Pi in the sky
counting, thinking, and being
by John D. Barrow · first published 1992
4mentions
3recommended by
3HN commenters
2015–2024first – last mentioned
100% recommend
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
…communist/socialist ideology. (Previously, living in China, I have stayed consciously ignorant of such things, which I had never found particularly interesting.) 8. Philosophy of mathematics. Currently reading Pi in the Sky which is an awesome book which I would particularly recommend as a very readable, tangent-laden ponder for programmers without a significant background in formal mathematics who like history, mathematics…
on “Ask HN: What are you currently learning in your spare time?” ↗I remember Pi in the Sky by John Barrows very fondly. It has more of a focus on geometry and logic. A Programmer's Introduction to Mathematics by Jeremy Kun is wide ranging and appropriate if there is also interest in programming.…
on “Ask HN: Recommend a maths book for a teenager?” ↗His book Pi in the Sky was one of the two most influential math books for me in my youth; the other was Modern Mathematics by Edna Kramer. I had not heard of his death. Thanks for posting about it.
on “Three Mathematicians We Lost in 2020” ↗Just a few weeks ago I got an absolutely delightful email: > Ні! This might seem a little out of the blue and it is but a few years ago at a library book sale I got the book "Pi in the Sky". It has your personal library stamp on it, so I guess YOU got it at a library sale and then re-donated it? I had never read anything about math before that was at all interesting and it got me reading…
on “Discarded delights: The joy of ex-library books (2021)” ↗