Reviews for Mathematical encounters of the second kind

The average rating for Mathematical encounters of the second kind based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-02-24 00:00:00 Renee Ross This book is rather unique. I honestly picked it up mostly because of the name. I feel like it is more in the 4.5 star category, but it was fun enough that I will award it 5 stars. The book is a bunch of stories given by the author about essentially three topics. A geometric theorem, a professor, and an English Lord. There is math involved, but one could skip most of it without losing any threads in the stories. The stories are told entertainingly, although the tone and style is rather interesting. I didn't mind it, but your mileage may vary. The stories vary from completely believable to "what?". For the most part it seems to be a biographical retelling, but the part on Carpenter's escapade in Bulghuristan is so strange that I wonder if it even could be true. I honestly don't know who I would recommend this to. If you want a bunch of semi-interesting tales tangentially related to math, but exploring some interesting people the author has met and befriended, this is a good entry. I had fun reading it, and I wanted to finish the stories to see what happened.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-01-28 00:00:00 Debbie Vondervoort This is like Michael Chabon's Maps and Legends, but about maths instead of genre fiction. If that description makes your heart pound faster, you should read this book. It contains some salacious material so I can recommend it only for people of good character over the age of 30.