With Dev Patel, Applies a Different Calculus," The New York Times, April 20, 2016
Review by Clara Moskowitz, Scientific American, May 2016, pp. 70
Review by Jacob Aron, "An Easy Formula: Why is the Biopic of Srinivasa Ramanujan so safe," New Scientist, April 23, 2016, pp. 46
Review by Coln Mulcahy, "A Math Genius Like No Other Comes to the Big Screen," Scientific American, April 27, 2016
Review by Anders Wright, "‘Infinity’ stays limited in scope," San Diego Union-Tribune, May 5, 2016
Review by Suresh Menon, “It is Tempting to Find Fault, but More Fun to Sit Back and Enjoy it,” The Hindu, May 7, 2016
Review by Amruta Lakhe, “Prime Obsession,” The Indian Express, May 8, 2016
Review by Tirdad Derakhshani, "Dev Patel plays math genius in 'Man Who Knew Infinity'," The Mercury News, May 10, 2016
Review by Julie Crawford, "By-the-numbers mathematician biopic doesn't add up," Vancouver Courier, May 18, 2016
Review by Jerry Bowyer, “'The Man Who Knew Infinity' Explores Faith And Mathematics,” Forbes, August 29, 2016
Review by Karen Chutsky, The Lucerne Valley Leader, October 25, 2016
Navajo Math Circles, directed by George Csicsery
Review by Madison Lantelme-Capitano, "Navajo Math Circles' delves into the educational program that brings math to underserved areas," Athens Post, March 7, 2016
Painting the Way to the Moon, directed by Jacob Akira Okada
Review by Anthony Bellano, "Award Winning Documentary Focusing on Revolutionary Princeton Mathematician Coming to Garden Theater," Princeton Patch, February 20, 2015
Late Style - Yuri I. Manin, Looking Back on a Life in Mathematics, directed by Agnes Handwerk and Harrie Willems
Review by Gunther Cornelissen, Notices of the AMS, January 2013
X+Y, directed by Morgan Matthews (See A Brilliant Young Mind for reviews on the U.S. release of the film)
Review by Rob Parsons, "How a Yorkshire mathematician with Asperger Syndrome inspired a new film," The Yorkshire Post, March 12, 2015
Review by Nigel Andrews, Financial Times, March 12, 2015
Review by Matt Watson, Film Trance, March 19, 2015
Review by Mark Walker, The Copenhagen Online Post, September 10, 2015
See also: Mathematics Goes to the Movies, compiled by Burkard Polster and Marty Ross; The Math in the Movies Page, collections of reviews of math-related movies compiled by A. G. Reinhold; and Mathematics in Movies, clips from movies assembled by Oliver Knill.
Television Shows Reviewed
For more reviews please see the archive of reviews prior to 2013.
Return to Top
