I was asked a question from a keen 13 year old school student who has been playing around with Pythagorean triples. I asked Twitter for “inspiring reading” for such a student (and @DrLucyRogers & @MEImath retweeted this request). The responses were good and @robbieg8s wrote to ask me to post the list somewhere. Here it is.
Suggestions (chronological order; who made the suggestion in brackets):
- suggest The Road to Reality by Roger Penrose – real meat to get into and mind expanding (@CarlLegge)
- suggest after that The Structure of Delight by Nelson Zink – to look after the personal and social aspects (@CarlLegge)
- FLATLAND! Possibly also Uncle Albert books, Simon Singh’s Cracking Code book, Hawking’s George’s Secret Key… (@alicebell)
- Group Theory in the Bedroom http://ow.ly/11Pah (@peterflom)
- I put some things up here: http://bit.ly/8Ys3q9 For a 13 year old I would suggest Martin Gardner (@Gelada)
- Mathematical Maze and Why Beauty is Truth. Think they’re both Ian Stewart (@CheshireSwift)
- how about Ian Stewart’s Cabinet of Mathematical curiosities http://bit.ly/byYhmi and its sequel (@chrisleach78)
- A useful list by the MA at: http://bit.ly/c0kdmL (@MEImaths)
I hope this is useful. More welcome in the comments!
Update (10/02/10): There are some good suggestions in the comments below.
One of my treasured childhood books was “A Mathematician’s Apology”.
It seems like Ian Stewart is pretty popular, so I’ll add that his “Letters to a Young Mathematician” is aimed directly at that age group. I also wish I’d read John Allen Paulos’ “Innumeracy” and “Beyond Numeracy” earlier in life.
The Road To Reality by Penrose will be a challenging book; this must be an advanced 13 year old.
My suggestions :-
-any book by Gelfand in the Gelfand School Program. Gelfrand talks with young readers in a much more engaging way than any texty book does.
– Puzzle Based Learning, by Michalewicz and Michalewicz
– books by
– Havil
– Maor
If this person is up to Penrose, then they might enjoy “The Monty Hall Problem ” by Rosenhouse.
Hello Peter,
I recommend Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth, by Apostolos Doxiadis and Christos H. Papadimitriou. It is a beautiful graphic novel on the life of Bertrand Russell and his quest on the search for solid foundations for mathematics. I enjoyed it very much and I think a 13 year old mathematician would enjoy it too. :)
I also like Fermat’s Last Theorem by Simon Singh, but some parts of the book may be a bit too advanced for a 13-year-old.
Finally, I think that Men of Mathematics by E. Bell is a good reference and can be very inspiring for a young mathematician.
All the best,
Joao
P.S.: The biographic nature of the references reflect my own preferences: when I learn new concepts, I try to learn more about their creators.