Mathematical Scandals

Short little book by an American math teacher for people (teenagers) who think mathematics is dull. The idea is to do this by bringing the human side of mathematicians to the forefront. 21 mathematicians are covered in 136 pages. Each chapter starts with a fictitious dialogue to outline the ‘scandal’. If you are interested in the lives and work of mathematicians this book is not for you as it barely scratches the surface. Not surprising considering there are only about 6 pages available for each mathematician and almost haf of that is used for the fictitious dialogue. If you believe all mathematicians are dull nerds and you don’t like mathematics much maybe this book can give you another perspective without having to spend a lot of time reading about mathematics. The book as a good list of reference books for further reading if you have become interested in knowing more. I didn’t learn anything new in the book itself but the references allowed me to extend my ‘to read’ list even further. I find this a book that is difficult to judge. There is nothing wrong with it but I cannot imagine a real audience for it. The only thing I can think of is to use it in a mathematics course in high school where you add some light reading at the beginning of a chapter to illustrate the person behind the techniques being discussed.