Alex Bellos

I was hesitant to buy this because I thought the puzzles might be too easy for a seasoned linguist. But they were actually a decent difficulty for the most part and really delve into the wider world of linguistic diversity. The puzzles are taken from linguistic olympiads, which is cool.

Even so, one caveat I'd highlight for any other language nerds is that you'll definitely have some puzzles spoiled for you from general knowledge. I just completed the last puzzle quickly because I've heard of it before. I already knew the Japanese days of the week, and how to read Korean, so I had to skip those. And for some of the puzzles where you have to decypher an unseen alphabet, I already knew which direction most of them are written in and some basic knowledge about their structure (syllabic, alphabetic, etc), which meant that I skipped some of the logical deductions that were built into the puzzles. The answer key was detailed, though, and I actually enjoyed reading how the puzzles were designed.

Pretty sure I found a couple of typoes here and there in the answer key but I can forgive that... I guess.… (mais)

I was looking for a book to fill in the first Bingo space: something I don't normally read about. I pulled a few pretty heavy looking science books off the shelf but wasn't really in the mood to dig into gene splicer and DNA sequencing. But, Alex Bellos's ode to the magic of mathematics seemed just right. Alex's Adventures in Numberland takes us through the history and mystery of numbers from figuring out pi to understanding infinity. Along the way, he tells stories and introduces us to interesting people. I don't claim to understand everything he talked about but he did remind me that I used to do Sudoku and loved playing with magic squares when I was a kid. So, i downloaded a Sudoku app and have been having fun!

I read this one slowly as each chapter is mostly self-contained and took some time to digest. He does refer back sometimes mostly because he references a lot of historical figures who were involved in various mathematical discoveries.… (mais)

Summary: Good set of essays about different ways to look at mathematics and numbers. Each one got me thinking in different ways. You could read one after the other or pick and mix if you like.

Things I liked: Friendly style, relatable stories.

Things I thought could be improved:

Unfortunately I left my review too long ... and now I can't really think of anything.

Highlight: The chapter on the 'golden ratio'. I applied this to making pancakes on the same weekend and haven't looked back since.… (mais)