Thinking In Numbers: On Life, Love, Meaning, and Math

Would that more writers could produce such lucid, articulate, gripping prose. The journey changed my skeletal understanding of autistic spectrum disorder by clearly illuminating that each person so affected differs from all others. I feel drawn to him in the way a curious student is drawn to a sympathetic pedagog. The book captured and held my attention from first sentence to last. I feel a keen awareness of his gifts and am humbled by his ability to chart a course for us outsiders through the universe of his mind. I am stunned and in awe of his ability to bring the reader to a clear realization of autistm. It is a brilliant book.Dennis Walker, USN/Ret.

We are studying Daniel Tammet in my High School Science Classes and have three of his Books.His Works will enhance your mind: "On Life, Love, Meaning, and Math".

I generally enjoy books about numbers and mathematics that are intended for a general reader. This one, I'm sorry to say, was an exception. It consists of independent essays that mix a great deal of personal musings, some history, and occasional interesting facts, but they never cohere into anything larger. Individual essays seem like mere wanderings, and so does the book as a whole.A few are interesting: An account of how he set the world record for memorizing and reciting pi (to 22,514 decimal places) held my attention, but I wished he would offer better insight on why he chose to do this. Most of the time, after finishing an essay I wondered, "What was the point?"

Tammet's book is a set of essays on math, perception, science, and more. His information base is breathtaking in scope.At a few spots, I felt that he dipped into math trivialities that are, to me at least, not very interesting.It's still an amazing book, and I will likely be reading more Tammet.

Tammet shows clearly that you can find math lessons in a wide variety of experiences. The chapter on teaching is motive enough for buying the book. The chapter on chess is fascinating, portraying chess as an environment with strange and familiar paths as well as a commentary on mistakes. The author is one of those rare geniuses who knows his subject so well that he makes it understandable to us.

Wonderful copy. Great seller!

This is a book of short stories on his abstract thoughts, mostly involving numbers. Enjoyed 'Born On A Blue Day', but found this a bit tedious and less structured. Some good stories here though.

I loved this book, recommended it to family and friends - at last, someone has reminded me how it felt to be very young and excited by numbers, the beauty of the world viewed through them. Wonderfully well written/

This collection of thoughtful essays rewards the reader by both providing a fascinating insight into the mind of an autistic savant and in opening our minds to the pervasiveness of numbers in our lives and how the quest for meaning through the seeking of pattern and the abstraction of reality underpins human sentience.In 'Eternity in an Hour', Tammet brilliantly depicts the burden as well as the gift that Asperger's Syndrome is, his obsession with lampposts and the distance between them crippling his ability to walk to and from school. Frequent mention is made of the different colours of numbers- suggesting the author's experience of synaesthesia (a mixing of the senses) this too has a profound influence on his experience of the world.Particularly memorable amongst the eclectic collection of ideas explored here is: the reason why Islam was such a driving force behind time keeping and calendars, how prime numbers influence Haiku, Tanka, sestinas and other forms of poetry, how calculus (the mathematical study of change) influenced Tolstoy and an explanation of why a year is longer for a ten year old than it is for a forty year old. A recurring theme is infinity and how fractions afford us an insight into the infinite. In 'Selves and Statistics' he movingly reasserts the position of the individual over that of society as a whole in discussing averages. Without resorting to formulae or complex maths, the author successfully explains how maths can inform our understanding of life.

Surprisingly easy to read and very interesting. I'd never thought I'd enjoy a book like this one and started with a sample on my kindle. After the first chapter I downloaded the whole book.Daniel Tammet explores how numbers and maths are closely linked to our daily life by telling short stories or talking about history. Each story gives you lots to think about and wonder. For example, he tells the story of how he broke the world record of reciting the number Pi and what he felt preparing for it and doing it.This is a rare oddity, extremely easy and nice to read.

Having seen his documentary on YouTube and read his book "Born on a Blue Day" I had to read this and can say that it has given me more insight into some of Daniels achievements like setting a European Record for the recitation of pi to the greatest number of digits in the The Admirable Number Pi essay.Also I found his use of the English language to create imaginary quite different than the normal literature that I read which I found knowledge expanding and enjoyable.If you are a fan of Daniel, I would recommend this book.

I find numbers So interesting now after hating maths at school, which didn't inspire me at all ! Daniel Tammet's books are amazing because they have opened up my mind (almost literally) as to how incredible our brains are...and of how much there is to learn about the World...and the Universe !

Kindle book! Great read, very interesting!