Motivational Math and Science Books

This is for easier-to-read books. More "Meaty" books are on the Classic Science Books page.

Here is another good list from Penny Gardner.

Top Picks for Class Discussion Books

Benjamin Franklin "Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin "

Benjamin Franklin's favorite passtime was science. His discoveries about the nature of electricity were world-class science.

He would be a excellent model scientist for the Pyramid Project. His personal and public virtues are impeccable.

Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass -- Lewis Carroll

Did you know Lewis Carroll is actually Charles Dodgson, a professor of mathematics at Oxford? Did you know he is one of the most famous puzzle-makers in history? These books are not merely ridiculous fantasies, they are explorations are math and logic, and greatly loved by mathematicians and logicians everywhere. Also check out the version edited by Martin Gardner, The Annotated Alice.

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch

Definitely a classic math book. Mr. Bowditch is a great mathematician to study. Notice how he keeps notebooks on everything he learns. Find out why he needs logarithm table for his students who cannot multiply. Learn to use a sextant, tell time by the stars, etc. These things are not completely spelled out in the book, but are all fascinating starting points for discussions and experiments.

Flatland

Note that 2 different film versions were create this year (2007): Flatland: The Film (98 min) and Flatland: The Movie (36 min)

Archimedes and the Door of Science

Covers a wide range of interesting math and science topics, but it can be easily understood even by grade-schoolers. This is one of the best "first science books" for young readers.

Other Recommended Reading

Isaac Asimov (anything and everything)

I'm a bit biased here. Asimov was by far my favorite author when I was young, and if my opinion of him has lessened, it may only be because I ran out of things to read by him. Asimov has a great gift of being about to explain things very simply, so his writings are especially good for beginners in math and science.

I grew up reading the math essays of Asimov and Gardner (see below). Asimov wrote his essays for "Fantasy and Science Fiction" magazine, but I found them in several of the volumes of collected essays. A good place to start is the book On Numbers, which gathers some of the best essays from many of these volumes. I particularly like the essay called "Forget It!" which teaches many good lessons about the progress of knowledge.

Some other good choices are: Understanding Physics - a good high-school level introduction to physics. Life and Energy - an introduction to chemistry. (He also has a series of really excellent history books, which have become somewhat rare and expensive.)

Martin Gardner (pretty much anything)

Back in the days when Scientific American had articles targetting someone with more than an 8th grade education, there was a monthly series in it called "Mathematical Recreations". When SciAm arrived each month, we would turn to the back of the magazine to read "Mathematical Recreations" first. Afterwards we would check if there was anything else worth reading. The author of these articles was Martin Gardner, and he kept it up for over 25 years. I cannot count the number things we were introduced to first in these articles: turing machines, penrose tiles, mandelbrot's fractals, etc. The articles have been collected in numerous volumes of fascinating essays on mathematical applications. So it is hard to go wrong with anything that has Martin Gardner's name on it.

Nice index of Martin Gardner articles

Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea -- Charles Seife

This is an enjoyable book. It traces the history of the zero concept from Babylon to India to Arabia to Renaissance Europe, noting also those cultures who avoided the use of zero to their detriment. Then it proceeds to trace the various difficulties caused by zero and its reciprical (1/0 = infinity) in modern math and science. The discussions of history and math concepts are entertaining, enlightening, and not technical. Even the discussion of calculus is good without getting into confusing details. I think it would be a good book to help someone understand more of the history of math and science, and understanding modern science principles.

e: The Story of a Number -- Eli Maor

This is a really great book. It covers a range of topics, since e (the base of the natural logarithm) pops up in so many areas. It has many equations, but they are not to be feared, because they are incredibly well explained in the text. There was hardly a single equation which did not make sense by the time I got to it, even in the advanced areas such as calculus.

The Art of the Infinite -- Robert and Ellen Kaplan

A very well written book, and easy to read considering the math concepts it introduces.  The writing style is almost whimsical at times, with frequent references to history, art, and poetry.  (You may want to read up about Alcibiades in Plutarch's Lives.)  Besides the expected rehash of Cantor's transfinite numbers, it takes you on a fascinating journey through topics in number theory, arithmetics, algebra, geometry, and perspective.  Euler's Equation makes an appearance, and I especially liked the 9-point circle in the geometry section.  Concepts are very well explained, with advanced topics in the appendix if the reader wants more technical depth.

The Logic of Real Arguments -- Alec Fisher

"This particular book is very well written. I am really enjoying it. I find that his organization, grasp of subject, presentation of material, style of writing etc are outstanding and that I do not know when I have read a more well prepared and written work." (Ken Waddell)

Not yet reviewed

One Two Three ... Infinity -- George Gamow

Available online at http://www.archive.org/details/onetwothreeinfin000923mbp.

The Planiverse: Computer Contact with a Two-Dimensional World -- A.K. Dewdney

I have not read this yet, but it is a continuation of "Flatland" in the sense that it describes how physical laws could actually work in a two-dimensional universe. Sounds fun!

Of Men and Numbers -- Jane Muir

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The Number Devil -- Hans Magnus Enzensberger

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A Rulebook for Arguments -- Anthony Weston

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How to Lie With Statistics -- Darrell Huff

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The Universe and the Teacup: The Mathematics of Truth and Beauty -- K. C. Cole

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Not classics, but read and reviewed here...

A Beginner's Guide to Constructing the Universe

This is a good book for people who do not like math. It establishes many connections and patterns which can arouse interest in studying more about math and numbers. Actually, it is a book about symbolism, and it says so openly in the introduction. So if you want to learn a lot about numerology and symbolism it may be interesting.

If you are already knowledgable in math and science, it is not such a good book, because of the large numbers of factual errors. The first two chapter are fairly good, but I can find them on nearly every page after that. He says, "The flowers of all edible fruit have 5 petals," which denies the existance of bananas and olives, for example. The phrases "astonishingly" or "no one knows" signal a comment which is blindingly obvious to anyone who has actually studied geometrical proofs. He even makes errors in his symbolism, for example, confounding Mercury's caduceus with the staff of Aesculapius.

The Golden Ratio -- Mario Livio

(The Story of phi, the World's Most Astonishing Number)

This is an interesting book about the golden ratio, but not an exciting one. The author spends rather too much time debunking bad theories about the golden ratio, so no, it was not used to build the pyramids or the Parthenon. While all that is accurate and scholarly, it detracts from the sense of wonder which a math book at this level should provide as a motivation to learn more. The sections on the actual uses of the golden ratio are interesting, but by no means exhaustive. Shortly after reading this book, I learned a few more fascinating uses of the golden ratio from a Martin Gardner article. ("Fibonacci and Lucas Numbers" in Mathematical Circus )

On the other hand, this book would be an excellent way to balance out your study of "A Beginner's Guide to Constructing the Universe." Where that book accepts any claim to symbolism or numerological design, no matter how tenuous, this book will teach you to look at such claims with a critical eye, in the same way a book on logical fallacies will help you identify sophistries.

An Imaginary Tale: The Story of "i" -- Paul J. Nahin

Disappointingly written book. The story of i has so much potential for a great story, but this book barely touches on the actual story. It spends most of it's time on deep mathematical subjects, most of which are mathematically pretty, but whose relevance is not adequately explained. There are a great many equations, but they are poorly described, so while someone who has already has advanced knowledge of math would be able to follow the logic, the average reader will quickly get lost if they even try to follow the math.

Synergistics -- Buckminster Fuller

Buckminster took too much LSD in his lifetime, and this book is proof of that.