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MAA Choice Award-winning titles

MAA Books on Choice Magazine's Outstanding Academic Titles

Choice magazine publishes an annual list of Outstanding Academic Titles compiled by the Choice editorial staff from among the thousands of titles reviewed during the previous year. MAA books have often been selected for this honor (full list of MAA winning-titles). Choice is published by the American Library Association.

Choice editors use six criteria when awarding Outstanding Academic Titles. They comprise:

  • Overall excellence in presentation and scholarship;
  • Importance relative to other literature in the field;
  • Distinction as a first treatment of a given subject in book or electronic form;
  • Originality or uniqueness of treatment;
  • Value to undergraduate students;
  • Importance in building undergraduate library collections.

    • According to the Choice website, ’This prestigious list reflects the best in scholarly titles reviewed by Choice and brings with it the extraordinary recognition of the academic library community.â?

    In 2010, three MAA books were selected for the 2011 list. According to Don Albers, MAA Books Editorial Director, "This the first time three of our books have been chosen in a single year." Full story.

    The following titles published by the MAA have been designated Outstanding Academic Titles by Choice magazine

    Calculus Gems
    George Simmons
    376 pp., hardcover, 2007

    A classic book is back in print! It can be used as a supplement in a Calculus course, or a History of Mathematics course. Read more.

    Martin Gardner’s Mathematical Games (on CD)
    Martin Gardner
    2005

    The entire collection of his Scientific American columns on one CD. Read more.

    Proofs That Really Count
    Arthur T. Benjamin and Jennifer J. Quinn
    208 pp., hardcover, 2003

    Mathematics is the science of patterns, and mathematicians attempt to understand these patterns and discover new ones using a variety of tools. In Proofs That Really Count, award-winning math professors Arthur Benjamin and Jennifer Quinn demonstrate that many number patterns, even very complex ones, can be understood by simple counting arguments. Read more.

    Mathematical Treks
    Ivars Peterson
    150 pp., paperbound, 2001

    The first book in a joint publishing venture between the MAA and Science News. Read more.

    Solve This
    James Tanton
    232 pp., paperbound, 2001

    Sophisticated mathematics is accessible to all. This book proves it! It is a collection of intriguing mathematical problems and activities linked by common themes that involve working with objects from our everyday experience. Read more.

    Geometry from Africa
    Paulus Gerdes
    224 pp., paperbound, 1999

    This beautifully illustrated book by the world’s leading authority on African mathematics provides us with a wide-ranging introduction to mathematical intuition in sub-Saharan African cultures. Read more.

    Euler: The Master of Us All
    William Dunham
    192 pp., paperbound, 1999

    Mathematician William Dunham has written a superb book about the life and amazing achievements of one of the greatest mathematicians of all time. Read more.

    Diophantus and Diophantine Equations
    Isabella Bashmakova
    104 pp., paperbound, 1997

    Most readers associate the mathematics of antiquity with Euclid's Elements and the works of Archimedes and Apollonius. This wonderful little book will introduce the reader to a new aspect of the mathematics of antiquity in the works of Diophantus. Read more.

    Numerology, or What Pythagoras Wrought
    Underwood Dudley
    329 pp., paperbound, 1997

    Underwood Dudley has assembled another delightful collection of essays that will amuse, engage, and instruct you. Dudley, author of the immensely popular MAA titles Mathematical Cranks and The Trisectors, has turned his attention in this volume to numerologists. Read more.