Cabinet of Mathematical curiosities --A book review

           

            The Cabinet of Mathematical curiosities was a very fun book to read. Even though the problems there can be understood just by one reading, and you still have to get a pen and paper to be able to understand what the problem is and how it was solved, it was really good.

            This book is very enthusiastic and also very humorous which is usually not found in mathematics class. This book has no story line, moral lesson, etc. There is only amazement with the tricks and brainteasers and the puzzles which I like to solve, but sometimes I could blame my laziness in listening to mathematics class—cause sometimes, I don’t know how to get the answer and sometimes, I don’t solve it cause it seemed hard.

            What I like about this book are the nerdy jokes. Who would expect that a mathematical book with a serious title “Cabinet of Mathematical curiosities” have jokes in it? Even though they are nerdy jokes but it was funny. Ian Stewart was really a good writer. I think he is also a fun person because he was able to place those jokes in there.

            However, this book isn’t a book that you read in one day straight. You have to open it, read a few chapters, solve the puzzles (if you want) and then read the others next time. Because if you wouldn’t be able to understand those mathematical things he’d been saying, you really wouldn’t be able to appreciate the book. Although there were small errors in the book, it was fine since you can see it readily.

             All in all, the book entitled “Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities” was a little bit of everything. There are a lot of new concepts that you would learn, you would be able to remember your past learning in math and you’d be able to laugh with the jokes written in there. It was really for curious people that were not satisfied with the mathematics they learned from the four corners of their classroom.