Mathematics for the General Reader

• The 15 Puzzle: How It Drove the World Crazy, by Jerry Slocum and Dic Sonneveld. Reviewed by Sarah Boslaugh
  
• 1089 and All That: A Journey into Mathematics, by David Acheson. Reviewed by Teri J. Murphy and Henry J. Neeman
  
• 777 Mathematical Conversation Starters, by John dePillis. Briefly noted
  
• Across the Board: The Mathematics of Chessboard Problems, by John J. Watkins. Briefly noted
  
• Adam Spencer's Book of Numbers, by Adam Spencer. Reviewed by Thomas J. Pfaff
  
• The Advent of the Algorithm, by David Berlinski. Reviewed by Allen B. Downey
  
• Aha! Gotcha Aha! Insight: Aha! A Two Volume Collection, by Martin Gardner. Reviewed by Fernando Q. Gouvêa
  
• Another Fine Math You've Got Me Into..., by Ian Stewart. Reviewed by Amy Shell-Gellasch
  
• The Art of the Infinite, by Robert Kaplan and Ellen Kaplan. Reviewed by Steve Kennedy
  
• Between Inner Space and Outer Space, by John D. Barrow. Briefly noted.
  
• Book of Curious and Interesting Puzzles, by David Wells. Reviewed by Fernando Q. Gouvêa
  
• Bourbaki: A Secret Society of Mathematicians, by Maurice Mashaal. Reviewed by Michael Berg
  
• Calculated Bets, by Steven Skiena. Reviewed by Andrew Perry
  
• Celestial Encounters: The Origins of Chaos and Stability, by Florin Diacu and Philip Holmes. Briefly noted.
  
• Chaotic Elections!, by Donald G. Saari. Reviewed by Edward W. Packel
  
• The CMI Millennium Meeting Video Collection, Directed by François Tisseyre. Reviewed by David P. Roberts
  
• Coincidences, Chaos, and All That Math Jazz: Making Light of Weighty Ideas, by Edward B. Burger and Michael Starbird. Reviewed by Darren Glass
  
• Computers, Ltd.: What They Really Can't Do, by David Harel. Reviewed by J. Kevin Colligan
  
• Conned Again, Watson: Cautionary Tales of Logic, Math, and Probability, by Colin Bruce. Reviewed by Daniel H. Cohen
  
• Count Down: Six Kids Vie for Glory at the World's Toughest Math Competition, by Steve Olsen. Reviewed by Kathryn Weld
  
• Curve Ball: Baseball, Statistics, and the Role of Chance in the Game, by Jim Albert and Jay Bennett. Reviewed by J. Kevin Colligan
  
• Dicing with Death: Chance, Risk and Health, by Stephen Senn. Reviewed by Steven R. Dunbar
  
• Drawbridge Up: Mathematics — A Cultural Anathema, by Hans Magnus Enzensberger. Reviewed by Agnes Tuska
  
• Dr. Ecco, Mathematical Detective, by Dennis Shasha. Reviewed by Sandra Kingan
  
• Dueling Idiots and Other Probability Puzzlers, by Paul Nahin. Briefly noted.
  
• Emblems of Mind, by Edward Rothstein. Reviewed by Shai Simonson
  
• The Equation that Couldn't Be Solved: How Mathematical Genius Discovered the Language of Symmetry, by Mario Livio. Reviewed by Darren Glass
  
• The Equations: Icons of Knowledge, by Sander Bais. Reviewed by David M. Bressoud
  
• Essays on Numbers and Figures, by V. V. Prasolov. Reviewed by Steven Morics
  
• Euclid in the Rainforest: Discovering Universal Truths in Logic and Math, by Joseph Mazur. Reviewed by Stacy Langton
  
• Everything and More: A Compact History of ∞, by David Foster Wallace. Reviewed by Darren Glass
  
• Everything's Relative and Other Fables from Science and Technology, by Tony Rothman. Reviewed by Donald L. Vestal
  
• Excursions into Mathematics, Millennium Edition, by Anatole Beck, Michael N. Bleicher, and Donald W. Crowe. Briefly noted.
  
• Fearless Symmetry: Exposing the Hidden Patterns of Numbers, by Avner Ash and Robert Gross. Reviewed by Darren Glass
  
• Five More Golden Rules, by John L. Casti. Reviewed by Donald L. Vestal
  
• Flatterland, by Ian Stewart. Reviewed by Thomas F. Banchoff
  
• Flexagons Inside Out, by Les Pook. Reviewed by Robert McGuigan
  
• Fortune's Formula: The Untold Story of the Scientific Betting System that Beat the Casinos and Wall Street, by William Poundstone. Reviewed by Toby Donaldson
  
• Four Colors Suffice: How the Map Problem Was Solved, by Robin Wilson. Reviewed by G. L. Alexanderson
  
• Fragments of Infinity: A Kaleidoscope of Math and Art, by Ivars Peterson. Reviewed by Marvin Schaefer
  
• Gamma: Exploring Euler's Constant, by Julian Havil. Reviewed by Jeremy Gray
  
• A Gardner's Workout: Training the Mind and Entertaining the Spirit, by Martin Gardner. Reviewed by Mihaela Poplicher
  
• Gnomon: From Pharaohs to Fractals, by Midhat J. Gazalé. Reviewed by Ed Sandifer
  
• The Golden Section, by Hans Walser. Reviewed by Underwood Dudley
  
• God Created the Integers: The Mathematical Breakthroughs that Changed History, ed. by Stephen Hawking. Reviewed by Fernando Q. Gouvêa
  
• Google's PageRank and Beyond: The Science of Search Engine Rankings, by Amy N. Langville and Carl D. Meyer. Reviewed by William J. Satzer
  
• Graphic Discovery: A Trout in the Milk and Other Visual Adventures, by Howard Wainer. Reviewed by Raymond N. Greenwell
  
• The Heart of Mathematics, by Edward B. Burger and Michael Starbird. Reviewed by Julian Fleron
  
• The Hilbert Challenge, by Jeremy J. Gray. Reviewed by David Graves
  
• How the Other Half Thinks, by Sherman Stein. Reviewed by Stacy Langton
  
• Imaginary Numbers: An Anthology of Marvelous Mathematical Stories, Diversions, Poems and Musings, edited by William Frucht. Reviewed by Ed Sandifer
  
• Imagining Numbers (particularly the square root of minus fifteen, by Barry Mazur. Reviewed by Keith Devlin
  
• The Importance of Being Fuzzy, by Arturo Sangalli. Reviewed by Mark Johnson
  
• In Code: A Mathematical Journey, by Sarah Flannery with David Flannery. Reviewed by Marvin Schaefer
  
• Incompleteness: The Proof and Paradox of Kurt Gödel, by Rebecca Goldstein. Reviewed by John Martin
  
• Infinity: The Quest to Think the Unthinkable, by Brian Clegg. Reviewed by Kevin R. Burger
  
• Knots: Mathematics with a Twist, by Alexei Sossinsky, translated by Giselle Weiss. Reviewed by Philip D. Straffin
  
• The Kingdom of Infinite Number, by Bryan Bunch. Reviewed by Charles Ashbacher
  
• The Language of Mathematics, by Keith Devlin. Reviewed by Ioana Mihaila
  
• Letters to a Young Mathematician, by Ian Stewart. Reviewed by Fernando Q. Gouvêa
  
• The Liar Paradox and the Towers of Hanoi: The Ten Greatest Math Puzzles of All Time, by Marcel Danesi. Reviewed by Dick Fellow
  
• Life by the Numbers, by Keith Devlin. Reviewed by Bernadette Mullins
  
• Logic Made Easy: How to Know When Language Deceives You, by Deborah J. Bennett. Reviewed by Robert S. Wolf
  
• A Long Way From Euclid, by Constance Reid. Reviewed by Sandra Kingan
  
• The Magical Maze: Seeing the World through Mathematical Eyes, by Ian Stewart. Reviewed by Sean Bradley
  
• The Math Behind the Music, by Leon Harkleroad. Reviewed by Sarah Boslaugh
  
• The Math Chat Book, by Frank Morgan. Reviewed by Donald L. Vestal
  
• The Math Gene: How Mathematical Thinking Evolved and Why Numbers Are Like Gossip, by Keith Devlin. Reviewed by Carl D. Mueller
  
• The Math Instinct: Why You're a Mathematical Genius (Along with Lobsters, Birds, Cats, and Dogs), by Keith Devlin. Reviewed by Amy Shell-Gellasch
  
• The Math Life, a film by Wendy Conquest, Bob Drake, and Dan Rockmore. Reviewed by Henry Cohn
  
• Math Trek: Adventures in the MathZone, by Ivars Peterson and Nancy Henderson. Reviewed by Mary Shepherd
  
• Mathematical Adventures for Students and Amateurs, ed. by David F. Hayes and Tatiana Shubin. Reviewed by Darren Glass
  
• The Mathematical Century: The 30 Greatest Problems of the Last 100 Years, by Piergiorgio Odifreddi. Reviewed by P. N. Ruane
  
• Mathematical Conversations, ed. by Robin Wilson and Jeremy Gray. Reviewed by Branislav Kisacanin
  
• The Mathematical Explorer, by Stan Wagon and Wolfram Research. Reviewed by Marvin Schaefer
  
• Mathematical Mountaintops: The Five Most Famous Problems of All Time, by John L. Casti. Reviewed by David P. Roberts
  
• Mathematical Mysteries: The Beauty and Magic of Numbers, by Calvin C. Clawson. Briefly noted.
  
• Mathematical Puzzle Tales, by Martin Gardner. Reviewed by Antonella Cupillari
  
• Mathematical Puzzles: A Connoisseur's Collection, by Peter Winkler. Reviewed by James Tanton
  
• Mathematical Reminiscences, by Howard Eves. Reviewed by Michael Berg.
  
• Mathematical Sorcery: Revealing the Secrets of Numbers, by Calvin C. Clawson. Reviewed by Charles Ashbacher
  
• Mathematical Treks: From Surreal Numbers to Magic Circles, by Ivars Peterson. Reviewed by Richard K. Guy
  
• A Mathematician at the Ballpark: Odds and Probabilities for Baseball Fans, by Ken Ross. Reviewed by Steve Morics
  
• Mathematics: A Very Short Introduction, by Timothy Gowers. Reviewed by Fernando Q. Gouvêa
  
• Mathematics, Art, Technology and Cinema, ed. by Michele Emmer and Mirella Manaresi. Reviewed by David Acheson
  
• Mathematics and Democracy: The Case for Quantitative Literacy, prepared by The National Council on Education and the Disciplines, Lynn Arthur Steen, Executive Editor. Reviewed by Steven R. Dunbar
  
• Mathematics Elsewhere, by Marcia Ascher. Reviewed by Charles Ashbacher
  
• Mathematics for Human Survival, by Patricia Clark Kenschaft. Reviewed by Bonnie Shulman
  
• Mathematics for the Imagination, by Peter M. Higgins. Reviewed by Steven Morics
  
• Mathematics in Nature, by John A. Adam. Reviewed by Steven Morics
  
• The Mathematics of Oz, by Clifford A. Pickover. Reviewed by Charles Ashbacher
  
• Measure for Measure: The Story of Imperial, Metric, and Other Units, by Alex Hebra. Briefly noted
  
• Meta Math! The Search for Omega, by Gregory Chaitin. Reviewed by Marion Cohen
  
• The Millennium Problems, by Keith Devlin. Reviewed by David P. Roberts
  
• Musings of the Masters: An Anthology of Mathematical Reflections, ed. by Raymond G. Ayoub. Reviewed by Annalisa Crannell
  
• The Mystery of Numbers, by Annemarie Schimmel. Reviewed by Julian F. Fleron
  
• Number: from Ahmes to Cantor, by Midhat Gazalé. Reviewed by Marvin Schaefer
  
• The Nothing That Is, by Robert Kaplan. Reviewed by Andrew Leahy
  
• Numerology, or What Pythagoras Wrought, by Underwood Dudley. Reviewed by Walter Sizer
  
• The Pea and the Sun, by Leonard M. Wapner. Reviewed by David M. Bressoud
  
• Penrose Tiles To Trapdoor Ciphers, by Martin Gardner. Reviewed by Richard Vinson
  
• π: A Biography of the World's Most Mysterious Number, by Alfred A. Posamentier and Ingmar Lehmann. Reviewed by David A. Huckaby
  
• Pi Unleashed, by by Jörg Arndt and Christoph Haenel. Reviewed by Carl D. Mueller
  
• A Prime for the Millennium, by John B. Cosgrave. Briefly Noted.
  
• The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe, by Roger Penrose. Reviewed by David M. Bressoud
  
• The Secret Life of Numbers: 50 Easy Pieces on How Mathematicians Work and Think, by George G. Szpiro. Reviewed by William J. Satzer
  
• The Shape of the Great Pyramid, by Roger Herz-Fischler. Reviewed by Underwood Dudley
  
• A Smoother Pebble: Mathematical Explorations, by Donald C. Benson. Reviewed by Ed Sandifer
  
• Solve This: Math Activities for Students and Clubs, by James Tanton. Reviewed by Herbert E. Kasube
  
• Sophie's Diary: A Historical Fiction, by Dora Musielak. Reviewed by Judy Holdener
  
• The Square Root of 2: A Dialogue Concerning a Number and a Sequence, by David Flannery. Reviewed by Doug Ensley and John Ensley
  
• Stalking the Riemann Hypothesis: The Quest to Find the Hidden Law of Prime Numbers, by Dan Rockmore. Reviewed by S. W. Graham
  
• Stamping Through Mathematics, by Robin Wilson. Reviewed by Victor Katz.
  
• Strange Curves, Counting Rabbits, and other Mathematical Explorations, by Keith Ball. Reviewed by Stacy G. Langton
  
• Strength in Numbers, by Sherman Stein. Reviewed by Keith Devlin
  
• Surfing Through Hyperspace, by Clifford A. Pickover. Reviewed by Michele Intermont
  
• Symmetry and the Monster: One of the Greatest Quests of Mathematics, by Mark Ronan. Reviewed by Darren Glass
  
• Ten Mathematical Acrostics For People Who Are Amused by Words, by Tom M. Apostol. Briefly noted.
  
• Trigonometric Delights, by Eli Maor. Reviewed by Sean Bradley
  
• The Triumph of Numbers: How Counting Shaped Modern Life, by I. B. Cohen. Reviewed by Judith V. Grabiner
  
• The Universal Book of Mathematics: From Abracadabra to Zeno's Paradoxes, by David Darling. Reviewed by Warren Johnson
  
• The Universe and the Teacup, by K. C. Cole. Reviewed by William Berlinghoff
  
• Vision in Elementary Mathematics, by W. W. Sawyer. Reviewed by Rick Seaman
  
• What's Happening in the Mathematical Sciences, 1998-1999, by Barry Cipra. Briefly noted.
  
• What's Happening in the Mathematical Sciences, Volume 5, by Barry Cipra. Reviewed by David P. Roberts
  
• When Least is Best: How Mathematicians Discovered Many Clever Ways to Make Things as Small (or as Large) as Possible, by Paul Nahin. Reviewed by Bonnie Shulman
  
• Which Door Has the Cadillac: Adventures of a Real Life Mathematician, by Andrew Vazsonyi. Reviewed by Nancy C. Weida
  
• Why Knot? An Introduction to the Mathematical Theory of Knots, by Colin Adams. Reviewed by Philip D. Straffin
  
• Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea, by Charles Seife. Reviewed by Andrew Leahy