Daily Warm-Ups: Math Grade 6 Book

My second dip into this book was routed by an encounter with Godel, Escher, Bach. I'm sorry Mathematical Experience, but your womanly wiles are no match for the allures of recursion and paradoxes that is GEB. Perhaps one day we will meet again...

Despite our early parting of ways, I can highly recommend this book to (a) young students getting interesting in long-term studies in mathematics and (b) civilian math fanboys who want to know more about the culture of mathematics.

The book reads like an alien biologist's account of the Earth species, "Mathematician" - his typical behavior, how he relates to other organisms (such as the "Physicist" or "Engineer"), and how he thinks. It's an honest and seemingly accurate account of the world of the mathematician. The book also grapples with deep mathematical questions like "What is math?", "Why does it work so well in describing reality?", and "What does it mean to 'prove' something?" The authors take a democratic approach and introduce many mathematicians' attempts to answer these questions, which makes for an interesting mix of viewpoints and avoids giving the reader a false sense of security with "the" answer to these (very) open questions.