UNIVERSITY OF BATH

Dept of Mathematical Sciences A List of Interesting Books

This is not an official reading list; these books are not textbooks and they are not directly related to the courses that we offer. But as with any subject, it is most important to see connections with other subjects, and to appreciate something of its historical development and philosophical structure. If you are to succeed in studying maths, you need to be enthusiastic about the subject. These books will hopefully stimulate your interest and curiosity, and motivate you to learn more. They also show you the sort of problems which mathematicians are nowadays concerned with, and the ways they go about solving them. University-level maths can be very different from the sort of work you have been doing at A-Level, and reading some of these books will prepare you for the shock! There are many interesting maths websites, and we would particularly recommend that you explore the Plus internet magazine, at http://www.plus.maths.org/ . This has lots of articles illustrating the beauty and applications of real maths, and it now includes its own blog and podcast.
But if you want to curl up with a good book, here are some suggestions, in no particular order:

Books by Ian Stewart: Books by R M Smullyan: The Problems of Mathematics What is the Name of this Book? Does God play dice? To Mock a Mocking Bird Why beauty is truth: the history of symmetry The Lady & the Tiger The Joy of Mathematics, T Pappas 200% of Nothing, A K Dewdney Mathematics: The New Golden Age, K J Devlin The Millennium Problems, K J Devlin How to solve it, G Polya (A classic of its kind) The Pleasures of Counting, T W Korner Fermats Last Theorem, S Singh The Mathematical Experience, P J Davis & R Hersh Alice in Numberland, J Baylis & R Haggerty Taking chances: winning with probability, J Haigh

How to take a penalty: the mathematical curiosities Gdel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, D of sport, R Eastaway & J Haigh Hofstadter (On the heavy side for most, but good) The Emperors New Mind, R Penrose (A book Mathematical Thought from Ancient to Modern Times, about the nature of consciousness that includes M Kline (This is a superb book to dip into. It is technically excellent) ideas of computability, quantum theory and more) Journey Through Genius, W Dunham (Each chapter has a historical or biographical narrative together with a detailed and accessible account of significant mathematical theorems) Mathematics & the Unexpected, I Ekeland (This is intellectually sophisticated but assumes little mathematics, and was awarded a prize in France for popular scientific writing)

What is Mathematics?, R Courant, H Robbins and I Mathematics Galore! C J Budd & C J Sangwin Stewart (A classic, dated in some respects but (Masterclasses, Workshops and team projects in mathematics and its applications) otherwise excellent) And finally Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, R M Pirsig (A hippie introduction to logical reasoning and rigorous argument)
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