Math with Bad Drawings: Illuminating the Ideas That Shape Our Reality

The book is an impressive combo of math and the 'real world.' I've never been particularly good at math, but still find it fascinating as the language of nature. This book speaks to me on that level. The writing is great, the humor is rich, and the ideas are very interesting.

Don't like math? Try reading a book about it.No, seriously, you should, if it's this book.Ben Orlin acts as the ideal teacher, able to explain some of the hardest aspects of his field of study in a way that amateurs and decades-out-of-practice people can comprehend. Along the way, you'll see how math can be used to understand science, politics, economics, and even history. Whatever your interests are, there's a way math can apply to them, thereby sparking an interest in math itself.Final thought: Some of the best jokes are in the endnotes, including a great bit poking fun at the people thirsty enough to read the endnotes. He sees me!

I really enjoy this book. I am a math professor, but I believe my middle schooler can read the book. It is entertaining and contains various topics in mathematics.

This was a pretty slow start for me. The humor didn't really click, and I didn't find if particularly engaging until probability and statistics came to the fore about a third in. It mostly argues that math isn't some esoteric and impractical exercise, but instead a language of logic.

While the title (which includes “math”) made scare some away, this book initiates the non-mathematician to sensible and easy to understand utility and pervasiveness of mathematical principles in our conception of the world around us…it presents the a,b,c’s of how the universal language of mathematics underlies most of what we “know” or at least believe to be true (beliefs can become fact or fiction simply by changing initial assumptions)— acceptance of such truths are another matter. In short—if you love math you’ll enjoy the simplicity with which the author presents it—if you”hate” math (or just have bad memories of head-banging trying to figure out what the point of a, b, and c is anyway), you’ll see that, when presented simple, it actually makes sense!

A Pixar movie of a book: the plot is for the kids; the jokes are for the adults.With that said, the jokes are AWESOME, the little cartoons much better than the title suggests and the (ninth grade) math is explained so well I wish I had this book in ninth grade. Perhaps these days it’s an eighth grade book, I don’t know. (My kids are still too young.)Also, rather embarrassingly, I LEARNED STUFF FROM HERE. No, I did not learn math. I learned stuff I ought to have figured out for myself but was too focused on my grades to ponder. Like, why elephants have thick legs: for the same reason the sky is black! I’m serious, it’s the same reason and you can read it here…Halfway through the book the author actually runs out of amazing things about the natural world and from there he takes you to the mathematics of Wall Street and the IRS, which I did not find as captivating, let us say. It all remains just as funny, though.So this was a fun book to read. Probably an awesome gift for your friends’ kids. If the little ones don’t read it, the adults will at least get some good laughs out of it.

I was expecting some new insight from this book, but didn't get any. The drawings make for a catchy title, but I don't think they add much beyond what the text offers.For a math book, I am not looking for Proof by Simile. Saying that a function smooths out like the German Autobahn strikes me as distinctly nonmathmatical.I am not sure who the target audience is, but it seems too dense for younger children, and not rigorous enough for people interested in math and science. Perhaps best for people who never took college level math classes but are looking for something sciencey...

I don’t recall ever writing an Amazon review for anything. Ever. And given that most of my disposable income somehow finds itself in the mitts of this site that is quite a statement.What prompted me to write this review was something that I had never thought possible. While reading Mr Orlin’s excellent tome on math(s) (I’m English.....I’ll always be maths). “What was that?” I hear you clamor. Well, what we have here is a book about mathematics that actually made me laugh out loud. Yes, a math(s) book. Yes, a book about math(s). Laugh. Heartily. Page 153, paragraph 4 to be exact, about 10 minutes prior to me posting this review. In the probability section. Ironically the probability of me laughing while reading a math(s) book should really be close to zero but as Mr Orlin takes pains to make clear, sometimes low probability things happen. And happen it did. To me and to a certain Mrs Clinton as outlined on page 153.I’m just less than half way through this fantastic book and I already believe in equal parts that Mr Orlin and his (no so bad) drawings are both a national treasure and that he should be given complete control over all school curriculums.Yes, it is that good. I mean he made me laugh. Out loud. While reading a math(s) book.

This is what if I had in school would have worked for better understanding. I would recommend for those who “don’t get it” in the conventional waysTo take a look at this.

Ik had het boek aangekocht op basis van de leuke cartoons die ik regelmatig op Facebook zie verschijnen. Ik had gedacht dat het boek dan een mooie collectie van dergelijke cartoons zou zijn, maar dat is het helemaal niet. Ik heb er even in gebladerd, maar de inhoud is niet erg aantrekkelijk, en ik heb al leukere populariserende wiskundeboeken gezien. Ik stuur het boek terug.

Couldn't stop reading it until it's done.

O livro vem com uma capa dura, é bem maior do que eu esperava, tem 367 páginas.A escrita do Ben Orlin é cativante e engraçada. Algumas partes do livro eu já tinha lido no blog, mas foi bem interessante ter tudo organizado em um livro.

This book is not a text book or anything like it. It’s waaaay more fun and enjoyable to read and super interesting. I have a degree in pure physics and Ben takes some of the maths I know and made it so much fun. I highly recommend it.