Coincidences, Chaos, and All That Math Jazz: Making Light of Weighty Ideas

This book was almost painful to read, not because it dealt with some pretty advanced mathematical concepts (it did), but because of the authors' writing style. To put it simply: there's nothing less funny than two mathematics professors who think they're hillarious. The book was full of puns and bad jokes that made reading this book more an exercise in follow through than a pleasure. If you're interested in probability, a much better book is Rosenthal's "Struck by Lightning".

A delightful introduction to topics in more modern mathematics that can be understood in a recreational manner. The drawings are well done and my interest never flagged as I read through the book.

Nice short chapters so you don't lose interest. There are certain topics I want to know more about, though. I suppose that's a good thing; this book gets one interested and then one can find more detail elsewhere.

Not as interesting as one wold hope from the title, but, still... not bad either.

'...Burger and Starbird don't bludgeon readers with number theory, geometry, or topology; they take up origami or spin a yarn about a tsetse fly. A profusely illustrated, bemusingly unorthodox introduction to math.' --Gilbert Taylor Copyright 2005 Booklist