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Humble Pi

A Comedy of Maths Errors

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Humble Pi

By: Matt Parker
Narrated by: Matt Parker
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Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Humble Pi written and read by Matt Parker.

What makes a bridge wobble when it's not meant to? Billions of dollars mysteriously vanish into thin air? A building rock when its resonant frequency matches a gym class leaping to Snap's 1990 hit I've Got The Power? The answer is maths. Or, to be precise, what happens when maths goes wrong in the real world.

As Matt Parker shows us, our modern lives are built on maths: computer programmes, finance, engineering. And most of the time this maths works quietly behind the scenes, until ... it doesn't. Exploring and explaining a litany of glitches, near-misses and mishaps involving the internet, big data, elections, street signs, lotteries, the Roman empire and a hapless Olympic shooting team, Matt Parker shows us the bizarre ways maths trips us up, and what this reveals about its essential place in our world.

Mathematics doesn't have good 'people skills', but we would all be better off, he argues, if we saw it as a practical ally. This book shows how, by making maths our friend, we can learn from its pitfalls. It also contains puzzles, challenges, geometric socks, jokes about binary code and three deliberate mistakes. Getting it wrong has never been more fun.

 Mathematics Politics & Government
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Critics' reviews

Matt Parker has pulled off something wonderful . . . his stories are superb. (Marcus Berkmann)
Parker is consistently very funny . . . highly entertaining.
Numbers to die for. Four stars. (Simon Griffith)
Bought it yesterday, enjoying it enormously, well done! (Dara Ó Briain)
I just finished the new book by irrepressible maths enthusiast @standupmaths, and it's GREAT! (Adam Savage, ex-host of 'Mythbusters')
An entertaining and often alarming journey through the numerical blunders made over the years.
"[Matt Parker] shows off math at its most playful and multifarious" --Jordan Ellenberg, author of "How to Not Be Wrong
Matt Parker is some sort of unholy fusion of a prankster, wizard and brilliant nerd--maths is rarely this clever, funny and ever so slightly naughty.
All stars
Most relevant
It’s a very interesting book! I really enjoyed it. The author is really enthusiastic about it and it shows. The only downside is that now I am overly conscious every time I crossed a bridge.

Good entertainment

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I really like the concept of the book and quite enjoyed most of the chapters. The comedic approach to mathematics managed to catch me, even though my capabilities in that subject are very little. I had to stop listening a few times to give my brain a brake since there are many numbers and digits thrown around but I imagine reading the book in paper may be easier in that regard, for those who struggle with the same thing. Now for my main point of criticism. I personally read the book in the prospects of reading something funny and entertaining, wich it mostly was. But for me there were to many errors talked about in this book wich consequences actually cost human life’s. I understand that those are fatal accidents in engineering, medicine etc. that need to be talked about, but I find that a stand up comedy book is not the right place for that. The whole book advertises itself around the concept that even giant companies like NASA make dump little errors that lead to things not working out, so the average reader with limited understanding of maths can relate and feel less uncomfortable about their own mathematical experience. I’m sure there must be more that enough of this story’s that don’t involve human casualties to fill multiple books, so the tragic story’s of this victims shouldn’t be brushed over so lightly and in such dry, grim Humor.
Overall it’s still a good read for the occasional non fiction book moments.

Very good but a little to morbid for me

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I really enjoyed this book, it’s even my very first audiobook. The storytelling is very entertaining and gives a lot of information in an easy and understandable way. If you like to know a few pretty cool fun (and also some rather tragic) facts surrounding math problems - you have found your book! Only thing I’m missing is all the photos and graphs mentioned, would have been nice to get them as a pdf.

Mathematical fun facts!

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Die Graphen und Bilder des Buches fehlen leider etwas. Ansonsten ein sehr schönes Audiobook. Der Sprecher ist zwar unerfahren aber ok.

Dchönes Buch, leider ohne die Bilder

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Great book and great presentation, had lots of laugs. Only thing to improve would be to not always read the full number, but a rounding instead

Too much number reading

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