Change Is the Only Constant

The Wisdom of Calculus in a Madcap World

By: Ben Orlin

Narrated by: Will Collyer

From popular math blogger and author of the underground bestseller Math With Bad Drawings, Change Is The Only Constant is an engaging and eloquent exploration of the intersection between calculus and daily life, complete with Orlin's sly humor and wonderfully bad drawings. Change is the Only Constant is an engaging and eloquent exploration of the intersection between calculus and daily life, complete with Orlin's sly humor and memorably bad drawings. By spinning 28 engaging mathematical tales, Orlin shows us that calculus is simply another language to express the very things we humans grapple with every day -- love, risk, time, and most importantly, change. Divided into two parts, "Moments" and "Eternities," and drawing on everyone from Sherlock Holmes to Mark Twain to David Foster Wallace, Change is the Only Constant unearths connections between calculus, art, literature, and a beloved dog named Elvis. This is not just math for math's sake; it's math for the sake of becoming a wiser and more thoughtful human.

Critic reviews

"Orlin guides us through the attic of calculus, which is filled not only with mathematical facts, but with true stories, riddles, mathematical fables, and paradoxes. This is the book I wish I had before I'd ever heard what a limit is."—Zach Weinersmith, author of the webcomic Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

"Exploring calculus not with complicated equations, but with stories, tons of illustrations, and (yes!) comics, Change is the Only Constant is an impressively engaging and engrossing read. It's the first -- and so far only -- book of mathematics that I read entirely in a single sitting!"—Ryan North, author of How to Invent Everything and Dinosaur Comics

"Ben Orlin has written a funny, smart, endlessly engaging book -- that just happens to be about one of the most important and complicated subjects on the planet. If you love math, this book is for you. But if you've ever felt intimidated by math, or you've wondered why you should care about it, then this book is even more for you. (Don't tell the math people I said that.)"—David Litt, New York Times bestselling author of Thanks, Obama and Obama speechwriter

"In Ben Orlin's delightful treatment, calculus is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get next -- a poem, a proof, a cartoon, a quip. But despite all the changes, one thing stays constant: It's one tasty morsel after another."—Steven Strogatz, professor of mathematics, Cornell University, and author of Infinite Powers

"With wit that had me laughing from page one, Change Is the Only Constant describes calculus as a way of thinking about the world, driven by insightful and hilariously illustrated examples drawn not just from the usual suspects, like physics and economics, but from history, poetry, literature, and the thoughts of a corgi at the beach."—Grant Sanderson, creator of 3Blue1Brown

"All the calculus you never learned, broken up, broken down, illustrated, and friendly. Orlin's storybook telling of the history of math is a treat for your inner geek, and a major gift for your adult mind. A pleasure!"—Rebecca Dinerstein, author of The Sunlit Night

"The book is a more polished, extensive discussion of the concepts that pepper Orlin's blog, featuring his trademark caustic wit, a refreshingly breezy conversational tone, and of course, lots and lots of bad drawings. It's a great, entertaining read for neophytes and math fans alike because Orlin excels at finding novel ways to connect the math to real-world problems-or in the case of the Death Star, to problems in fictional worlds."—Ars Technica, on Math With Bad Drawings

I WANT MORE MATH

EXCELLENT BOOK AND NARRATOR. It make me want to study Calculus again etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc