> Babelio : https://www.babelio.com/livres/Stewart-Mon-cabinet-de-curiosites-mathematiques/2...

> MON CABINET DE CURIOSITÉS MATHÉMATIQUES, de Ian Stewart, 374 pages, 2009, Flammarion. — Depuis l'âge de 14 ans, ce professeur de mathématiques (université de Warwick, Angleterre) collectionne paradoxes, anecdotes, énigmes mathématiques. Ça donne un livre drôle, éclectique, tonique pour l'esprit. On se prend au jeu - à la condition absolue d'être à jeun : « Comment détecter la fausse pièce des 12, en 3 pesées (balance à fléau), en précisant si elle est plus lourde ou plus légère ? ». Ou alors, exemple de pensée du mois : « Il existe 10 sortes de gens dans le monde. Ceux qui comprennent les nombres en binaire et les autres. »
Les-sans-bagage-mathématique suivront, mais pas forcément les 180 problèmes… (Jacques MARMEY)
—Carnets du Yoga, (286), Avril 2010, (p. 19)

Professor Stewart speaks of a number of mathematical curiosities and puzzles with solutions. Among them are the Monty Hall Problem, the Riemann Hypothesis and other things that are interesting. While it is heavy on math, some of the problems only require simple logic to figure out. Just a disclaimer, it doesn't solve the Riemann Hypothesis, it only discusses it. ( )

there's no end of science/history/philosophy/[insert academic subject here] books that breathes life into these otherwise tedious fields of knowledge, essentially bringing them closer to the general populace by highlighting their more interesting facets. on the other hand, there seem to be a shortage of such books for maths...one that will not only make maths curious, but also enjoyable (albeit it took me nearly 6 months to finish enjoying this short book).

professor stewart's cabinet of mathematical curiosities accomplishes that for me. it makes maths wonderful, more like puzzles with solutions that fit so nicely they make you smile even if you had to cheat and see the answer at the end of the book after pondering the problem yourself for all of 5 minutes, and less than the most hated and feared subject back in high school (and beyond). it is also littered with math-themed tidbits one would most likely never have the opportunity (or reason) to look up even during the most lethargic days (A Game Of Life, anyone? ).

now i've finally put paid on this book, i have of course forgotten 98.2% of what it was all about, or what it talked about for 250 pages...but i still have that lingering 'smart' feeling one gets after reading a book with 'math' in the title. ( )

A mixture of the history of different branches of mathematics and maths puzzles ranging from the easy to "if you can prove this you can win a million dollar prize for being the first!"

Unfortunately this book tries to be a lot of things and fails, unlike many other excellent books by Prof. Stewart. If you want to read good and inspiring biographies of mathematicians there are very good books focused on that topic, if you are into recreational mathematics then you can easily consult excellent volumes e.g. the ones from Martin Gardner and if you want to read mathematical jokes... well, I'm sure you don't need a book for that (do you?). The level of topics discussed vary wildly, from high school algebra to university-level calculus and complex analysis. Even the author himself admits in some pages that the current topic is too technical to describe in a few sentences, so why start to talk about it in the first place? I do not regret having bought and read this book even though I came very close to thinking so. ( )