John Barrow, a Cambridge University mathematics professor, is also a popularizer of mathematical concepts and advanced physics. This book is a pleasant little collection of 100 short essays on everyday phenomena that people commonly encounter without understanding them. As Barrow demonstrates, the understanding of these events is greatly enhanced by a little math, usually just algebra. Barrow is such an efficient writer that it is difficult to summarize many of his chapters in fewer words than appear in each vignette.
In these short but fascinating chapters, he sheds light on many seeming mysteries, such as why uncooked spaghetti rarely breaks into just two pieces; why every line in a grocery store seems to move faster than the one you choose; how to calculate the dimensions of a safe zoo enclosure for a tiger; and how to calculate the proper number of guards needed for an art gallery.
One of the neat tidbits in the book is that champion high jumpers are able to clear the bar even though their centers of gravity pass under it! This comes about because of the unusual geometry their bodies assume in the Fosbury Flop. (The Fosbury Flop is a style used in the athletics event of high jump. It was popularized and perfected by American athlete Dick Fosbury, whose gold medal in the 1968 Summer Olympics brought it to the world’s attention.)
The Fosbury Flop
Barrow also explains how the shape of a roller coaster makes it possible to run the cars completely upside down without having to strap in the passengers; how to calculate the energy of an atomic explosion just by looking at photographs of it if the photographs contain a distance scale; and how very tall buildings are made to overcome structural and environmental problems.
There is much more: most of the chapters are just a couple of pages long. Since each chapter is virtually unrelated to the others, it makes a wonderful book to place somewhere for periodic sampling.
[Posted by Jim]
Rating:
It should be noted that while one of us loved this book, and was constantly citing little factoids from it, the other of us found the explanations going over her non-mathematically-minded head. Thus, the male of the house would rate this 4/5 and the female would rate this as “stays on the shelf waiting for my next life when I am more numerically adept.”
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I am of the generation that said girls aren’t good at math and I believed them. Then somewhere in my thirties I caught on to math in every day events and started appreciating math. I honestly think I would enjoy this book. Plus, if someone can tell me why the line I’m in is always slower, that would be worth the price of the book.
I was good at math, but a lot of that sounds too complicated for me. My hubby and son would probably love it, though.
[...] One Hundred Essential Things You Didn’t Know You Didn’t Know: Math Explains Your World – John D. Barrow (via Rhapsody in Books) [...]
I love math and factoids! This book sounds like a lot of fun! As a side note, I learned about Fosbury and the Fosbury Flop at a young age because he was a fellow Oregonian.
That’s strange… I would assume a book that simplifies and explains math would appeal to the less mathematically inclined rather than those who might appreciate a slightly dryer, heavier book of explanations. It sounds like a fun read regardless but it’s good to know that this isn’t for those who hate numbers…
This is on its way for my husband right now. It’s just his thing -he reads tons of crazy ‘how math relates to life, religion, etc.’books.
Jim, I take this as a challenge! I’m putting it on the wish list for myself, and plan to read excerpts to my husband … who can read it when I’m done with it!
Part of me would love it… part of me would keep it on the shelf.. :) Great review.