Geek Speak:
How Life + Mathematics = Happiness
by Graham Tattersall
QA93 .T38 2008
New Book Island, 2nd floor
Numbers are all around us. They’re unavoidable. You’ve got gas prices, interest rates, caloric intake, time spent working, the prison sentences of OJ Simpson and Rod Blagojevich… all kinds of numbers. But how do you quantify the seemingly unquantifiable? This week’s featured book explains how.
Tattersall, a self-proclaimed Geek, believes that numbers are the path to knowledge and wants to teach you how to be a “nice, thoughtful, sweet-smelling Geek, the kind you’d like as a friend.” The author uses everyone’s favorite subject, mathematics, to answer some of the more important mysteries known to humanity, such as ‘How heavy is my house?’ and ‘What are the best words to use in a personal ad?’. This lighthearted and enjoyable read also has the purpose of causing you to think critically about the statistics and ‘expert statements’ made in our society. Just because an ‘expert’ in the field makes a claim that you should be able judge its validity by looking at the raw data yourself. All in all, you should be speaking Geek in no time.
