The Magic of Mathematics by Theoni Pappas (Wide World Publishing/Tetra, 1994) makes for very enjoyable reading. The subject matter of the book is quite varied, but as a whole might best be called "Mathematics Appreciation" (which, incidentally, is the title of an earlier book by Pappas
. Covered in the book are topics as widely varied as
tesselations, optical illusions, fractals, mathematics in art, various number theory-related topics, the history of mathematics, cryptography, mathematics in architecture, logic puzzles, and much more.
The book takes the form of a large number of mini-essays, many of which are 1–3 pages long. With such large breadth, topics are not treated in great depth, but are skimmed over in a way that keeps the general reader interested. Most of the mini-essays are illustrated with figures, illustrations, photographs (some of which would look better if printed at a higher resolution) and other images. The book contains a very comprehensive reference section, but it might have been nice to tie specific mini-essays to specific references. Overall, a very entertaining and interesting book that should give readers a glimpse of the beauty of mathematics.
Rating: 8.5/10