(NON-Textbooks which we have either read and enjoyed or thumbed through and anticipate enjoying)

*Available in Dr. Flint's Office
+Available in Dr. Kemp's Office
^Available at Brookings Public Library
@ Available at SDSU Library

Choose a topic or scroll down to browse:
Note:  the links for this page are not an endorsement for any companies - merely the most informative link I could find for the book or author.
 

History and Biography	Recreational Mathematics
Geometry	Calculus
Sources for Practice Problems	Career Information
General Math	Searching the Library
Other Places to Browse	Links to SDSU and Math/Stat

The Man Who Loved Only Numbers,  Paul Hoffman   (about the nomadic mathematician Paul Erdos)

@My Brain is Open, Bruce Schechter  (Paul Erdos)  Also link to MAA review.

*@Women in Mathematics, Lynn Osen (short profiles of famous female mathematicians)

*+@Men of Mathematics, E.T. Bell  (classic biographical collection)

*Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman,  Richard Feynman (autobiography of scientist at Los Alamos- site of Nuclear Bomb development)

*Mathematicians are People, Too, Luetta and Wilbert Reimer (Stories from the Lives of Great Mathematicians- intended for K-12, but the stories are quite interesting)

@Women and Numbers, Teri Perl  (short entertaining stories of women in mathematics from the 1780's through the 1980's)

@Ramanujan, Letters and Commentary, Bruce Berndt and Robert Rankin (actual letters and correspondence between the brilliant Indian self-taught mathematician and his British confidants)

@On Mathematics and Mathematicians, Robert Edouard Moritz (ever wonder where your professors got all those clever and insightful quotes from Mathematicians?)

@A Mathematician's Apology, G.H. Hardy  (Why would you become  a mathematician?)

The Man Who Knew Infinity, Robert Kanigel  (Biography of Ramanujan- the Indian self-taught mathematician)

+@Hilbert, Constance Reid (The first in a long list of fascinating biographies of mathematicians- the most recent, a biography of her sister Julia)

+Mathematical Thought From Ancient to Modern Times, Morris Kline (This long book (over 1200 pages) is often thought of as the best and most comprehensive history of mathematics and its relation to science.  One should not aim to read it through, but focus your time on topics of interest.)
 
 

*Misteaks and How to Find Them Before the Teacher Does, Barry Cipra  (Do I have to tell you any more about the book?)

*The Joy of Mathematics,More Joy of Mathematics,Mathematical Scandals, Theoni Pappus (her books might give you a good idea of an interesting mathematical topic for a senior thesis- each article is 1-2 pages long and introduces an interesting mathematical idea- every secondary school teacher needs a copy of The Joy of Mathematics )

*@Innumeracy, Beyond Numeracy, A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper, John Allen Paulos (interesting discussions of why we should be aware of mathematics in the world around us)

*aha! Insight, Martin Gardner (Also author of many other mathematical puzzle and diversion books)

+The Joy of Pi, David Blatner (history, anecdotes, trivia, jokes, and of course, the first one million digits- have some fun with pi!)

@Mathematical Cranks, Underwood Dudley (Interesting stories of mistakes and flim-flams of mathematicians- Dudley has many books along this line- and yes, he looks just like the cartoon picture of him on the book!)

^Math Curse,   Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith (A clever picture book- I found it when I was at the library with my kids and found it really funny- won't help you with anything, but it is fun)  More info on Jon Scieszka,  How to use Math Curse in the classroom.
 
 

*Famous Problems of Mathematics, Benjamin Bold (Geometric Constructions)

*Excursions in Geometry, Stan Ogilvy (Also offers "Excursions in" other fields, I used this book to begin my senior project at University of Texas-Arlington)

@String Figures and other monographs, W.W.R. Ball, J. Peterson, H.S. Carslaw, F. Cajori (instructions on how to do string tricks, problems in geometrical construction, intro to non-Euclidean Geometry and a history of the slide rule- an interesting combination of monographs)

+Geometrical Investigations, Illustrating the Art of Discovery in the Mathematical Field, John Pottage (A modern take-off on Galileo's Dialogue on a new world system- geometry conversation between a really smart guy, a kind of smart guy, and the dummy)

+The Fractal Geometry of Nature, Benoit Mandelbrot.  (This is the book that made "fractal" a household word. The mandelbrot set is named after the author- Dr. Kemp has an autographed copy!)
 
 

*How to Ace Calculus-the Streetwise Guide, Colin Adams, Abigail Thompson, Joel Hass  A fun, straightforward explanation of calculus I- this is very helpful because it explains calculus topics in plain english.

+A Tour of the Calculus  and The Advent of the Algorithm, David Berlinski (Berlinski is a Ph.D philosopher (logic) who really has a way with words.  He doesn't have all that much to say, but the way he says it is worth reading)

^ Calculus DeMystified,  Steven G. Krantz This is another of those "plain english" calculus books.
 
 

*Schaum's Outline Series  (available in the bookstore for almost any mathematics topic and other sciences)  Ex: Calculus
 
 

*@101 Careers in Mathematics, edited by Andrew Sterrett

*@Great Jobs for Math Majors, Stephen Lambert and Ruth J. Decotis
 
 

Trigonometric Delights, Eli Maor (Bites of Trigonometry, along with history and why the idea was needed)

*@The Mathematical Tourist, Ian Stewart (each chapter is a short excursion into a different field of modern mathematics- includes historical background and explanation of the topic- Ian Stewart is author of many such books- look for them)

*The Enjoyment of Mathematics, Hans Rademacher and Otto Toeplitz (another classic book with short chapters on great mathematical questions which require only a high school math background)

*An Adventurer's Guide to Number Theory, Richard Friedberg (A well written guide into some interesting topics in Number Theory)

*@+Journey Through Genius, William Dunham (Proofs and History of great theorems- good place to start for senior projects)

^+The Book of Numbers, John Conway and Richard Guy (another great book to get a start on a Senior project)

*The Heart of Mathematics, Edward Burger and Michael Starbird (intended as a text for liberal arts mathematics, can be used as a resource for some interesting "great ideas" in mathematics- entertaining reading)

@Proofs from The Book, Martin Aigner and Gunter M. Ziegler (Erdos often said that though there were many proofs, there were few which belonged in "The Book"- these are some which belong there- elegant and clever proofs to basic theorems)

@Number Stories of Long Ago, David Eugene Smith (a small book intended for elementary school students, insightful mathematics)

@Erdos on Graphs, His Legacy of Unsolved Problems, Fan Chung and Ron Graham (Erdos frequently offered prizes for the solution of unsolved problems- after his death, these authors have compiled the still unsolved problems along with references for these problems and a note of the prize still available- give them a try!)

@ Mathematical Plums, Ross Honsberger, editor (essays written by other mathematicians, compiled by the editor an example: Anomalous Cancellation- why does 64/16=4/1- can you really just cancel the sixes?)

@Ingeneuity in Mathematics, Ross Honsberger (this time essays on various topics written by Honsberger- a good example- The Farey Series- there are several other interesting books by Ross Honsberger available)

+Problem Solving Through Problems ,Loren Larson  (just as the title reads)

+* Mathematics and Plausible Reasoning (volume I and II), George Polya  (a classic set of books about creative mathematics- searching for proofs- for example, how do you prove Euler's formula: Vertices+Faces=Edges+2?)

+The Penguin Book of Curious and Interesting Mathematics, David Wells (all sorts of odd math in no particular order)

+Fantasia Mathematica, Clifton Fadiman (a collection of literature which involves math)

+Random House New Mathematical Library  (A series of books on interesting mathematical topics- usually well written and easy to understand)

+The Language of Mathematics: Making the Invisible Visible, Keith Devlin (Devlin is a Ph.D mathematician and now an academic dean who has published many expository mathematics books trying to explain mathematics to the educated layman.  This is a particular good example)

+What is Mathematics, Richard Courant and Herbert Robbins.  (This is another classic mathematics book, first published in 1941 and still in print- although the current printing has been updated by Ian Stewart.  In Courant's preface he asserts that the book "...presupposes only knowledge that a good high school course could impart..." but he is referring to a very, very good course.  It is still challenging and rewarding reading for college mathematics majors.  for example you can find in this book an understandable argument to explain why an arbitrary angle cannot be trisected using only an unmarked straightedge and compass.  It is not an easy read, but it can really be understood with some effort.  At the very least you could come away with some good idea of how the proof works.)

+Mathematics and the Imagination, Edward Kasner and James Newman (this is another "old" book attempting to popularize mathematics.  It was published in 1940 and remained in print for at least 20 years.  It remains very readable today.  Kasner is a mathematician and Newman is a writer with an abnormal interest in mathematics.)

+*@The World of Mathematics, James R. Newman (This is a four volume anthology of articles and essays about mathematics.  There are almost 2500 pages of text that has been edited much like a Reader's Digest condensed book.  The editor is the co-author of Mathematics and the Imagination.  The collection is truly a labor of love, taking about 15 years to complete.  It was first published in 1956 and is still in print (paperback) today.  These are wonderful volumes in which to browse.)

+The World According to Wavelets, the Story of a Mathematical Technique in the Making, Barbara Burke Hubbard (This is an accessible account of the relatively recently discovered and utilized concept of wavelets.  The author must be a most remarkable woman. She is a journalist with no mathematical training.  She evidently learned about wavelets and their precursors Fourier series just to write this book.)

*What's Happening in the Mathematical Sciences (yearly), Barry Cipra (Essays giving a brief, understandable description of what is going on in "cutting-edge" mathematics)

*She Does Math! , Marla Parker, Ed.  This is a book about women in mathematics- women describe how they use math in their (many varied) careers and then give an interesting math problem which they might be required to solve in their field.
 
 

Library Page- Guide to Mathematical Research

Library Web Page- this is the page to search for a certain book or author- notice that you can search any library in South Dakota using this page.
 
 

Link to SDSU Math and Stat Department
Link to  Dr. Flint's Homepage
 
 

 
 
 

Last updated on: 04/11/06