Math Without Numbers

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars | 362 ratings

Price: 11.81

Last update: 08-30-2024


About this item

An audio tour of the structures and patterns we call "math"

This is an audiobook about math, but it contains no numbers.

Math Without Numbers is a vivid, conversational, and wholly original guide to the three main branches of abstract math - topology, analysis, and algebra - which turn out to be surprisingly easy to grasp. This audiobook upends the conventional approach to math, inviting you to think creatively about shape and dimension, the infinite and infinitesimal, symmetries, proofs, and how these concepts all fit together. What awaits listeners is a freewheeling tour of the inimitable joys and unsolved mysteries of this curiously powerful subject.

Like the classic math allegory Flatland, first published over a century ago, or Douglas Hofstadter's Godel, Escher, Bach 40 years ago, there has never been a math book quite like Math Without Numbers. So many popularizations of math have dwelt on numbers like pi or zero or infinity. This audiobook goes well beyond to questions such as: How many shapes are there? Is anything bigger than infinity? And is math even true? Milo Beckman shows why math is mostly just pattern recognition and how it keeps on surprising us with unexpected, useful connections to the real world.

The ambitions of this audiobook take a special kind of author. An inventive, original thinker pursuing his calling with jubilant passion. A prodigy. Milo Beckman completed the graduate-level course sequence in mathematics at age 16, when he was a sophomore at Harvard; while writing this book, he was studying the philosophical foundations of physics at Columbia under Brian Greene, among others.

This audiobook includes a PDF of illustrations and additional concepts from the book.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.


Top reviews from the United States

Ashvin Nair
5.0 out of 5 stars Really good - inspires a sense of science and inquiry
Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2024
I have a strong background in math and I still got a lot out of this book, and sent it to various members of my family - from a cousin who is about to graduate high school, to my mom who is a high school math teacher. Appropriate and fun for a wide range
Kenneth Markel
5.0 out of 5 stars Good read for both a non-technical person and for someone knowledgable of mathematics
Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2022
A very interesting perspective on major fields of mathematics including geometry, statistics, topology and others. I have a degree in physics and found it a very engaging perspective on these subjects. Author gives excellent explanations, using examples from everyday life, of some difficult topics with out formulas or numbers. I gave it to my son, an artist who struggled with HS algebra. He reported that it gave him a way into understanding concepts that he had always thought were beyond his ability.
AJP
4.0 out of 5 stars Cleverly written and comprehensive
Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2021
A small masterpiece, explaining mathematics in terms of a few basic concepts.
Just be sure you don't sneeze while reading. If you break your train of thought, you might have to start over!
Neil K. Brown
5.0 out of 5 stars Overdue piece of literature.
Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2022
My 10-year old son and I can’t put it down. Fun, brilliant, additive to our ongoing studies, and very approachable. We highly recommend this book to anyone with a brain.
Peter W.
3.0 out of 5 stars A nice effort - - - BUT:
Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2021
After the first three chapters - which were interesting - this book wanders off into realms of mathematics that are perceived only by the ingestion of narcotic substances or substances known only to shamans and others of that ilk! If the author thinks he was making sense, he has another think coming - - and it’s not coming from me!
TT
5.0 out of 5 stars Connects branches of science—Artfully written
Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2021
Groundbreaking book, that links the philosophy of calculus, the etimology of our English and Latin and is actually fun to read. The only thing lacking is a workbook to practice what you learn. I heard about the book on BBC. Great read.
Frederic
5.0 out of 5 stars Ideas I Wasn’t Aware Were Mathematics
Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2021
This book helped me understand some ideas I played with in my head in an objective way. It is a great read to improve the mathematical ground which we can use to further our understanding. Highly recommended.
Kindle Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting
Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2021
There are some esoteric concepts explained well. It could use fewer math terms and more layman's terms. I enjoyed it, though.

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