Significant Figures

The Lives and Work of Great Mathematicians

By: Ian Stewart

Narrated by: Roger Clark

In Significant Figures, acclaimed mathematician Ian Stewart introduces the visionaries of mathematics throughout history. Delving into the lives of 25 great mathematicians, Stewart examines the roles they played in creating, inventing, and discovering the mathematics we use today. Through these short biographies, we get acquainted with the history of mathematics from Archimedes to Benoit Mandelbrot, and learn about those too often left out of the cannon, such as Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi (c. 780-850), the creator of algebra, and Augusta Ada King (1815-1852), Countess of Lovelace, the world's first computer programmer.

Tracing the evolution of mathematics over the course of two millennia, Significant Figures will educate and delight aspiring mathematicians and experts alike.

©2017 Joat Enterprises (P)2017 Tantor

Critic reviews

"By showing how even mathematical geniuses face all-too-human challenges, Stewart offers a riveting chronicle of one of humankind's loftiest endeavors." (Paul Halpern, author of The Quantum Labyrinth)

Research pronunciations before you perform!

I can't imagine putting my name and voice to an internationally-distributed production without doing some basic research on how to pronounce things. "Euler" is pronounced "Oiler" not "Yooler".

Reading math equations

Listening to the reading of math equations is bad. But the biographical information and the accomplishments of the 25 mathematicians was l,

Painful To Listen To

While the content is good, the fake accent and mispronunciations are just grating on the nerves. The narrator absolutely butchers the names of even the most commonly known mathematicians, and as another reviewer mentioned, he's from New Jersey and is faking his European accent. It's really hard to get to the content of the book because it's so painful to listen to.

Lack of bridge to lesser Math

I have a first year calculus understanding of math. The second half of the book had many subjects that were lost on me. I would have got more out of the book if the author could have explained things in more detail.

The reader sounded to me like Roscoe Lee Browne, and I imagined Roscoe was reading it to me. It was a good job by the reader, as the subject matter was difficult.

It used to be that when I went into Starbucks they had several left wing newspapers to choose from. They did other things that were left wing political as well. I stopped going. I don't want to get pelted with left wing politics when I buy a drink.

I especially don't want it when I read a math book. After reading it I looked up his X profile, sure I would find his pronouns listed. Then I found out he doesn't use X because of the current ownership. I am sure adding his politics added cred to his university colleagues, but to a reader interested in the history of math, it is a turn-off.

Mostly entertaining while touching some deeper mathematical concepts

Good narrative, most chapters move at a good pace. Nicely gently touches some deeper math. Audio version just not fully convincing: did the narrator fully understand everything?