A welcome addition to the math-for–lay readers genre, with the hope for more to come.
Sharp answers to “the question about what [mathematics] is good for.”
The answers come from a young Dutch mathematician and philosopher of mathematics. While Buijsman notes that you may never use the formulas you memorized in high school, he also emphasizes that math is everywhere in modern society. In his first book, he seeks to give readers a solid grasp of some of the math areas involved, whether it's the inner workings of a car’s cruise control, the rules governing opinion polls, or how Google Maps designs efficient routes. The author acknowledges that there are still small hunter-gatherer groups that have no number systems or measuring tools but who can still build boats, bridges, and houses and barter goods. The importance of math surged with the growth of populations in cities and the expansion of agriculture and trade, which required the ability to reckon quantities of goods, levy taxes, and invent coinage. The author’s focus on the practical utility of math dictates three chapters on calculus, probability theory, and graph theory, but he also ponders a philosophically intriguing question: Why do findings from the most abstract areas of mathematics have remarkable relevance to aspects of the real world around us? Buijsman spares readers from too many detailed notations and equations, concentrating on the basic concepts, major innovators, and the games or puzzles that inspired the scholars. In graph theory, that involved whether or not one could traverse all seven bridges of the city of Königsberg, crossing each bridge only once. In 1736, Swiss mathematician and physicist Leonhard Euler showed that this was impossible. Today, graph theory has broad applications, not only in mapping software, but also in artificial intelligence, neural networks, cancer therapy, and the countless algorithms that drive internet searches or allow Netflix to make movie recommendations.
A welcome addition to the math-for–lay readers genre, with the hope for more to come.Pub Date: July 28, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-14-313458-9
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Penguin
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2020
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
A frank and funny but uneven essay collection about neurodiversity.
An experimental, illustrated essay collection that questions neurotypical definitions of what is normal.
From a young age, writer and comedian Myers has been different. In addition to coping with obsessive compulsive disorder and panic attacks, she struggled to read basic social cues. During a round of seven minutes in heaven—a game in which two players spend seven minutes in a closet and are expected to kiss—Myers misread the romantic advances of her best friend and longtime crush, Marley. In Paris, she accidentally invited a sex worker to join her friends for “board games and beer,” thinking he was simply a random stranger who happened to be hitting on her. In community college, a stranger’s request for a pen spiraled her into a panic attack but resulted in a tentative friendship. When the author moved to Australia, she began taking notes on her colleagues in an effort to know them better. As the author says to her co-worker, Tabitha, “there are unspoken social contracts within a workplace that—by some miracle—everyone else already understands, and I don’t….When things Go Without Saying, they Never Get Said, and sometimes people need you to Say Those Things So They Understand What The Hell Is Going On.” At its best, Myers’ prose is vulnerable and humorous, capturing characterization in small but consequential life moments, and her illustrations beautifully complement the text. Unfortunately, the author’s tendency toward unnecessary capitalization and experimental forms is often unsuccessful, breaking the book’s otherwise steady rhythm.
A frank and funny but uneven essay collection about neurodiversity.Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9780063381308
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2025
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