Math Reviews

This is the place that I comment on books I liked, books I don't like, and books that otherwise struck my interest. The focus here is on mathematics construed broadly.

The Man Who Loved Only Numbers

• Level: 2—populist
• Length: 268 pages (plus pictures), about 90,000 words
• Paul Hoffman, The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdős and the Search for Mathematical Truth, Hyperion: New York, 1998.
• Edition reviewed: Second (first paperback)

This is the story of Paul Erdős: his life and his work. Hoffman is not a mathematician, but does describe Erdős' discoveries, though in an accessible manner. The book is an excellent biography, and a passable introduction for the neophyte to the mysteries of number theory. For those interested in the details, the book has a bibliography, source notes, and a full index.

The Book of Numbers

• Level: 2—populist
• Length: 300 pages (including pictures), about 70,000 words
• John H. Conway and Richard K. Guy, The Book of Numbers, Springer-Verlag New York, 1996.
• Edition reviewed: Sixth?

Surreal Numbers

• Level: 4—advanced*
• D. E. Knuth, Surreal Numbers, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1974.
• Edition reviewed: Sixteenth (2005)

A Mathematical Introduction to Logic

• Level 4—advanced
• Herbert B. Enderton, A Mathematical Introduction to Logic, Harcourt Academic Press, 1972.
• Edition reviewed: Second (2001)

Cryptonomicon

• Level: 0—nontechnical
• Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon, Avon Books, 1999
• Edition reviewed: Third (first Avon Books paperback, 2002)