In questo libro, Johnny Ball racconta uno dei percorsi storici più importanti dell'umanità: la storia della matematica. Introducendoci ai più grandi personaggi e conducendoci attraverso molti colpi di scena storici, Johnny dipana lentamente il racconto di come l'umanità abbia compreso sin dai tempi antichi forme, numeri e schemi; una storia che aorta direttamente alle odierne meraviglie tecnologiche. Come disse Galileo, 'tutto nell'universo è scritto nel linguaggio della matematica', e questa 'Breve storia delle meraviglie matematiche' è la tua guida a questo linguaggio. La matematica è solo una parte di questo ricco e vario racconto; incontreremo personaggi affascinanti di cui tutti hanno sentito parlare ma che in realtà potrebbero non essere mai esistiti; un filosofo greco che fece così tanti errori che molti volevano distruggere i suoi libri; un artista matematico che costruì la più grande cupola del mondo, cosa che molti definirono impossibile; e un filosofo che perse la testa, ma solo dopo che morì. Arricchito di racconti di personaggi coloriti e scoperte straordinarie, c'è anche molta matematica per i lettori più appassionati.

Numbers create the structure to our universe. Without numbers, computers would not work and cars would not go. There would be no way to quantify things. You wouldn't be able to ask "How many?" or "How much?" We would not understand time or distance. Sports records wouldn't matter! Go Figure! is a math book filled with the weird and wonderful side of math and numbers.

Discover why there are 60 minutes in an hour, why daisies have to have 34, 55, or 89 petals, and why finding a prime number could make you a millionaire.Go Figure! is also packed with activities that children can try out on their own or with friends, including brainteasers, magic tricks, and things to make, while also learning about the simple puzzles that stumped the world's brainiest mathematicians for centuries. Go Figure! is a fun and quirky look at the magical world of numbers, without the effort of a math textbook.

If you think numbers are boring, think again! Imagine the world without measurements: What time is it? Are we nearly there yet? How big do you want it?Why Pi? takes readers through a mesmerizing, historical number journey, from the ancient civilizations that used numbers as simple measurement, through the Renaissance period with the conquering of the seas and mapping of the world, the Industrial Revolution, and all the way on to Einstein's theory of relativity and discovering space. Numbers are eternal and have been a crucial element in human history. From sailing the seven seas to journeying deep below the waves and up through the atmosphere, it's all about numbers. Discover how simple modern-day things are all about measurement and see how the future will be shaped by numbers as we travel farther into space.

Numbers aren't just about sums and calculations, and there is no one better at illustrating this than the ingenious Johnny Ball as he demonstrates just how essential math is to our everyday world.Why Pi? examines how numbers have allowed explorers, engineers, and scientists to explore, build, and discover.

The seventh volume in Knopf's critically acclaimed Complete Lyrics series, published in Johnny Mercer's centennial year, contains the texts to more than 1,200 of his lyrics, several hundred of them published here for the first time.

Johnny Mercer's early songs became staples of the big band era and were regularly featured in the musicals of early Hollywood. With his collaborators, who included Richard A. Whiting, Harry Warren, Hoagy Carmichael, Jerome Kern, and Harold Arlen, he wrote the lyrics to some of the most famous standards, among them, “Too Marvelous for Words,” “Jeepers Creepers,” “Skylark,” “I'm Old-Fashioned,” and “That Old Black Magic.”

During a career of more than four decades, Mercer was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song an astonishing eighteen times, and won four: for his lyrics to “On the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe” (music by Warren), “In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening” (music by Carmichael), and “Moon River” and “Days of Wine and Roses” (music for both by Henry Mancini).

You've probably fallen in love with more than a few of Mercer's songs–his words have never gone out of fashion–and with this superb collection, it's easy to see that his lyrics elevated popular song into art.

Helps readers investigate mathematical marvels such as why daisies always have 34, 55, or 89 petals, why all the world's phone numbers appear in pi, and other paradoxes that will make readers look at numbers in a whole new way.