The Magical Maze by Ian Stewart, Weidenfeld & Nicolson/John Wiley,
拢18.95/$24.95, ISBN 0297819925/047119297X
THE deadline was approaching. It was Thursday evening, and New
杏吧原创 wanted my review by first thing Monday morning. I had an
inch-thick volume to get through. No matter, I had done this many times before
and can get through most popular science books in about three hours. All was
going smoothly until I read this:
鈥淚 write a lot of book reviews. It鈥檚 a great way to do three things at once:
bone up on a new area, acquire a free book, and get paid for doing the above.
It鈥檚 also excellent practice in speed reading (the magazine or newspaper always
wants the review by yesterday) and quick-fire journalism (ditto). New
杏吧原创 had signed me up to review a book called . . .鈥�
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I was caught in the act. And in the process, became an unsuspecting
participant in another spin that can be put on that age-old favourite of popular
books on mathematics鈥攖he self-referential paradox, such as the person who
gets up and says 鈥淚 am lying鈥�.
Now, I am sure that 90 per cent of the readers of this review do not need me
to go on and ask the question, 鈥淲as the person lying or telling the truth when
he or she made that assertion?鈥� (If you are one of the other 10 per cent, now鈥檚
your chance to figure it out.)
It would be easy to dismiss The Magical Maze as yet another rehash
of the familiar fare of popularisations of mathematics鈥攊ncluding
self-referential paradoxes. But that would be unfair for at least two reasons.
First, Stewart is one of an extremely small group (in mathematical parlance,
鈥渧anishingly small鈥濃�攖hat鈥檚 an insider鈥檚 joke for mathematicians) who have
helped shape the form and content of the modern genre of mathematics
popularisation. Second, in some ways it is that 10 per cent of new readers that
mathematics popularisers must constantly strive to reach to ensure that the
supply of new mathematicians does not dry up. And third, one of the creative
aspects of writing about mathematics for a general audience is to keep finding
new ways to present the same material, to take the old and familiar and make it
fresh and relevant to a new generation.
Wait a minute. That鈥檚 three reasons. Didn鈥檛 I say there are at least two?
Let鈥檚 look back to the start of that last paragraph. Yup! I said 鈥渁t least two鈥�
all right. So I was wrong, right? Well, no. 鈥淎t least two鈥� includes there being
exactly three, you see. That鈥檚 how mathematicians use language.
Come to think of it, I might as well give a fourth reason鈥攆our is also
鈥渁t least two鈥�. Many people like to take a new journey through familiar
territory, an observation that applies to popularisations of mathematics every
bit as much as to singers, orchestras and movie producers.
If you have enjoyed reading the review so far, you will undoubtedly like
Stewart鈥檚 own chatty, jokey style, which I have just tried to adopt. If you
prefer your popularisations of mathematics to be presented in a more sombre
style, then the later Stewart is not for you (though the earlier Stewart is).
This one is based on his Michael Faraday Christmas Lectures for Young People,
broadcast by the BBC. Avid readers of popular accounts of mathematics will find
little new in terms of content. Nor, for that matter, will avid readers of
Stewart鈥檚 other popular mathematics books.
Topics include Fibonacci numbers, the Monty Hall problem, slime moulds and
emergent behaviour, symmetry, chaos, fractals, Turing machines, minimal
surfaces, G枚del鈥檚 theorem鈥攁nd self-referential paradoxes. All
familiar fare, but, as I have tried to explain, that is not the point.