Thinking Better: The Art of the Shortcut in Math and Life
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One of the world’s great mathematicians shows why math is the ultimate timesaver—and how everyone can make their lives easier with a few simple shortcuts.
We are often told that hard work is the key to success. But success isn’t about hard work – it’s about shortcuts. Shortcuts allow us to solve one problem quickly so that we can tackle an even bigger one. They make us capable of doing great things. And according to Marcus du Sautoy, math is the very art of the shortcut.
Thinking Better is a celebration of how math lets us do more with less. Du Sautoy explores how diagramming revolutionized therapy, why calculus is the greatest shortcut ever invented, whether you must really practice for ten thousand hours to become a concert violinist, and why shortcuts give us an advantage over even the most powerful AI. Throughout, we meet artists, scientists, and entrepreneurs who use mathematical shortcuts to change the world.
Delightful, illuminating, and above all practical, Thinking Better is for anyone who has wondered why you should waste time climbing the mountain when you could go around it much faster.
13 reviews for Thinking Better: The Art of the Shortcut in Math and Life
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Stevie –
Delivered as described. Great book.
J Harikumar –
There just aren’t many good popular math books. This book is honestly a jewel and Du Sautoy’s finest work yet. He presents math as the “the art of the shortcut”, and shows how certain mathematical tricks can be employed to find the metaphorical “shortest path” to the solution. The book is also a romp through many sophisticated maths ideas, ranging from probability theory to the basics of computational complexity, all presented with his trademark clarity.
Andrew –
The book is about various topics in mathematics and how they provide shortcuts that can be used in different fields of daily life to find solutions to seemingly daunting problems. These shortcuts speed up the computations and free time for you to do other things. Each chapter of the book starts with a puzzle that the reader is asked to solve. Then the main content of the chapter is related to the puzzle, while the solution is provided in the end.
I’ve already read The Music of the Primes that was also written by Marcus and thoroughly enjoyed it. What makes this book to stand out in comparison to The Music of The Primes is that it’s focused on practical advise that could be actioned by readers. But what I find most compelling about this book is that reading it is not enough to get the most out of the content, there is also a need to play with the content of each chapter, carefully examining it. Otherwise the subtle details and insight could be lost and not understood properly.
Marcus tries to present his ideas in a way that is accessible to a reader who is not supposed to be a math expert. That is why it seems his approach is to use as little of math terminology and formulas as possible. Even the word ‘formula’ doesn’t show up until page 20 into the book. This approach to writing popular science books is not new and it tries to achieve a trade off between a number of readers who may be frightened by the mathematical notation, and the number of readers who could be disappointed by the lack of it. Even though Marcus doesn’t shy away from writing down some equations to exactly convey his ideas, there are places in the book where additional mathematical details could clarify his point even better. I also suggest to name the math objects as they are used in mathematics. There is no harm in doing that just like Steven Strogatz did in The Joy of x or John Derbyshire in the Unknown Quantity books. Proper math notation doesn’t frighten, but could actually help readers understand concepts better.
All in all, this book provides joyful reading experience.
Reza K Ghazi –
I like the idea of the book. It is some mindful hint to see the world differently.
E & M Weddell –
A good popular mathematics book, with material that ranged from “fascinating” to “over my head.”
Math Customer –
This book has become one of my favorites. Engaging and easy to read, it has definitely helped me to open my mind towards different ways of thinking.
minoru –
Marcus triumphs again. He makes the subject so clear and easy to both read and understand. I wish he had been my maths teacher when I was at grammar school. This book is highly recommended to anyone wishing to broaden their mind. Superb!
Paul Pridmore –
A fine addition to the “how does mathematics help with real life” category of books.
MK –
My son learned from this in the 10 days he took to read it to me what I figured out for myself in my lifetime!
Marcos Mqz –
I enjoyed so much this reading
S A. –
A great way of thinking.
diane barlow –
arrived on time, no issues
K –
The Feynman diagram 5.9 on page 161 appears to be missing the positron ? (See photo)For a book about “shortcuts”, please do not “shortcut” the error checking process 🙂