Popular Mathematics

Mathematics is like a tree with many branches. Some are obviously useful, some fascinating, and some mysterious waiting to be explored. “50 mathematical ideas you really need to know” by Tony Crilly (Pub. Quercus, www.quercusbooksbooks.co.uk ISBN 978-1-84724-008-8) is a beautiful presentation of some of the twigs. There should be a warning on the cover “Reading this book may leave you wanting to know more”.

It’s not often you find a book which traces a young persons love of mathematics but “In Code” by Sarah Flannery  with her father, David Flannery (Pub. Profile Books, www.profilebooks.co.uk ISBN 1-86197-271-7  takes you on a great adventure story which is difficult to put down. It's  great fun and I don't care if it's not perfect. The person who never made a mistake never made anything.

“Chaos” by James Gleick (I’m totally confused about who the current publisher is since there have been many acquisitions to create Pearson Books, www.pearson.com My 1998 copy is a Cardinal imprint by Sphere Books as ISBN 0-7474-0413-5). I can't do better than to quote Douglas Adams: An awe-inspiring book. reading it gave me the sensation that someone had just found the light switch.

To get your mind round the concepts of  fuzzy logic you might want to start with “Fuzzy Logic” by DanielMcNeill and Paul Freiberger (Pub. Simon & Schuster www.simonandschuster.co.uk  ISBN 0-671-87535-3). There are several texts that delve into the nuts and bolts of programming in fuzzy logic but for an understanding of the processes involved this has to be on your bookshelf. This book is both entertaining and useful so I have included it in both my maths classifications.