Michael S. Schneider

I guess it's the geek in me that can love a book about geometry, though to be fair this is pop geometry, and the language and concepts are so simple that most anyone could understand it. It's stuffed full of fascinating examples of numbers and geometry in the world and in our language, although you have to bear in mind that 'our language' here is basically English, so it might be fair to say that the author often twists things to suit his argument (there's also no bibliography in my copy, which makes me skeptical of some bits).

If you want to read about why manhole covers are round, why two never used to be considered a number, and how to draw a pentagon (among other things), I really recommend this book. It would be a great sourcebook for maths teachers and textbook writers, too.… (mehr)