Math mutation classics. Exploring interesting, fun and weird corners of mathematics (Q2798758)

This book is the printed version of the author's mathematical podcast. The effect of this heritage can be seen as soon as you flip through the pages: it is unusually short of both formulae and illustrations for even a recreational mathematics book! (Hawking famously kept \textit{A brief history of time} down to one equation, but it was illustrated lavishly in compensation.) Some readers will find the first omission unfortunate; more will regret the latter.NEWLINENEWLINEThe articles are short, wittily written, and number around a hundred. They cover a wide variety of topics, some closer to physics, physiology, or linguistics than mathematics. Subjects emphasized include paradoxes, probability, numbers, and cosmology.NEWLINENEWLINEThe book should be accessible to all reasonably numerate people, and provide pleasant browsing even for the expert. Readers who enjoyed Martin Gardner's classic \textit{Mathematical games} columns will probably enjoy this book; it should definitely be in junior high school, high school, public and university libraries. And, at \$20 (US), it's priced well within the reach of most private readers.NEWLINENEWLINEIf the reader has difficulty finding this book, it may be because of a bizarre decision by the publishers, who suggested, on the back cover, that it be shelved under ``Business''. We may hope that booksellers and librarians have more sense.