Here's looking at euclid: from counting ants to games of chance - an awe-inspiring journey through the world of numbers - Alex Bellos

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• Bellos has traveled all around the globe and has plunged into history to uncover fascinating stories of mathematical achievement, from the breakthroughs of Euclid, the greatest mathematician of all time, to the creations of the Zen master of origami, one of the hottest areas of mathematical work today.
• Too often math gets a bad rap, characterized as dry and difficult.
• But, Alex Bellos says, math can be inspiring and brilliantly creative.
• Mathematical thought is one of the great achievements of the human race, and arguably the foundation of all human progress.
• The world of mathematics is a remarkable place.
• Bellos has traveled all around the globe and has plunged into history to uncover fascinating stories of mathematical achievement, from the breakthroughs of Euclid, the greatest mathematician of all time, to the creations of the Zen master of origami, one of the hottest areas of mathematical work today.
• Taking us into the wilds of the Amazon, he tells the story of a tribe there who can count only to five and reports on the latest findings about the math instinct--including the revelation that ants can actually count how many steps they've taken.
• Journeying to the Bay of Bengal, he interviews a Hindu sage about the brilliant mathematical insights of the Buddha, while in Japan he visits the godfather of Sudoku and introduces the brainteasing delights of mathematical games.
• Exploring the mysteries of randomness, he explains why it is impossible for our iPods to truly randomly select songs.
• In probing the many intrigues of that most beloved of numbers, pi, he visits with two brothers so obsessed with the elusive number that they built a supercomputer in their Manhattan apartment to study it.