The Magic of Math~Arthur Benjamin | Review

Title: The Magic of Math: Solving for x and Figuring Out Why
Author: Arthur Benjamin
Genre: Nonfiction Education
Length: 336 Pages
Release: September 2015
My Rating: 4/5 Stars

I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review

When I saw this book on Netgalley, I was immediately interested. I have a degree in mathematics and love learning new things about the subject. Magic and Math? Definitely something I would want to read. 

In this book, the author goes through several branches of mathematics, uncovering "magical" patterns. The book is designed to appeal to not only mathematicians, but everyone. While I think those who already have an understanding of some of the material would get more out of it, it's written with simplified explanations that would are easy to understand. 

The author discusses his love of puzzles and patterns and why he first got interested in math which really connected with me. I started loving math when I realized it was like a puzzle, sometimes in reverse. Sometimes you have to figure out how to take something apart to get what you want. Other times you have to build it from the ground up. And that's why I got a degree in math. 

My favorite sections were probably the very beginning with arithmetic and algebra, and then the calculus portion. These discussed some interesting patterns and theories with interesting examples. These are the branches of mathematics in which I've done the most and so that's probably why I enjoyed them the most. There are so many fascinating mathematically based things occurring in our lives that we don't even notice. Everyone should read these types of books just to see how math is everywhere.

The book uses a lot of pictures and illustrations and tables to explain the examples and theories being discussed. The formatting for these was somewhat off in the review copy I had, but will obviously be fixed in the final version. I really want to get myself a copy of this once it comes out. I think that many people would benefit from exploring these patterns whether they consider themselves mathematically minded or not. It was entertaining, fun, and informative.