The Art of More

August 1, 2021

Moving from ancient Egyptian priests to a hobbyist who solved a mapmaking puzzle that confounded NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey, science writer Brooks aims to persuade readers that mathematics was one of the great innovations that made civilization happen. Following The Quantum Astrologer's Handbook, a Daily Telegraph Book of the Year.

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Starred review from November 1, 2021
“Our way of life, our institutions, and our infrastructures” were all built on math, writes New Scientist editor Brooks in this savvy study (after 13 Things That Don’t Make Sense). He begins by diligently explaining the basics of algebra, arithmetic, calculus, and geometry, and introducing key figures in math’s history. There’s Pythagoras and Isaac Newton, as well as lesser-known figures such as Claude Elwood Shannon, a pioneer in the information theory that undergirds today’s communication technology, and William Rowan Hamilton, a 19th-century mathematician who was “obsessed with complex numbers.” Brooks uses the work of these thinkers to break down the math behind facets of everyday life: he describes the statistics that underlie life expectancies; the equations that allow scientists to understand the cosmos; and the imaginary numbers that give guitar amplifiers their power. In his introduction, Brooks describes a point when a person hits their “mathematical limit” and gets overloaded, and encourages readers to avoid that feeling by approaching math with a sense of awe. He expertly maintains that spirit throughout and easily shows how, “through maths, we shape the world around us to give ourselves a better experience of being human.” It’s a show-stopping paean to the wonder of numbers.

November 15, 2021
A more or less chronological history and compelling case that advances in mathematics provided the foundation for the advance of civilization. Quantum physicist Brooks, author of 13 Things That Don't Make Sense: The Most Baffling Scientific Mysteries of Our Time, points out that numbers do not come naturally to humans. Ancient and remote communities could identify one, two, and three, but everything beyond is simply "many." This is not stupidity but evolution; larger numbers weren't necessary for their survival. Matters changed when we began to gather in large numbers and exchange goods; counting became essential. Ancient mathematics was clunky, but humans are good at problem-solving, so they achieved feats such as predicting eclipses, building complex structures, and measuring the Earth. Contrary to popular belief, the Middle Ages was a golden age for numbers, and a fiercely controversial concept--the negative number--entered the mainstream. Greeks and Romans did fine without a zero, but contemporary culture needs it, and eighth-century Persian mathematicians were vital to the development of algebra. Imaginary numbers are not imaginary at all; modern engineers could not calculate without them. Brooks proposes that the acceleration of change began around 1500 with the invention of double-entry bookkeeping, a way of ensuring that no errors crept into accounting. Before that, all trade was personal. Afterward, commerce exploded because there was "no more taking the owner's word for it, or trusting the family name." An unabashed lover of mathematics, Brooks refuses to take the traditional pop writer's pledge to eschew equations. Most readers will follow his description of ancient navigation across the Mediterranean and the birth of linear perspective in Renaissance Italy, but when he turns his attention to calculus, logarithms, statistics, and cryptography, there is no shortage of complex equations. Some readers will flinch, but those who power through will be rewarded. Not a mathematics-is-fun romp but a serious, persuasive effort to describe how its discoveries paralleled human progress.

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Starred review from December 1, 2021
In converting seventeenth-century reports of deaths in Britain into formulas, mathematician John Gaunt hoped to extract "real Fruit from those airy Blossoms." In an eye-opening survey of the real-world applications of mathematics, Brooks helps readers recognize the insurance industry incubated in Gaunt's pioneering actuarial analysis as just one of many "real Fruits" that the "airy Blossoms" of mathematics have given the world. Challenging the all-too-common view of mathematics as a boring subject irrelevant to genuine life interests, Brooks unfolds numerous compelling examples showing that mathematics empowers people who perform labors that benefit millions. In a narrative stretching from Pythagoras to Einstein, readers learn how geometry enabled Prince Henry to give fifteenth-century explorers better maps; calculus gave Daniel Bernoulli tools showing the need for vaccination to combat smallpox; statistics helped Florence Nightingale convince military leaders that disease threatened the lives of soldiers in the Crimea more than battlefield bullets; and algebra facilitated the work of Sergey Brin and Lawrence Page in constructing the Google search engine. Behind the powerful formulas, readers also glimpse the often deeply flawed character of the mathematicians who developed them, prompting serious reflection on the need for human wisdom in applying their work. A potent reminder of how mathematics has shaped the modern world.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.