The Number Devil

Author: Hans Magnus Enzensberger
Format: Print

A quick little adventure; this would be ideal for the middle school student. It does a great job of raising your curiosity but leaves the "why?" for you, the adventurer, to discover. I also like the analogy it gives for proof which I will use in class. It compares writing a proof to crossing a river, you have to jump from rock to rock.

A Briefer History of Time

Author: Stephen Hawking
Format: Print

A great overview of some of the ideas of physics that have entered the public view. Relativity, quantum mechanics, string theory, black holes, the big bang, worm holes. By the way, did you hear about the black hole with the mass of 18 billion suns?

Innumeracy

Format: Print
Author: John Allen Paulos

"A billion, a trillion, whatever." We say these things but do we really have a sense of magnitude for big and small numbers as well as the risk and probabilities associated with our daily lives. Paulos tries to give the reader a good number sense as well as an understanding of probability while explaining the effects and causes of "innumeracy." The book is pretty entertaining with some great examples.

Infinite Ascent

Format: Print
Author: David Berlinski

This was a great overview of Math History. This topic is lacking in my math education so this book was a great help. It is very poetically written and could be good for even non-math types all though some passages were a little difficult to wrap my head around. Point of interest: Cantor claims that there are different sized infinities, he calls the size of the natural numbers "Aleph null." Also, not only is Euclid the "Father of Geometry" he is the Father of Proof as well.