Stephanie Jane reviewed The Joy of X by Steven H. Strogatz
Great enthusiasm
4 stars
Dave bought a couple of maths books a while ago, inspired by our going to a fascinating Simon Singh talk about the hidden maths in the Simpsons TV series. The Joy of X was the first I've tried to read. The first few pages were fine and I could follow exactly what Strogatz was saying. However, once we got past 'fish fish fish fish fish fish', it all got a bit tougher! Strogatz does explain his topics well and in normal English rather than obscure language, even if math instead of maths does grate a bit to begin with. I enjoyed the historical explanations of each topic and the progression of chapters also helped. I think I understood most of what was written, although being able to reproduce the thoughts independently probably isn't going to happen, but a lot that lost me during Secondary School is now much clearer. Strogatz's …
Dave bought a couple of maths books a while ago, inspired by our going to a fascinating Simon Singh talk about the hidden maths in the Simpsons TV series. The Joy of X was the first I've tried to read. The first few pages were fine and I could follow exactly what Strogatz was saying. However, once we got past 'fish fish fish fish fish fish', it all got a bit tougher! Strogatz does explain his topics well and in normal English rather than obscure language, even if math instead of maths does grate a bit to begin with. I enjoyed the historical explanations of each topic and the progression of chapters also helped. I think I understood most of what was written, although being able to reproduce the thoughts independently probably isn't going to happen, but a lot that lost me during Secondary School is now much clearer. Strogatz's enthusiasm really comes across throughout the text and this joy in his subject is infectious. I spotted a sine wave in the distribution of pebbles on the beach tide line this morning. Yay me!
