David Acheson is a mathematician and Jesus College, Oxford. His latest book The Spirit of Mathematics: Algebra and All That (Amazon UK, Waterstones) take a tour of a range of topics related to algebra.     Style The Spirit of Mathematics contains 30 short chapters, with each one covering a topic related to algebra. Topics appearing in the book magic squares, real and imaginary numbers, and the golden ratio. There are really charming pictures and illustrations throughout the book, and a few of the chapters contains puzzles for you to go away and think about. Control This book is writt ..read more

Rob Eastaway is a mathematician and author. His book Headscratchers (Amazon UK, Waterstones, Maths Gear) is a collection of puzzles from New Scientist’s Headscratchers column.     Style Headscratchers collects 70 puzzles from New Scientists’s Headscratchers puzzle column, which was run by Rob Eastaway from 2019 until the start of this year (starting this year, Katie Steckles has taken over the column). The book includes the puzzles, plus hints and the solutions that were printed in the following magazine issues. Control As anyone who’s seen the puzzles in New Scientist will know, Hea ..read more

Kyle Evans is a maths teacher and maths based entertainer. His book A Year in Numbers  (Amazon UK, Waterstones) provides a ‘nugget’ of mathematical information for each day of the year.     Style The book is set up to deliver one maths fact every day. Some facts are much longer than others. Facts are collected in groups with each month having a different focus, for example, July is all about prime numbers. Additionally, a number of facts are explained in more depth in the further notes at the back of the book for a more interested reader. Control Despite mathematical content bei ..read more

Katie Steckles  is a mathematician, author, and general populariser of mathematics based in Manchester UK. Short Cuts: Maths  (Amazon UK, Waterstones ) is her book describing big mathematical ideas in easy to understand pieces. It has contributions from Sam Hartburn, Alison Kiddle, and Peter Rowlett, and illustrations by Robert Fiszer.   Style This is a book with bitesize descriptions of mathematical concepts from the golden ratio to game theory. The book is split into chapters focussed on related concepts, such as functions or mathematical modelling. Each topic can be read ind ..read more

Kit Yates is a mathematician at the University of Bath and an author of popular mathematics books. How to Expect the Unexpected (Amazon UK, Waterstones) is his second book, following on from the Chalkdust book of the year 2019 winning The Maths of Life and Death. It explores the science of making predictions and how our intuition is not always to be trusted.     Style How to Expect the Unexpected is your all-in-one guide to mastering prediction in life’s seemingly unpredictable situations. Kit takes you through various scenarios, some personal to himself, that highlight the importanc ..read more

Kate Kitagawa is an author and historian of mathematics and Timothy Revell is a journalist and New Scientist’s deputy US editor. The Secret Lives of Numbers (Amazon UK, Waterstones ) is their book on the history of mathematics with a focus on the contributions of underrepresented figures.     Style This is a fairly standard popular mathematics book. Each chapter explains the history of a mathematical concept from counting numbers to calculus. The historical stories are interesting and it is nice to learn about mathematicians who are often excluded from the historical narrative. Cont ..read more

Sarah Hart is a mathematician and the first woman Professor of Geometry at Gresham College. Once Upon a Prime  (Amazon UK, Waterstones) is her book which explores the relationship between mathematics and literature.     Style The book discusses over 80 books and poems. It takes you on a journey over centuries and covers the work of many, many authors. It provides a very interesting insight into the unnoticed mathematics found in the books that many people love. Control As well as providing a broad overview of the structure of books and poetry, the book also narrows into the intr ..read more

Chris Smith is a maths teacher, musician and all-round maths enthusiast, and Elina Braslina is an illustrator and film-maker. That’s Mathematics (Amazon UK, Waterstones) is their book , which brings to life the Tom Lehrer song That’s Mathematics.   Style The book wonderfully blends Lehrer’s lyrics with illustrations of where the mathematical concepts appear in daily life. Perfectly pitched for both young readers and those who are young at heart. Control That’s Mathematics  takes the lyrics of Lehrer’s original song and adds beautiful illustrations showing where readers will come acr ..read more

It’s time to anounce the shortlist for the Chalkdust Magazine Book of the Year award. One maths book that was published in 2023 will be joining Kit Yates’s The Maths of Life and Death, Eugenia Cheng & Aleksandra Artymowska’s Molly and the Mathematical Mystery, Lara Alcock’s How to Think about Abstract Algebra, and Coralie Colmez’s The Irrational Diary of Clara Valentine and Ben Orlin’s Math Games with Bad Drawings by receiving this prestigious award. Additionally, you—our readers—can vote for your favourite book on the shortlist, by completing the poll at the bottom of this page. We have p ..read more

Join us in welcoming Issue 18 to the world! Enjoy the articles online or scroll down to view the magazine as a PDF. You can also order a printed copy to your door, just paying P&P. Features In conversation with Kat Phillips Bethany Clarke and Ellen Jolley talk research, raids, and rugby with the Twitch streamer The ninth Dedekind number Madeleine Hall is a Dedekind-ed follower of fashion On the cover: flexahedron Connie Bambridge-Sutton invites you to make a flexible 3D shape I’m counting on it Joe Celko looks at four different abacuses used throughout history The maths before the s ..read more