A squared plus b squared equals c squared. Itsounds simple, doesn't it? Yet this familiar expression is a gatewayinto the riotous garden of mathematics, and sends us on a journey ofexploration in the company of two inspired guides, acclaimed authorsRobert and Ellen Kaplan. With wit, verve, and clarity, they trace thelife of the Pythagorean theorem, from ancient Babylon to the present,visiting along the way Leonardo da Vin...

A compelling journey through history, mathematics, and philosophy, charting humanitys struggle against randomnessOur lives are played out in the arena of chance. However little we recognize it in our day-to-day existence, we are always riding the odds, seeking out certainty but settling-reluctantly-for likelihood, building our beliefs on the shadowy props of probability. Chances Are is the story of mans millennia-long search for the tools to manage the r...

The New York Times called Chances Are, the authors' look at the application of probability in everyday life, a "dizzying, exhilarating ride." In Bozo Sapiens, they take us on a another funhouse journey, exploring the surprising, or alarming, number of ways that humans can make bad judgments and poor decisions. The Kaplans' ability to explain everything from statistics to evolutionary biology in witty, accessible, and anecdotal style will endear this book to reade...

A symbol for what is not there, an emptiness that increases any number it's added to, an inexhaustible and indispensable paradox. As we enter the year 2000, zero is once again making its presence felt. Nothing itself, it makes possible a myriad of calculations. Indeed, without zero mathematics as we know it would not exist. And without mathematics our understanding of the universe would be vastly impoverished. But where did this nothing, this hollow circle, come from? Who created it? And w...

“In this sparkling narrative, mathematics is indeed set free.” -Michael Shermer, author of The Believing BrainIn classrooms around the world, Robert and Ellen Kaplan's pioneering Math Circle program, begun at Harvard, has introduced students ages six to sixty to the pleasures of mathematics, exploring topics that range from Roman numerals to quantum mechanics.In Out of the Labyrinth, the Kaplans reveal the secrets of their highly successful approac...

A witty, conversational, and accessible tour of math's profoundest mysteries.Mathematical symbols, for mathematicians, store worlds of meaning, leap continents and centuries. But we need not master symbols to grasp the magnificent abstractions they represent, and to which all art aspires. Through language, anyone can come to delight in the works of mathematical art, which are among our kind's greatest glories.Taking the concept of infinity, in its countless...

**A “magnificent” (Science) exploration of how genetics complicates our ideas about blame, punishment, and moral responsibility, from acclaimed psychologist and author of The Genetic Lottery Kathryn Paige Harden.“Not a dry, restrained, contained scientific inquiry but a daring, complex, sometimes confounding and ultimately powerful tapestry of a book.”—The New York Times Book Review**As one of the world’s leading scientists examining how our DNA s...

A provocative, personal, blazingly intelligent examination of one of the most vexing questions facing the United States today: Who is, and should be, a citizen?“[A] fascinating, urgently needed new book.”—Chicago Tribune**“How did ‘Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free’ turn upside down to where we are today? Everyone needs to read this book, citizens and non-citizens alike. Brilliant!”—Sandra ...

An “impassioned and inspiring account of the extraordinary men and women still doing traditional artisanal work” (The Sunday Times) in the face of massive technological industrialization—by renowned Cambridge art historian Dr. James Fox.“Beautifully written and (charmingly illustrated) . . . His chronicle of the decline of the traditional trades is staggering.”—The Wall Street JournalDuring an age of mass manufacturing, fa...

**From the author of The Immortal King Rao, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, a personal exploration of how technology companies have both fulfilled and exploited the human desire for understanding and connectionA BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Esquire, Slate, Scientific American, Vox, Electric Literature, Book Riot, Culture Study, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, Library Journal**"I cannot imagine a better guide through the infuriating, labyrinthine underworld o...

**A frank, hands-on guide to using AI at work, unpacking for the curious and skeptical alike the “24 Laws” of AI and revealing strategies that businesses of every size can use to free up time, innovate, and add to the bottom line—from a Wall Street Journal tech columnist“The antidote to AI panic. Read it. You’ll breathe easier.”—Scott Galloway, NYU Stern School of Business professor and co-host of Pivot with Kara Swisher“A clear, practical, and hype-free g...

**CHOSEN AS ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: TIME, NPR, The New Yorker, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers WeeklyAs we witness monuments of white Western history fall, many are asking how is Shakespeare still relevant?**Professor Farah Karim-Cooper has dedicated her career to the Bard, which is why she wants to take the playwright down from his pedestal to unveil a Shakespeare for the twenty-first century. If we persist in reading Shakespeare as representative o...