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Humble Pi
- A Comedy of Maths Errors
- Narrated by: Matt Parker
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
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Humble Pi
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Publisher's Summary
Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Humble Pi written and read by Matt Parker.
What makes a bridge wobble when it's not meant to? Billions of dollars mysteriously vanish into thin air? A building rock when its resonant frequency matches a gym class leaping to Snap's 1990 hit I've Got The Power? The answer is maths. Or, to be precise, what happens when maths goes wrong in the real world.
As Matt Parker shows us, our modern lives are built on maths: computer programmes, finance, engineering. And most of the time this maths works quietly behind the scenes, until...it doesn't. Exploring and explaining a litany of glitches, near-misses and mishaps involving the internet, big data, elections, street signs, lotteries, the Roman empire and a hapless Olympic shooting team, Matt Parker shows us the bizarre ways maths trips us up, and what this reveals about its essential place in our world.
Mathematics doesn't have good 'people skills', but we would all be better off, he argues, if we saw it as a practical ally. This book shows how, by making maths our friend, we can learn from its pitfalls. It also contains puzzles, challenges, geometric socks, jokes about binary code and three deliberate mistakes. Getting it wrong has never been more fun.
Critic Reviews
"Matt Parker has pulled off something wonderful...his stories are superb." (Marcus Berkmann)
"Bought it yesterday, enjoying it enormously, well done!" (Dara Ó Briain)
"[Matt Parker] shows off math at its most playful and multifarious." (Jordan Ellenberg, author of How to Not Be Wrong)
What listeners say about Humble Pi
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 06-06-19
Funny... Well mostly... when people dont die
Must read/listen for anyone who knows or understands the references to any of the following:
Festival of the spoken nerd
Spreadsheets
The talk about spreadsheets in the festival of the spoken nerd
Helen Arny and Steve Mould
Pi -> not Tau
Numberphile and/or Brady
Maths in engineering... any engineering
Anyone whose spouse is a rocket scientist... anyone who is a rocket scientist themself
Students... especially students
Quirky British humour
Forced bad puns
Magic square -> Parker square
The one true parabola
Dates -> its not that simple
If you dont get the references, its ok, still read/listen to the book. anyone who has, even the slightest, predisposition towards curiosity should give it a shot. Math is fun... sometimes frustrating but fun... much like anything fun in life.
Hope you have a mild chuckle and an above average time.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Rajkiran
- 19-04-20
Interesting, Informative, Funny
Most of the facts in this book were a revelation to me. I was stunned to realize how even the smallest of overlooks lead to one of the biggest disasters. Also, goes on to show how inevitable human fallibility is.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 12-12-21
Making maths interesting
I loved how the author made maths so interesting. Maths is everywhere and in everything. This book gives many examples in a fun way. I loved that the author is the reader of the book and I highly recommend this.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Sidharthan
- 24-06-19
Good one for facts and math lovers
good one for facts and math lovers. Matt Parker explains world class destruction be simple and elagant way.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 21-06-20
Amazing
Easily has become one of my favourites of all time. Well done, Matt. Great book.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Garima Sharma
- 14-10-22
fact packed comedy lesson of math mistakes
Matt has a talent for presenting potentially boring topic in very entertaining way. It was fun but also educating. It's a story of human fallibility and that is all part of the game of learning about nature (science and math) and how to control it (engineering).
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Rituraj Phukan
- 13-05-19
Just what you expect from Matt Parker
Brilliant, funny, full of humour and stories and the hardwork/effort put into making this book is just something you can't miss.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- RareComplexCollectionOfMatter
- 23-12-20
engineers should take a look
we mathematicians and engineers can easily cause problems which turn out to be a party story , weird fact or tragedy.
so read the book to learn what happens if you make silly mistake or too smug
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- JaRu96
- 17-06-19
Surprisingly engaging
I found Matt to be a very good narrator, with very attention captivating story telling skills. As a person who is not a mathematician, I thoroughly enjoyed the book.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Shripad Lale
- 02-11-20
Unimpressed
For some reason I found this book more jarring than entertaining or informative. Could not finish it. Abandoned it in a few hours.
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