THE SECRET LIFE OF NUMBERS: Four Dozen Easy Pieces on How Mathematicians Think & Work
By George G. Szpiro
Winter 04/05

Most of us have little idea what mathematicians do or think and suspect that their esoteric writings are unintelligible to all but specialists. THE JOYS OF MATHEMATICS proves otherwise. The book consists of 48 chapters of 600 to 800 words, each describing a recently solved math problems, recounting an interesting vignette from the life of a famous mathematician, or explaining an important mathematical research study in layman’s language. The book also explores how mathematics affects every aspect of life – the law, geography, elections, botany, etc. The words "easy pieces" in the sub-title conveys that math does not have to be "heavy." The tone is irreverent and amusing, filled with stories, anecdotes, and vignettes. Many chapters are based on a series of articles George Szpiro wrote for the Sunday edition of Neue Zürcher Zeitung. As a result of that series, he was awarded the prestigious "Prix Media 2003" by the Swiss Academy of Sciences. The prize is given once a year to a science writer whose work best explains science to the general public.

THE JOYS OF MATHEMATICS is pitched towards readers with no more knowledge of mathematics than what he or she learned in high-school. It will appeal to the same people who read magazines like Scientific American, Smithsonian, and The Atlantic Monthly, books such as Fermat’s Enigma, and the work of writers such as Amir Aczel, Paul Hoffman, Martin Gardner, Dava Sobel, John Casti, John Allen Paulos, and Keith Devlin. Yet, serious scientists will not shy away from buying this book, as the main ideas are not glossed over, just explained in everyday language. The book would be especially well suited to teachers of mathematics and science.

Szpiro is a mathematician turned journalist. He earned an M.A. (mathematics and physics) at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, an MBA, from Stanford, and a Ph.D. in mathematical economics from Hebrew University. He has worked as an international consultant for McKinsey and taught at the Wharton School, Hebrew University, and the University of Zürich. For the past 17 years, he has been the Israel correspondent for Neue Zürcher Zeitung, with a daily circulation of 250,000 and a readership comparable to that of the New York Times. Since 2002 he has also written a monthly column on mathematics in the Sunday edition. His first book, Kepler’s Conjecture: How some of the greatest minds in history helped solve one of the oldest math problems of the world, was published by Wiley in 2003 to very good reviews in Science, Nature, New Scientist and The Mathematical Intelligencer. So far, the English-language edition has sold about 7000 copies. Szpiro has also published some 25 papers in professional journals in physics, mathematics and economics and journalistic articles in Science, Nature and The Jerusalem Report.

THE JOYS OF MATHEMATICS was published in a German language edition in 2004 as Mathematik für Sonntagmorgen, copies of which are available. In English, the book will run about 240 printed pages. The publisher could have it translated into English or Szpiro could translate it and deliver an English-language manuscript within 5 months of contract.