Wow, this seems to be the season for reviews of The Universe in Zero Words! First “Numberplay,” then SIAM News, and now two more! First up is Math Goes Pop! Matt Lane’s delightfully named blog covers all topics on the intersection of Mathematics Street and Popular Culture Boulevard. That’s a neighborhood where I hope that my book will find a comfortable place to live.
Matt’s review is very favorable, and he includes a handy widget that you can click on to order the book after you’ve read the review. Matt sent me four questions to answer by e-mail. I enjoyed answering his question about the equations I had to decide to leave out of the book. Check it out and see if your favorite equation almost made the cut… and then feel free to tell me all the reasons why I should have included it!
Also, a site called Bookgeeks in Great Britain published a review this morning. This is one that I did not know about in advance. The reviewer, Katie Lloyd, likes the chapters on zero (“‘the discovery of zero’ gives modern readers an interesting perspective of such concepts now taken for granted”), non-Euclidean geometry, and chaos theory. Like some other reviewers, she finds the chapters on modern mathematics to be a little bit daunting. (“Despite Mackenzie’s best efforts to communicate complicated mathematics in accessible language, it’s easy to feel a little lost in these later chapters…”) And she comments on the book’s beautiful design, which I always like to hear about. (“To make a book on mathematics so visually appealing … invites readers to enjoy browsing its pages and marvel in the beauty of the subject.”) Bingo!
