The Universe And The Teacup: The Mathematics of Truth and Beauty

Being disenchanted with religion, I picked up this and other books in search of some other kind of truth. I do feel as though after reading this book I have a much better understanding of what 'truth' is and what it's not. I think those who nit-pick about their claims of little discrepancies in the book are really missing out on the bigger picture. The book is full of interesting little facts and factoids but the interesting thing to me was to see how she's pulled together these common insights that are gained from so many fields of study. I think this was just about my favorite book ever.

If you read this book, you will learn things in a way you will never forget. If you read the chapter on scale, for instance, you'll always know why an ant could never start a fire or write a book, why water is as deadly to a fly as flypaper. If you read about risk assement you will understand always why numbers aren't enough to make sense of risk, that human context counts a lot: "People who don't have enough to eat don't worry about apples contaminated with Alar. People who face daily violence at their front door don't worry about hijackings." Best of all, I found The Universe and the Teacup as consoling as a warm cup of tea. I learned that even the brightest lights in math suffer from number numbness -- they can't cope either with extremly large or small numbers. I also found out that things can do numbers that numbers can't because sometimes numbers just don't add up: If you add hydrogen to oxygen in a 2 to 1 proportion under the right conditions, you do not get three units of gas, you get water. I recommend this book to every math phobe who would like a moment's peace.

The author has introduced a number of mathematical ideas deftly, gently, and eloquently--and without using any equations! She has a keen insight into how people instinctively handle mathematics, and how innacurate our thinking often is, and she has chosen those areas where mathematics is both most relevant and most misunderstood as her principle topics. Very interesting...

reviewed by Gerald Rising, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor, University at Buffalo In modern society illiteracy, the inability to read and write, is universally considered unacceptable. On the other hand innumeracy, the corresponding inability to function with numbers, is not only widely tolerated but many adults even brag about their mathematical shortcomings. While few parents would deflect a child's question about a literary selection with an admission that they could not read well, many of those same parents turn away their youngster's arithmetic inquiry with: "Sorry, I was never any good at math." Like Violet in Charles Schultz's "Peanuts" cartoon, we are a nation that prefers subjects "that are only a matter of opinion." It is reasonable to suggest that our tradition of widespread mathematical incompetence began with the ancients. Mathematical concepts were among the arcane secrets kept by the Pythagorean priesthood. And like members of their parent society, modern mathematicians and math teachers husband their secrets well, allowing their students access only to disconnected and barely intelligible driblets of knowledge while they retain their mnemonics and short-cuts and interconnections. No wonder our children do so poorly on math SATs and Regents examinations. In an expository tour de force K. C. Cole lets the cat out of the bag. If you want to address your own innumeracy, if you want to gain insights into the power of mathematical thinking, if you want to see why math is so important not only to the sciences but to modern society in general, rush out and get her "The Universe and the Teacup: The Mathematics of Truth and Beauty." No matter how weak (or strong) your mathematical background, you will learn from this book. But what is most remarkable about it is its readability: if you have been able to read this review so far, you have the ability to comprehend this book's contents. I know of no other mathematics text about which that may be said. This is not a "how to" book that describes mathematical techniques - there is only one graph and of its half dozen equations, four are in one footnote - and you will come away from reading it no better at computation. Rather, it is a book about the achievements of mathematical thinking. Virtually none of those achievements are simple, but Ms. Cole's remarkable ability to choose the perfect analogy, the ideal example and the most concise explanation clarifies the deepest concepts. Consider a few: About the size of numbers: "Berkeley geologist Raymond Jeanloz...likes to impress his students with the power of large numbers by drawing a line designating zero on one end of the blackboard and another marking a trillion on the far side. Then he asks a volunteer to draw a line where a billion would fall. Most people put it about a third of the way between zero and a trillion, he says. Actually, it falls very near the chalk line that marks zero

First, let me announce my two biases. First, I know Ms. Cole. Secondly, I have a degree in math. That said, this is a great book for adults who run first to the headlines in their local papers to satisfy their prejudices or feed their anxieties. Ms. Cole's audience, I believe, are these literate folks who don't have any time for mathematics but do have time to fill their brains with popular pablum. If one keeps the audience in mind, one concludes that her book is a great success. Here's why. Mathematics works and it's relevant to the headlines. Whose kid is smarter? What's fair? Do ideas and phenomena change their qualities as they get bigger? Should I think differently?Ms. Cole provides a tool that convinces us that certain hard problems in life are tractable, and that we have the tools, and that at the very least other "authorities" don't use them, or don't use them well (eg. The Bell Curve).I agree that one critic who indicated that many of her sources are themselves popularizations of science. Ms. Cole does not pretend to be a scientist and should not be expected to master differential equations before she can discuss complexity theory applications of emergent properties in closed fluid dynamical systems. Give me a break. And you should also note that a great number of her sources are the horse's mouths themselves--she does world-class journalism in the pursuit of identifying truth, new insights, and prejudices stemming from ignorance. I enjoyed the book. It beats the pants off GellMan's Quark and the Jaguar.