Math Literature
My passion for mathematics developed as I read about math after becoming a teacher.
There are many interesting ideas that never get taught in school. And there are many interesting stories about the people who invented the mathematics we use today. In the last 20 years, the quality and quantity of literature available that deals with mathematics has grown extensively.
Below is a list of books that I, or former students, have read. My personal favourites are in blue.
Consider picking up a math book for some bedtime reading!
Fiction
Abbott, E. Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions.
Brown, Dan. The DaVinci Code.
Bruce, Colin. Conned Again Watson!
Enzensberger, Hans Magnus. The Number Devil.
Fienberg, Anna. Number 8.
Flannery, Sarah & David. In Code: A Mathematical Journey.
Guedj, Denis. The Parrot’s Theorem.
Haddon, Mark. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.
Hoshino, Richard. The Math Olympian.
Langton, Jane. The Escher Twist.
Stewart, I. Flatterland.
Suri & Bal. A Certain Ambiguity.
Tahan, Malba. The Man Who Counted: A collection of mathematical adventures.
Green, John. An Abundance of Katherines.
History
Berlinski, David. The Advent of the Algorithm.
Bodanis, David. E=mc2: A Biography of the World’s Most Famous Equation.
Beckmann, Petr. A History of Pi.
Clegg, Brian. Infinity: The Quest to Think the Unthinkable.
Dolnick, Edward. The Clockwork Universe: Newton, the Royal Society & the Birth of the Modern World.
Dunham, William. Journey Through Genius.
Farmelo, Graham (Ed.) It must be Beautiful.
Kaplan, Robert. The Nothing that is Zero.
Livio, Mario. The Golden Ratio.
McLeish, John. The Story of Numbers: How Mathematics has shaped Civilizations.
Maor, Eli. The Story of e.
Mlodinow, Leonard. Euclid’s Window.
Nahin, Paul J. An imaginary tale. (history of i)
Orrell, David. Apollo’s Arrow.
Osserman, Robert. Poetry of the Universe.
Pappas, Theoni. Mathematical Scandal.
Seife, Charles. The Biography of a Dangerous Idea.(zero)
Singh, Simon. Fermat’s Enigma.
Wilson, Robin. Four Colours Suffice.
Biography
Aczel, Amir D. God’s Equation. (Einstein)
Bradshaw, Gillian. The Sand-Reckoner. (Archimides)
Flannery, Sarah. In Code: A Mathematical Journey.
Gleick, James. Isaac Newton.
Hoffman, Paul. Archimedes’ Revenge.
Hoffman, Paul. The Man Who Loved Only Numbers. (Paul Erdos)
Nasar, Sylvia. A Beautiful Mind.(John Nash)
Tammet, Daniel. Born on a Blue Day. (about an autistic savant)
Kanigel, Robert. The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan.
A topic(s) in Mathematics
Anderson, C. & Sally, D. The Numbers Game: Why everything you know about soccer is wrong.
Bryanton, Rob. Imagining the Tenth Dimension.
Burger & Starbird. Coincidences, Chaos and all that Math Jazz.
Chilton, David. The Wealthy Barber.
Conway & Guy. The Book of Numbers.
Devlin, Keith. The Millennium Problems.
Devlin, Keith. The Math Instinct.
Eastaway, Rob & Haigh, John. The Hidden Mathematics of Sport.
Eastaway, Rob & Wyndham, Jeremy. Why do buses come in 3’s?
Favel, Flood & Wilson (Editors). Music and Mathematics: From Pythagoras to Fractals
Fry, Hannah. How to be Human in the Age of the Machine.
Gladwell, Malcolm. Outliers, The Story of Success.
Gleick, James. Chaos.
King, Jerry P. The Art of Mathematics.
Lambert, S.E. & Decotis, R.J. Great Jobs of Math Majors.
Levitt, Steven & Dubner, Stephen J. Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything.
O’Neil, Cathy. Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy.
Paulos, John Allen. Innumeracy, Mathematical Illiteracy and its Consequences.
Pickover, Clifford. The Mobius Strip.
Rosenthal, Jeffrey S. Struck by Lightning: The Curious World of Probabilities.
Ryan, Mark. Everyday Math of Everyday Life.
Stewart, Ian. The Mathematics of Life.
Stewart, Ian. Nature’s Numbers.
Wheelan, Charles. Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science.
Miscellaneous
Gheverghese, Joseph. The Crest of the Peacock.
Gardiner, Martin. The Unexpected Hanging.
Parc, Sam (Editor). 50 Visions of Mathematics
Stewart, Ian. Professor Stewart’s Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities.